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diff --git a/old/prmns10.txt b/old/prmns10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..be97565 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/prmns10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,31924 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext of The Prime Minister by Anthony Trollope + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This etext was prepared by KENNETH DAVID COOPER <cooper.kd@bigpond.com> + + + + + +THE PRIME MINISTER + +by Anthony Trollope + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + +VOLUME I + +1 Ferdinand Lopez +2 Everett Wharton +3 Mr Abel Wharton QC +4 Mrs Roby +5 'No one knows anything about him.' +6 An Old Friend Goes to Windsor +7 Another Old Friend +8 The Beginning of a New Career +9 Mrs Dicks' Dinner Party - No 1 +10 Mrs Dicks' Dinner Party - No 2 +11 Carlton Terrace +12 The Gathering of Clouds +13 Mr Wharton Complains +14 A Lover's Perseverance +15 Arthur Fletcher +16 Never Run Away! +17 Good-bye +18 The Duke of Omnium Thinks of Himself +19 Vulgarity +20 Sir Orlando's Policy + +VOLUME II + +21 The Duchess's New Swan +22 St James's Park +23 Surrender +24 The Marriage +25 The Beginning of the Honeymoon +26 The End of the Honeymoon +27 The Duke's Misery +28 The Duchess is Much Troubled +29 The Two Candidates for Silverbridge +30 'Yes; - a lie!' +31 'Yes; - with a horsewhip in my hand' +32 'What business is it of yours?' +33 Showing that a Man Should not Howl +34 The Silverbridge Election +35 Lopez Back in London +36 The Jolly Blackbird +37 The Horns +38 Sir Orlando Retires +39 'Get round him' +40 'Come and try it' + +VOLUME III + +41 The Value of a Thick Skin +42 Retribution +43 Kauri Gum +44 Mr Wharton Thinks of a New Will +45 Mrs Sexty Parker +46 'He wants to get rich too quick' +47 As for Love! +48 'Has he ill-treated you?' +49 Where is Guatemala? +50 Mr Slide's Revenge +51 Coddling the Prime Minister +52 'I can sleep here tonight, I suppose?' +53 Mr Hartlepool +54 Lizzie +55 Mrs Parker's Sorrows +56 What the Duchess Thought of Her Husband +57 The Explanation +58 'Quite settled' +59 The First and the Last +60 The Tenway Junction + +VOLUME III + +61 The Widow and her Friends +62 Phineas Finn Has a Book to Read +63 The Duchess and her Friend +64 The New K.G. +65 There Must Be Time +66 The End of the Session +67 Mrs Lopez Prepares to Move +68 The Prime Minister's Political Creed +69 Mrs Parker's Fate +70 At Wharton +71 The Ladies at Longbarns Doubt +72 'He thinks that our days are numbered' +73 Only the Duke of Omnium +74 'I am disgraced and shamed' +75 The Great Wharton Alliance +76 Who Will it Be? +77 The Duchess in Manchester Square +78 The New Ministry +79 The Wharton Wedding +80 The Last Meeting at Matching + + + + +The Prime Minister + + + + + +VOLUME I + + + +CHAPTER 1 + +FERDINAND LOPEZ. + +It is a certainty of service to a man to know who were his +grandfathers and who were his grandmothers if he entertain an +ambition to move in the upper circles of society, and also of +service to be able to speak of them as of persons who were +themselves somebodies in their time. No doubt we all entertain +great respect for those who by their own energies have raised +themselves in the world; and when we hear that the son of a +washerwoman has become Lord Chancellor or Archbishop of +Canterbury we do, theoretically and abstractedly, feel a higher +reverence for such self-made magnate than for one who has been as +it were born into forensic or ecclesiastical purple. But not the +less must the offspring of the washerwoman have had very much +trouble on the subject of his birth, unless he has been, when +young as well as when old, a very great man indeed. After the +goal has been absolutely reached, and the honour and the titles +and the wealth actually won, a man may talk with some humour, +even with some affection, of the maternal tub;--but while the +struggle is going on, with the conviction strong upon the +struggler that he cannot be altogether successful unless he be +esteemed a gentleman, not to be ashamed, not to conceal the old +family circumstances, not at any rate to be silent, is difficult. +And the difficulty is certainly not less if fortunate +circumstances rather than hard work and intrinsic merit have +raised above his natural place an aspirant to high social +position. Can it be expected that such a one when dining with a +duchess shall speak of his father's small shop, or bring into the +light of day his grandfather's cobbler's awl? And yet it is so +difficult to be altogether silent! It may not be necessary for +any of us to be always talking of our own parentage. We may be +generally reticent as to our uncles and aunts, and may drop even +our brothers and sisters in our ordinary conversation. But if a +man never mentions his belongings among those with whom he lives, +he becomes mysterious, and almost open to suspicion. It begins +to be known that nobody knows anything of such a man, and even +friends become afraid. It is certainly convenient to be able to +allude, if it be but once in a year, to some blood relation. + +Ferdinand Lopez, who in other respects had much in his +circumstances on which to congratulate himself, suffered trouble +in his mind respecting his ancestors such as I have endeavoured +to describe. He did not know very much himself, but what little +he did know he kept altogether to himself. He had no father or +mother, no uncle, aunt, brother or sister, no cousin even whom he +could mention in a cursory way to his dearest friend. He +suffered no doubt;--but with Spartan consistency he so hid his +trouble from the world that no one knew that he suffered. Those +with whom he lived, and who speculated often and wondered much as +to who he was never dreamed that the silent man's reticence was a +burden to himself. At no special conjuncture of his life, at no +period which could be marked with the finger of the observer, did +he glaringly abstain from any statement which at the moment might +be natural. He never hesitated, blushed, or palpably laboured at +concealment; but the fact remained that though a great many men +and not a few women knew Ferdinand Lopez very well, none of them +knew whence he had come, or what was his family. + +He was a man, however, naturally reticent, who never alluded to +his own affairs unless in pursuit of some object the way to which +was clear before his eyes. Silence therefore on a matter which +is common in the mouths of most men was less difficult to him +than to another, and the result less embarrassing. Dear old +Jones, who tells his friends at the club of every pound that he +loses or wins at the races, who boasts of Mary's favours and +mourns over Lucy's coldness almost in public, who issues +bulletins on the state of his purse, his stomach, his stable, and +his debts, could not with any amount of care keep from us the +fact that his father was an attorney's clerk, and made his first +money by discounting small bills. Everybody knows it, and Jones, +who like popularity, grieves at the unfortunate publicity. But +Jones is relieved from a burden which would have broken his poor +shoulders, and which even Ferdinand Lopez, who is a strong man, +often finds it hard to bear without wincing. + +It was admitted on all sides that Ferdinand Lopez was a +'gentleman'. Johnson says that any other derivation of this +difficult word than that which causes it to signify 'a man of +ancestry' is whimsical. There are many who, in defining the term +for their own use, still adhere to Johnson's dictum;--but they +adhere to it with certain unexpressed allowances for possible +exceptions. The chances are very much in favour of the well-born +man, but exceptions may exist. It was not generally believed +that Ferdinand Lopez was well born;--but he was a gentleman. +And this most precious rank was acceded to him although he was +employed,--or at least had been employed,--on business which +does not of itself give such a warrant of position as is supposed +to be afforded by the bar and the church, by the military +services and by physic. He had been on the Stock Exchange, and +still in some manner, not clearly understood by his friends, did +business in the City. + +At the time with which we are now concerned Ferdinand Lopez was +thirty-three years old, and as he had begun life early he had +been long before the world. It was known of him that he had been +at a good English private school, and it was reported, on the +solitary evidence of one of who had been there as his +schoolfellow, that a rumour was current in the school that his +school bills were paid by an old gentleman who was not related to +him. Thence, at the age of seventeen, he had been sent to a +German university, and at the age of twenty-one had appeared in +London, in a stockbroker's office, where he was soon known as an +accomplished linguist, and as a very clever fellow,--precocious, +not given to many pleasures, apt for work, but considered hardly +trustworthy by employers, not as being dishonest, but as having a +taste for being a master rather than a servant. Indeed his +period of servitude was very short. It was not in his nature to +be active on behalf of others. He was soon active for himself, +and at one time it was supposed that he was making a fortune. +Then it was known that he had left his regular business, and it +was supposed that he had lost all that he had ever made or had +ever possessed. But nobody, not even his own bankers, or his own +lawyer,--not even the old woman who looked after his linen,-- +ever really knew the state of his affairs. + +He was certainly a handsome man,--his beauty being of a sort +which men are apt to deny and women to admit lavishly. He was +nearly six feet tall, very dark and very thin, with regular well- +cut features, indicating little to the physiognomist unless it be +the great gift of self-possession. His hair was cut short, and +he wore no beard beyond an absolutely black moustache. His teeth +were perfect, in form and in whiteness,--a characteristic which +though it may be a valued item in a general catalogue of personal +attraction, does not generally recommend a man to the unconscious +judgment of his acquaintance. But about the mouth and chin of +this man there was a something of a softness, perhaps in the play +of his lips, perhaps in the dimple, which in some degree lessened +the feeling of hardness which was produced by the square brow and +bold, unflinching, combative eyes. They who knew him and like +him were reconciled by the lower face. The greater number who +knew him and did not like him, felt and resented,--even though +in nine cases out of ten they might, express no resentment even +to themselves,--the pugnacity of his steady glance. + +For he was essentially one of those men who are always, in the +inner workings of their minds, defending themselves and attacking +others. He could not give a penny to a woman at a crossing +without a look which argued at full length her injustice in +making her demand, and his freedom from all liability let him +walk the crossing as often as he might. He could not seat +himself in a railway carriage without a lesson to his opposite +neighbour that in all the mutual affairs of travelling, +arrangement of feet, disposition of bags, and opening of windows, +it would be that neighbour's duty to submit and his to exact. It +was, however, for the spirit rather than for the thing itself +that he combatted. The woman with the broom got her penny. The +opposite gentleman when once by a glance he had expressed +submission was allowed his own way with the legs and with the +window. I would not say that Ferdinand Lopez was prone to do +ill-natured things; but he was imperious, and he had learned to +carry his empire in his eye. + +The reader must submit to be told one or two further and still +smaller details respecting the man, and then the man shall be +allowed to make his own way. No one of those around him knew how +much care he took to dress himself well, or how careful he was +that no one should know it. His very tailor regarded him as +being simply extravagant in the number of his coats and trousers, +and his friends looked upon him as one of those fortunate beings +to whose nature belongs a facility of being well dressed, or +almost an impossibility of being ill dressed. We all know the +man,--a little man generally, who moves seldom and softly,--who +looks always as though he had just been sent home in a bandbox. +Ferdinand Lopez was not a little man, and moved freely enough; +but never, at any moment,--going into the city or coming out of +it, on horseback or on foot, at home over his book or after the +mazes of the dance,--was he dressed otherwise than with perfect +care. Money and time did it, but folk thought that it grew with +him, as did his hair and his nails. And he always rode a horse +which charmed good judges of what a park nag should be;--not a +prancing, restless, giggling, sideway-going, useless garran, but +an animal well made, well bitted, with perfect paces, on whom a +rider if it pleased him could be as quiet as a statue in a +monument. It often did please Ferdinand Lopez to be quiet on +horseback; and yet he did not look like a statue, for it was +acknowledged through all London that he was a good horseman. He +lived luxuriously too,--though whether at his ease or not nobody +knew,--for he kept a brougham of his own, and during the hunting +season, he had two horses down at Leighton. There had once been +a belief abroad that he was ruined, but they who interest +themselves in such matters had found out,--or at any rate +believed that they had found out,--that he paid his tailor +regularly: and now there prevailed an opinion that Ferdinand +Lopez was a monied man. + +It was known to some few that he occupied rooms in a flat at +Westminster,--but to very few exactly where the rooms were +situate. Among all his friends no one was known to have entered +them. In a moderate way he was given to hospitality,--that is +to infrequent but when the occasion came, to graceful +hospitality. Some club, however, or tavern perhaps, in the +summer, some river bank would be chosen as the scene of these +festivities. To a few,--if, as suggested, amidst summer flowers +on the water's edge to men and women mixed,--he would be a +courtly and efficient host; for he had the rare gift of doing +such things well. + +Hunting was over, and the east wind was still blowing, and a +great portion of the London world was out of town taking its +Easter holiday, when on an unpleasant morning, Ferdinand Lopez +travelled into the city by the Metropolitan railway from +Westminster Bridge. It was his custom to go thither when he did +go,--not daily like a man of business, but as chance might +require, like a capitalist or a man of pleasure,--in his own +brougham. But on this occasion he walked down the river side, +and then walked from the Mansion House into a dingy little court +called Little Tankard Yard, near the Bank of England, and going +through a narrow dark long passage got into a little office at +the back of a building, in which there sat at a desk a greasy +gentleman with a new hat on one side of his head, who might +perhaps be about forty years old. The place was very dark, and +the man was turning over the leaves of a ledger. A stranger to +city ways might probably have said that he was idle, but he was +no doubt filling his mind with that erudition which would enable +him to earn his bread. On the other side of the desk there was a +little boy copying letters. These were Mr Sextus Parker,-- +commonly called Sexty Parker,--his clerk. Mr Parker was a +gentleman very well known and at the present moment favourably +esteemed on the Stock Exchange. 'What, Lopez!' said he. +'Uncommon glad to see you. What can I do for you?' + +'Just come inside,--will you?' said Lopez. Now within Mr +Parker's very small office there was a smaller office, in which +there were a safe, a small rickety Pembroke table, two chairs, +and an old washing-stand with a tumbled towel. Lopez led the way +into this sanctum as though he knew the place well, and Sexty +Parker followed him. + +'Beastly day, isn't it?' said Sexty. + +'Yes,--a nasty east wind.' + +'Cutting one in two, with a hot sun at the same time. One ought +to hybernate at this time of the year.' + +'Then why don't you hybernate?' said Lopez. + +'Business is too good. That's about it. A man has to stick to +it when it does come. Everybody can't do like you;--give up +regular work, and make a better thing of an hour now and an hour +then, just as it pleases you. I shouldn't dare go in for that +kind of thing. + +'I don't suppose you or any one else know what I go in for,' said +Lopez, with a look that indicated offence. + +'Nor don't care,' said Sexty;--'only hope it's something good, +for your sake.' Sexty Parker had known Mr Lopez well, now for +some years, and being an overbearing man himself,--somewhat even +of a bully if the truth be spoken,--and by no means apt to give +way unless hard pressed, had often tried his 'hand' on his +friend, as he himself would have said. But I doubt whether he +could remember any instance in which he could congratulate +himself on success. He was trying his hand again now, but did it +with a faltering voice, having caught a glance of his friend's +eye. + +'I dare say not,' said Lopez. Then he continued without changing +his voice or the nature of his eye. 'I'll tell you what I want +you to do now. I want your name to this bill for three months.' + +Sexty Parker opened his mouth and his eyes, and took the bit of +paper that was tendered to him. It was a promissory note for 750 +pounds, which, if signed by him, would at the end of the +specified period make him liable for that sum were it not +otherwise paid. His friend Mr Lopez was indeed applying to him +for the assistance of his name in raising a loan to the amount of +the sum named. This was a kind of favour which a man should ask +almost on his knees,--and which, if so asked, Mr Sextus Parker +would certainly refuse. And here was Ferdinand Lopez asking it, +who, Sextus Parker had latterly regarded as an opulent man,--and +asking it not at all on his knees, but, as one might say, at the +muzzle of a pistol. 'Accommodation bill!' said Sexty. 'Why, you +ain't hard up, are you?' + +'I'm not going just at present to tell you much about my affairs, +and yet I expect you to do what I ask you. I don't suppose you +doubt my ability to raise 750 pounds.' + +'Oh, dear, no,' said Sexty, who had been looked at and who had not +borne the inspection well. + +'And I don't suppose you would refuse me even if I were hard up, +as you call it.' There had been affairs before between the two +men in which Lopez had probably been the stronger, and the memory +of them, added to the inspection which was still going on, was +heavy upon poor Sexty. + +'Oh, dear, no;--I wasn't thinking of refusing, I suppose a +fellow may be a little surprised at such a thing.' + +'I don't know why you should be surprised, as such things are +very common. I happen to have taken a share in a loan a little +beyond my immediate means, and therefore want a few hundreds. +There is no one I can ask with a better grace than you. If you +ain't--afraid about it, just sign it.' + +'Oh, I ain't afraid,' said Sexty, taking his pen and writing his +name across the bill. But even before the signature was +finished, when his eye was taken away from the face of his +companion and fixed upon the disagreeable piece of paper beneath +his hand, he repented of what he was doing. He almost arrested +his signature half-way. He did hesitate, but had not pluck +enough to stop his hand. 'It does seem to be an odd +transaction all the same,' he said as he leaned back in his +chair. + +'It's the commonest thing in the world,' said Lopez picking up +the bill in a leisurely way, folding it and putting it into his +pocket-book. 'Have our names never been together on a bit of +paper before?' + +'When we both had something to make by it.' + +'You've nothing to make and nothing to lose by this. Good day +and many thanks,--though I don't think so much of the affair as +you seem to do.' Then Ferdinand Lopez took his departure, and +Sexty Parker was left alone in bewilderment. + +'By George,--that's queer,' he said to himself. 'Who'd have +thought of Lopez being hard up for a few hundred pounds? But it +must be all right. He wouldn't have come in that fashion, if it +hadn't been all right. I oughtn't to have done it though! A man +ought never to do that kind of thing,--never,--never!' And Mr +Sextus Parker was much discontented with himself, so that when he +got home that evening to the wife of his bosom and his little +family at Ponders End, he by no means made himself agreeable to +them. For that sum of 750 pounds sat upon his bosom as he ate +his supper, and lay upon his chest as he slept,--like a +nightmare. + + + +CHAPTER 2 + +EVERETT WHARTON. + +On that same day Lopez dined with his friend Everett Wharton at a +new club, called the Progress, of which they were both members. +The Progress was certainly a new club, having as yet been open +hardly more than three years; but still it was old enough to have +seen many of the hopes of its early youth become dim with age and +inaction. For the Progress had intended to do great things for +the Liberal Party,--or rather for political liberality in +general,--and had in truth done little or nothing. It had been +got up with considerable enthusiasm, and for a while certain +fiery politicians had believed that through the instrumentality +of this institution men of genius and spirit, and natural power, +but without wealth,--meaning always themselves,--would be +supplied with sure seats in Parliament and a probably share in +the Government. But no such results had been achieved. There +had been a want of something,--some deficiency felt but not yet +defined,--which had hitherto been fatal. The young men said it +was because no old stager who knew the way of pulling the wires +would come forward and put the club in the proper groove. The +old men said it was because the young men were pretentious +puppies. It was, however, not to be doubted that the party of +Progress had become slack, and that the Liberal politicians of +the country, although a special new club had been opened for the +furtherance of their views, were not at present making much way. +'What we want is organization,' said one of the leading young +men. But the organization was not as yet forthcoming. + +The club, nevertheless, went on its way, like other clubs, and +men dined and smoked and played billiards and pretended to read. +Some few energetic members still hoped that a good day would come +in which their grand ideas might be realized,--but as regarded +the members generally, they were content to eat and drink and +play billiards. It was a fairly good club,--with a sprinkling +of Liberal lordlings, a couple of dozen of members of Parliament +who had been made to believe that they would neglect their party +duties unless they paid their money, and the usual assortment of +barristers, attorneys, city merchants, and idle men. It was good +enough, at any rate, for Ferdinand Lopez, who was particular +about his dinner, and had an opinion of his own about wines. He +had been heard to assert that, for real quiet comfort, there was +not a club in London equal to it, but his hearers were not aware +that in the past days he had been black-balled at the T and the +G. These were accidents which Lopez had a gift of keeping in +the background. His present companion, Everett Wharton, had, as +well himself, been an original member;--and Wharton had been one +of those who had hoped to find in the club a stepping-stone to +high political life, and who now talked often with idle energy of +the need for organization. + +'For myself,' said Lopez, 'I can conceive no vainer object of +ambition than a seat in the British Parliament. What does any +man gain by it? The few are successful work very hard for little +pay and no thanks,--or nearly equally hard for no pay and as +little thanks. The many who fail sit idly for hours, undergoing +the weary task of listening to platitudes, and enjoy in return +the now absolutely valueless privilege of having MP written on +their letters.' + +'Somebody must make the laws for the country.' + +'I don't see the necessity. I think the country would do +uncommonly well if it were to know that no old law would be +altered or new law made for the next twenty years.' + +'You wouldn't have repealed the corn laws?' + +'There are no corn laws to repeal now.' + +'Nor modify the income tax?' + +'I would modify nothing. But at any rate, whether laws are to be +altered or to be left, it is a comfort to me that I need not put +my finger into that pie. There is one benefit indeed in being in +the House.' + +'You can't be arrested.' + +'Well;--that, as far as it goes, and one other. It assists a +man in getting a seat as the director of certain companies. +People are still such asses that they trust a Board of Directors +made up of members of Parliament, and therefore of course members +are made welcome. But if you want to get into the House, why +don't you arrange it with your father, instead of waiting for +what the club may do for you?' + +'My father wouldn't pay a shilling for such a purpose. He was +never in the House himself.' + +'And therefore despises it.' + +'A little of that, perhaps. No man ever worked harder than he +did, or, in his way, more successfully; and having seen one after +another of his juniors become members of Parliament, while he +stuck to the attorneys, there is perhaps a little jealousy about +it.' + +'From what I see of the way you live at home, I should think your +father would do anything for you,--with proper management. +There is no doubt, I suppose, that he could afford it?' + +'My father never in his life said anything to me about his own +money affairs though he says a great deal about mine. No man +ever was closer than my father. But I believe he could afford +almost anything.' + +'I wish I had such a father,' said Ferdinand Lopez. 'I think +that I should succeed in ascertaining the extent of his +capabilities, and in making some use of them too.' + +Wharton nearly asked his friend,--almost summoned courage to ask +him,--whether his father had done much for him. They were very +intimate; and on one subject, in which Lopez was much interested, +their confidence had been very close. But the younger and weaker +man of the two could not quite bring himself to the point of +making an inquiry which he thought would be disagreeable. Lopez +had never before, in all their intercourse, hinted at the +possibility of his having or having had filial aspirations. He +had been as though he had been created self-sufficient, +independent of mother's milk or father's money. Now the question +might have been asked almost naturally. But it was not asked. + +Everett Wharton was a trouble to his father,--but not an +agonizing trouble, as are some sons. His faults were not of a +nature to rob his father's cup of all its sweetness and to bring +grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. Old Wharton had never had +to ask himself whether he should now, at length, let his son fall +into the lowest abysses, or whether he should yet again struggle +to put him on his legs, again forgive him, again pay his debts, +again endeavour to forget dishonour, and place it all to the +score of thoughtless youth. Had it been so, I think that, if not +on the first or second fall, certainly on the third, the young +man would have gone into the abyss, for Mr Wharton was a stern +man, and capable of coming to a clear conclusion on things that +were nearest and even dearest to himself. But Everett Wharton +had simply shown himself to be inefficient to earn his own bread. +He had never declined even to do this,--but had simply been +inefficient. He had not declared, either by words or by actions, +that as his father was a rich man, and as he was an only son, he +would therefore do nothing. But he had tried his hand thrice, +and in each case, after but short trial, had assured him father +and his friends that the thing had not suited him. Leaving +Oxford without a degree,--for reading of the schools did not +suit him,--he had gone into a banking-house, by no means as a +mere clerk, but with an expressed proposition from his father, +backed by the assent of a partner, that he should work his way up +to wealth and a great commercial position. But six months taught +him that banking was an 'abomination', and he at once went into a +course of reading with a barrister. He remained at this till he +was called,--for a man may be called with very little continuous +work. But after he was called the solitude of his chambers was +too much for him, and at twenty-five he found that the Stock +Exchange was the mart in the world for such talents and energies +as he possessed. What was the nature of his failure during the +year that he went into the city, was know only to himself and his +father,--unless Ferdinand Lopez knew something of it also. But +at six-and-twenty the Stock Exchange was also abandoned; and now, +at eight-and-twenty, Everett Wharton had discovered that a +parliamentary career was that for which nature and his special +genius had intended him. He had probably suggested this to his +father, and had met with some cold rebuff. + +Everett Wharton was a good-looking, manly fellow, six feet high, +with broad shoulders with light hair, wearing a large silky bushy +beard, which made him look older than his years, who neither by +his speech nor by his appearance would ever be taken for a fool, +but who showed by the very actions of his body as well as by the +play of his face, that he lacked firmness of purpose. He +certainly was no fool. He had read much, and though he generally +forgot what he read, there were left with him from his readings +certain nebulous lights, begotten by other men's thinking, which +enabled him to talk on most subjects. It cannot be said of him +that he did much thinking for himself;--but he thought what he +thought. He believed of himself that he had gone rather deep +into politics, and that he was entitled to call many statesmen +asses because they did not see the things which he saw. He had +the great question of labour, and all that refers to unions, +strikes, and lock-outs, quite at his fingers' ends. He knew how +the Church of England should be disestablished and recomposed. +He was quite clear on questions of finance, and saw to a 't' how +progress should be made towards communism, so that no violence +should disturb that progress, and that in due course of centuries +all desire for personal property should be conquered and +annihilated by a philanthropy so general as hardly be accounted a +virtue. In the meantime he could never contrive to pay his +tailor's bill regularly out of the allowance of 400 pounds a year +which his father made him, and was always dreaming of the +comforts of a handsome income. + +He was a popular man certainly,--very popular with women, to +whom he was always courteous, and generally liked by men, to whom +he was genial and good-natured. Though he was not himself aware +of the fact, he was very dear to his father, who in his own +silent way almost admired and certainly liked the openness and +guileless freedom of a character which was very opposite to his +own. The father, though he had never said a word to flatter the +son, did in truth give his offspring credit for greater talent +than he possessed, and, even when appearing to scorn them, would +listen to the young man's diatribes almost with satisfaction. +And Everett was very dear also to a sister, who was the only +other living member of this branch of the Wharton family. Much +will be said of her in these pages, and it is hoped that the +reader may take an interest in her fate. But here, in speaking +of the brother, it may suffice to say, that the sister, who was +endowed with infinitely finer gifts than his, did give credit to +the somewhat pretentious claims of her less noble brother. + +Indeed it had been perhaps a misfortune with Everett Wharton that +some people had believed in him,--and a further misfortune that +some others had thought it worth their while to pretend to +believe in him. Among the latter might probably be reckoned the +friend with whom he was now dining at the Progress. A man may +flatter another, as Lopez occasionally did flatter Wharton, +without preconcerted falsehood. It suits one man to be well with +another, and the one learns gradually and perhaps unconsciously +the way to take advantage of the foibles of the other. Now it +was most material to Lopez that he should stand well with all the +members of the Wharton family, as he aspired to the hand of the +daughter of the house. Of her regard he already thought himself +nearly sure. Of the father's sanction to such a marriage he had +reason to be almost more than doubtful. But the brother was his +friend,--and in such circumstances a man is almost justified in +flattering a brother. + +'I'll tell you what it is, Lopez,' said Wharton, as they strolled +out of the club together, a little after ten o'clock, 'the men of +the present day won't give themselves the trouble to occupy their +minds with matters which have, or should have, real interest. +Pope knew all about when he said that "The proper study of +mankind is man." But people don't read Pope now, or if they do +they don't take the trouble to understand him.' + +'Men are too busy making money, my dear fellow.' + +'That's just it. Money's a very nice thing.' + +'Very nice,' said Lopez. + +'But the search after it is debasing. If a man could make money +for four, or six, or even eight hours a day, and then wash his +mind of the pursuit, as a clerk in an office washes the copies +and ledgers out of his mind, then--' + +'He would never make money in that way--and keep it.' + +'And therefore the whole thing is debasing. A man ceases to care +for the great interests of the world, or even to be aware of +their existence, when his whole soul is in Spanish bonds. They +wanted to make a banker of me, but I found that it would kill +me.' + +'It would kill me, I think if I had to confine myself to Spanish +bonds.' + +'You know what I mean. You at any rate understand me, though I +fear you are too far gone to abandon the idea of making a +fortune.' + +'I would abandon it to-morrow if I could come into a fortune +ready made. A man must at any rate eat.' + +'Yes,--he must eat. But I am not quite sure,' said Wharton +thoughtfully, 'that he need think about what he eats.' + +'Unless the beef is sent up without horse radish!' It had +happened that when the two men sat down to their dinner the +insufficient quantity of that vegetable supplied by the steward +of the club had been all consumed, and Wharton had complained of +the grievance. + +'A man has a right to that for which he has paid,' said Wharton, +with mock solemnity, 'and if he passes over laches of that nature +without observation, he does an injury to humanity at large. I'm +not going to be caught in a trap, you know, because I like horse +radish with my beef. Well, I can't go farther out of my way, as +I have a deal of reading to do before I court my Morpheus. If +you'll take my advice, you'll go straight to the governor. +Whatever Emily may feel, I don't think she'll say much to +encourage you unless you go about it after that fashion. She has +prim notions of her own, which perhaps are not after all so much +amiss when a man wants to marry a girl.' + +'God forbid that I should think that anything about your sister +was amiss!' + +'I don't think there is much myself. Women are generally +superficial,--but some are honestly superficial and some +dishonestly. Emily at any rate is honest.' + +'Stop half a moment.' Then they sauntered arm in arm down the +broad pavement leading from Pall Mall to the Duke of York's +column. 'I wish I could make out your father more clearly. He +is always civil to me, but he has a cold way of looking at me +which makes me think I am not in his good books.' + +'He is like that to everybody.' + +'I never seem to get beyond the skin with him. You must have +heard him speak of me in my absence.' + +'He never says very much about anybody.' + +'But a word would let me know how the land lies. You know me +well enough to be aware that I am the last man to be curious as +to what others think of me. Indeed I do not care about it as +much as a man should do. I am utterly indifferent to the opinion +of the world at large, and would never object to the company of a +pleasant person because the pleasant person abused me behind my +back. What I value is the pleasantness of the man, and not the +liking or disliking for myself. But here the dearest aim of my +life is concerned, and I might be guided either this way or that, +or to my great advantage, by knowing whether I stand well or ill +with him.' + +'You have dined three times within the last three months in +Manchester Square, and I don't know any other man,--certainly no +other young man,--who has had such strong proof of intimacy from +my father.' + +'Yes, and I know my advantages. But I have been there as your +friend, not his.' + +'He doesn't care twopence about my friends. I wanted to give +Charlie Skate a dinner, but my father wouldn't have him at any +price.' + +'Charlie Skate is out at elbows, and bets at billiards. I am +respectable,--or at any rate your father thinks so. Your father +is more anxious about you than you are aware of, and wishes to +make his house pleasant to you as long as he can do so to your +advantage. As far as you are concerned he rather approves of me, +fancying that my turn for making money is stronger than my turn +for spending it. Nevertheless, he looks upon me as a friend of +yours rather than his own. Though he has given me three dinners +in three months,--and I own the greatness of his hospitality,-- +I don't suppose he ever said a word in my favour. I wish I knew +what he does say.' + +'He says he knows nothing about you.' + +'Oh;--that's it, is it? Then he can know no harm. When next he +says so ask him how many of the men who dine at his house he can +say as much. Good night;--I won't keep you any longer. But I +can tell you this;--if between us we can manage to handle him +rightly, you may get your seat in Parliament and I may get my +wife;--that is, of course, if she will have me.' + +Then they parted, but Lopez remained in the pathway, walking up +and down by the side of the old military club, thinking of +things. He certainly knew his friend, the younger Wharton +intimately, appreciating the man's good qualities, and being +fully aware of the man's weakness. By his questions he had +extracted quite enough to assure himself that Emily's father +would be adverse to his proposition. He had not felt much doubt +before, but now he was certain. 'He doesn't know much about me,' +he said, musing to himself. 'Well, no; he doesn't;--and there +isn't very much that I can tell him. Of course he's wise,--as +wisdom goes. But then, wise men do do foolish things at +intervals. The discreetest of city bankers are talked out of +their money; the most scrupulous of matrons are talked out of +their virtue; the most experienced of statesmen are talked out of +their principles. And who can really calculate chances? Men who +lead forlorn hopes generally push through without being wounded; +--and the fifth or sixth heir comes to a title.' So much he +said, palpably, though to himself with his inner voice. Then-- +impalpably, with no even inner voice,--he asked himself what +chance he might have of prevailing with the girl herself; and he +almost ventured to tell himself that in that direction, he need +not despair. + +In very truth he loved the girl and reverenced her, believing her +to be better and higher and nobler than other human beings,--as +a man does when he is in love; and so believing, he had those +doubts as to his own success which such reverence produces. + + + +CHAPTER 3 + +MR ABEL WHARTON Q.C. + +Lopez was not a man to let grass grow under his feet when he had +anything to do. When he was tired of walking backwards and +forwards over the same bit of pavement, subject all the while to +a cold east wind, he went home and thought of the same matter +while he lay in bed. Even were he to get the girl's assurances +of love, without her father's consent he might find himself +farther from his object than ever. Mr Wharton was a man of old +fashions, who would think himself ill-used and his daughter ill- +used, and who would think also that a general offence would have +been committed against good social manners, if his daughter were +to be asked for her hand without his previous consent. Should he +absolutely refuse,--why then the battle, though it would be a +desperate battle, might perhaps be fought with other strategy; +but, giving to the matter his best consideration, Lopez thought +it expedient to go at once to the father. In doing this he would +have no silly tremors. Whatever he might feel in speaking to the +girl, he had sufficient self-confidence to be able to ask the +father, if not with assurance, at any rate without trepidation. +It was, he thought, probable that the father, at the first +attack, would neither altogether accede, or altogether refuse. +The disposition of the man was averse to the probability of an +absolute reply at the first moment. The lover imagined that it +might be possible for him to take advantage of the period of +doubt which would be created. + +Mr Wharton was and had for a great many years been a barrister +practising in the Equity Courts,--or rather in one Equity Court, +for throughout a life's work, now extending to nearly fifty +years, he had hardly ever gone out of the single Vice- +Chancellor's Court which was much better known by Mr Wharton's +name than by that of the less eminent judge who now sat there. +His had been a very peculiar, a very toilsome, but yet probably a +very satisfactory life. He had begun his practice early, and had +worked in a stuff gown till he was nearly sixty. At that time, +he had amassed a large fortune, mainly from his profession, but +partly also by the careful use of his own small patrimony and by +his wife's money. Men knew that he was rich, but no one knew the +extent of his wealth. When he submitted to take a silk gown, he +declared among his friends that he did so as a step preparatory +to his retirement. The altered method of work would not suit him +at his age, nor,--as he said,--would it be profitable. He +would take his silk, as a honour for his declining years, so that +he might become a bencher at his Inn. But he had now been +working for the last twelve or fourteen years with his silk gown, +--almost as hard as in younger days, and with pecuniary results +almost as serviceable; and though from month to month he declared +his intention of taking no fresh briefs, and though he did now +occasionally refuse work, still he was there with his mind as +clear as ever, and with his body apparently as little affected by +fatigue. + +Mr Wharton had not married till he was forty, and his wife had +now been two years dead. He had had six children,--of whom but +two were now left to make a household for his old age. He had +been nearly fifty years when his youngest daughter was born, and +was therefore now an old father of a young child. But he was one +of those men who, as in youth they are never very young, so in +age are they never very old. He could still ride his cob in the +park jauntily; and did so carefully every morning in his life, +after an early cup of tea and before his breakfast. And he could +walk home from his chambers every day, and on Sundays could to +the round of the parks on foot. Twice a week, on Wednesdays and +Saturdays, he dined at that old law club, the Eldon, and played +whist after dinner till twelve o'clock. This was the great +dissipation and, I think, the chief charm of his life. In the +middle of August he and his daughter usually went for a month to +Wharton Hall in Hertfordshire, the seat of his cousin Sir Alured +Wharton;--and this was the one duty of his life which was a +burden to him. But he had been made to believe that it was +essential to his health, and to his wife's, and then to his +girl's, health, that he should every summer leave town for a +time,--and where else was there to go? Sir Alured was a +relation and a gentleman. Emily liked Wharton Hall. It was the +proper thing. He hated Wharton Hall, but then he did not know +any place out of London that he would not hate worse. He had +once been induced to go up the Rhine; but had never repeated the +experiment of foreign travel. Emily sometimes went abroad with +her cousins during which periods it was supposed that the old +lawyer spent a good deal of his time at the Eldon. He was a +spare, thin, strongly made man, with spare light brown hair, +hardly yet grizzled, with small grey whiskers, clear eyes, bushy +eyebrows, with a long ugly nose, on which young barristers had +been heard to declare that you might hang a small kettle, and +with considerable vehemence of talk when he was opposed in +argument. For, with all his well-known coolness of temper, Mr +Wharton could become very hot in an argument, when the nature of +the case in hand required heat. On one subject all who knew him +were agreed. He was a thorough lawyer. Many doubted his +eloquence, and some declared that he had known well the extent of +his own powers in abstaining from seeking the higher honours of +his profession; but no one doubted his law. He had once written +a book,--on the mortgage of stocks in trade; but that had been +in early life, and he had never since dabbled in literature. + +He was certainly a man of whom men were generally afraid. At the +whist-table no one would venture to scold him. In the court no +one ever contradicted him. In his own house, though he was very +quiet, the servants dreaded to offend him, and were attentive to +his slightest behests. When he condescended to ride with any +acquaintance in the park, it was always acknowledged that old +Wharton was to regulate the pace. His name was Abel, and all his +life he had been known as able Abe,--a silent, far-seeing, +close-fisted, just old man, who, was not, however, by any means +deficient in sympathy either with the sufferings or with the joys +of humanity. + +It was Easter time, and the courts were not sitting, but Mr +Wharton was in his chamber as a matter of course at ten o'clock. +He knew no real homely comforts elsewhere,--unless at the whist- +table at the Eldon. He ate and drank and slept in his own house +in Manchester Square, but he could hardly be said to live there. +It was not there that his mind was awake, and the powers of the +man were exercised. When he came up from the dining-room to join +his daughter after dinner, he would get her to sing him a song, +and would then seat himself with a book. But he never read in +his own house, invariably falling into a sweet and placid +slumber, from which he was never disturbed till his daughter +kissed him as she went to bed. Then he would walk about the room +and look at his watch, and shuffle uneasily through half an hour, +till his conscience allowed him to take himself to his chamber. +He was a man of no pursuits in his own house. But from ten in +the morning til five, or often six, in the evening, his mind was +active in some work. It was not now all law, as it used to be. +In the drawer of the old piece of furniture which stood just at +the right hand of his own arm-chair there were various books +hidden away, which he was sometimes ashamed to have seen by his +clients,--poetry and novels, and even fairy tales. For there +was nothing Mr Wharton could not read in his chambers, though +there was nothing that he could read in his own house. He had a +large pleasant room in which to sit, looking out from the ground +floor of Stone Buildings on to the gardens belonging to the Inn, +--and her, in the centre of the metropolis, but in perfect quiet +as far as the outside world was concerned, he had lived and still +lived his life. + +At about noon on the day following that on which Lopez had made +his sudden swoop on Mr Parker and had then dined with Everett +Wharton, he called at Stone Buildings, and was shown into the +lawyer's room. His quick eye at once discovered the book which +Mr Wharton half hid away, and saw upon it Mr Mudie's suspicious +ticket. Barristers certainly never get their law books from +Mudie, and Lopez at once knew that his hoped-for father-in-law +had been reading a novel. He had not suspected such weakness, +but argued well from it for the business he had in hand. There +must be a soft spot to be found about the heart of an old lawyer +who spent his mornings in such occupation. 'How do you do, sir?' +said Mr Wharton rising from his seat. 'I hope you are well, +sir.' Though he had been reading a novel his tone and manner +were very cold. Lopez had never been in Stone Buildings before, +and was not quite sure that he might not have committed some +offence in coming there. 'Take a seat, Mr Lopez. Is there +anything I can do for you in my way?' + +There was a great deal that could be done 'in his way' as father, +--but how was it to be introduced and the case made clear? Lopez +did not know whether the old man had as yet ever suspected such a +feeling as that which he now intended to declare. He had been +intimate at the house at Manchester Square, and had certainly +ingratiated himself very closely with a certain Mrs Roby, who had +been Mr Wharton's sister and constant companion, who lived in +Berkeley Street, close round the corner from Manchester Square, +and spent very much of her time with Emily Wharton. They were +together daily, as though Mrs Roby had assumed the part of a +second mother, and Lopez was well aware that Mrs Roby knew of his +love. If there was a real confidence between Mrs Roby and the +old man, the old lawyer knew about it also;--but as to that +Lopez felt that he was in the dark. + +The task of speaking to an old father is not unpleasant when the +lover knows that he has been smiled upon, and, in fact, approved +for the last six months. He is going to be patted on the back, +and made much of, and received in the family. He is to be told +that his Mary or his Augusta has been the best daughter in the +world, and will therefore certainly be the best wife, and he +himself will probably on that special occasion be spoken of with +unqualified praise,--and all will be pleasant. But the subject +is one very difficult to broach when no previous light has been +thrown on it. Ferdinand Lopez, however, was not the man to stand +shivering on the brink when a plunge was necessary,--and +therefore he made his plunge. 'Mr Wharton, I have taken the +liberty to call upon you, because I want to speak to you about +your daughter.' + +'About my daughter!' The old man's surprise was quite genuine. +Of course when he had given himself a moment to think, he knew +what must be the nature of his visitor's communication. But up +to that moment he had never mixed his daughter and Ferdinand +Lopez in his thoughts together. And now, the idea having come +upon him, he looked at the aspirant with severe and unpleasant +eyes. It was manifest to the aspirant that the first flash of +the thing was painful to the father. + +'Yes, sir. I know how great is my presumption. But, yet having +ventured, I will hardly say to entertain any hope, but to have +come to such a state that I can only by happy by hoping, I have +thought it best to come to you at once.' + +'Does she know anything of this?' + +'Of my visit to you? Nothing.' + +'Of your intentions;--of your suit generally? Am I to +understand that this has any sanction from her?' + +'None at all.' + +'Have you told her anything of it?' + +'Not a word. I come to ask you for your permission to address +her.' + +'You mean that she has no knowledge whatever of your, your +preference for her.' + +'I cannot say that. It is hardly possible that I should have +learned to love her as I do without some consciousness on her +part that it is so.' + +'What I mean is, without any beating about the bush,--have you +been making love to her?' + +'Who is to say what making love consists, Mr Wharton?' + +'D it, sir, a gentleman knows. A gentleman knows whether he +has been playing on a girl's feelings, and a gentleman, when he +is asked as I have asked you, will at any rate tell the truth. I +don't want any definitions. Have you been making love to her?' + +'I think, Mr Wharton, that I have behaved like a gentleman; and +that you will acknowledge at least so much when you come to know +exactly what I have done and what I have not done. I have +endeavoured to commend myself to your daughter, but I have never +spoken a word of love to her.' + +'Does Everett know of all this?' + +'Yes.' + +'And has he encouraged it?' + +'He knows of it because he is my intimate friend. Whoever the +lady might have been, I should have told him. He is attached to +me, and would not I think, on his own account, object to call me +his brother. I spoke to him yesterday on the matter very +plainly, and he told me that I ought certainly to see you first. +I quite agreed with him, and therefore I am here. There has +certainly been nothing in his conduct to make you angry, and I do +not think that there has been anything in mine.' + +There was a dignity of demeanour and a quiet assured courage +which had its effect upon the old lawyer. He felt that he could +not storm and talk in ambiguous language of what a 'gentleman' +would or would not do. He might disapprove of this man +altogether as a son-in-law,--and at the present moment he +thought he did,--but still the man was entitled to a civil +answer. How were lovers to approach the ladies of their love in +any manner more respectful than this? 'Mr Lopez,' he said, 'you +must forgive me if I say that you are comparatively a stranger to +us.' + +'That is an accident which would easily be cured if your will in +that direction were as good as mine.' + +'But, perhaps, it isn't. One has to be explicit in these +matters. A daughter's happiness is a very serious consideration; +--and some people, among whom I confess that I am one, consider +that like people should marry like. I should wish to see my +daughter marry,--not only in my own sphere, neither higher nor +lower,--but with someone of my own class.' + +'I hardly know, Mr Wharton, whether that is intended to exclude +me.' + +'Well,--to tell you the truth I know nothing about you. I don't +know who your father was,--whether he was an Englishman, whether +he was a Christian, whether he was a Protestant,--not even +whether he was a gentleman. These are questions which I should +not dream of asking under any other circumstances;--would be +matters with which I should have no possible concern, if you were +simply an acquaintance. But when you talk to a man about his +daughter--?' + +'I acknowledge freely your right of inquiry.' + +'And I know nothing of your means;--nothing whatever. I +understand that you live as a man of fortune, but I presume that +you earn your bread. I know nothing of the way in which you earn +it, nothing of the certainty or amount of your means.' + +'Those things are of course matters for inquiry; but may I +presume that you have no objection which satisfactory answers to +such questions may not remove?' + +'I shall never willingly give my daughter to anyone who is not +the son of an English gentleman. It may be a prejudice, but that +is my feeling.' + +'My father was certainly not an English gentleman. He was a +Portuguese.' In admitting this, and subjecting himself at once +to one clearly-stated ground of objection,--the objection being +one which, though admitted, carried with it neither fault nor +disgrace,--Lopez felt that he had got a certain advantage. He +could not get over the fact that he was the son of a Portuguese +parent, but by admitting that openly he thought he might avoid +present discussion on matters which might, perhaps, be more +disagreeable, but to which he need not allude if the accident of +birth were to be taken by the father as settling the question. + +'My mother was an English lady,' he added, 'but my father +certainly was not an Englishman. I never had the common +happiness of knowing either of them. I was an orphan before I +understood what it was to have a parent.' + +This was said with a pathos, which for the moment stopped the +expression of any further harsh criticism from the lawyer. Mr +Wharton could not instantly repeat his objection to a parentage +which was matter for such melancholy reflections; but he felt at +the same time that as he had luckily landed himself on a positive +and undeniable ground of objection to a match which was +distasteful to him, it would be unwise for him to go to other +matters in which he might be less successful. By doing so, he +would seem to abandon the ground which he had already made good. +He thought it probable that the man might have an adequate +income, and yet he did not wish to welcome him as a son-in-law. +He thought it possible that the Portuguese father might be a +Portuguese nobleman, and therefore one whom he might be driven to +admit to have been some sort of gentleman;--but yet this man who +was now in his presence and whom he continued to scan with the +closest observation, was not what he called a gentleman. The +foreign blood was proved, and that would suffice. As he looked +at Lopez, he thought that he detected Jewish signs, but he was +afraid to make any allusions to religion, lest Lopez should +declare his ancestors had been noted as Christians since St James +first preached in the Peninsula. + +'I was educated altogether in England,' continued Lopez, 'till I +was sent to a German university in the idea that the languages of +the Continent are not generally well learned in this country;--I +can never be sufficiently thankful to my guardian for doing so.' + +'I dare say;--I dare say. French and German are very useful. I +have a prejudice of my own in favour of Greek and Latin.' + +'But I rather fancy I picked up more Greek and Latin at Bonn than +I should have got here, had I stuck to nothing else.' + +'I dare say;--I dare say. You may be an Admirable Crichton for +what I know.' + +'I have not intended to make any boast, sir, but simply to +vindicated those who had the care of my education. If you have +no objection except that founded on my birth, which is an +accident--' + +'When one man is a peer and another a ploughman, that is an +accident. One doesn't find fault with the ploughman, but one +doesn't ask him to dinner.' + +'But my accident,' said Lopez smiling, 'is one which you would +hardly discover unless you were told. Had I called myself Talbot +you would not know but that I was as good an Englishman as +yourself.' + +'A man of course may be taken in by falsehoods,' said the lawyer. + +'If your have no other objection than that raised, I hope you +will allow me to visit in Manchester Square.' + +'There may be ten thousand other objections, Mr Lopez, but I +really think that the one is enough. Of course I know nothing of +my daughter's feelings. I should imagine that the matter is as +strange to her as it is to me. But I cannot give you anything +like encouragement. If I am ever to have a son-in-law, I should +wish to have an English son-in-law. I do not even know what your +profession is.' + +'I am engaged in foreign loans.' + +'Very precarious I should think. A sort of gambling, isn't it?' + +'It is the business by which many of the greatest mercantile +houses in the city have been made.' + +'I dare say;--I dare say;--and by which they come to ruin. I +have the greatest respect in the world for mercantile enterprise, +and I have had as much to do as most men with mercantile +questions. But I ain't sure that I wish to marry my daughter in +the City. Of course it's all prejudice. I won't deny that on +general subjects I can give as much latitude as any man; but when +one's own heart is attacked--' + +'Surely such a position as mine, Mr Wharton, is no attack!' + +'In my sense it is. When a man proposes to assault and invade +the very kernel of another man's heart, to share with him, and +indeed to take from him, the very dearest of his possessions, to +become part and parcel with him either for infinite good or +infinite evil, then a man has a right to guard even his +prejudices as precious bulwarks.' Mr Wharton as he said this was +walking about the room with his hands in his trouser pockets. 'I +have always been for absolute toleration in matters of religion, +--have always advocated the admission of Roman Catholics and Jews +into Parliament, and even to the Bench. In ordinary life I never +question a man's religion. It is nothing to do with me whether +he believes in Mahomet, or has no belief at all. But when a man +comes to ask for my daughter--' + +'I have always belonged to the Church of England,' said Ferdinand +Lopez. + +'Lopez is at any rate a bad name to go to a Protestant church +with, and I don't want my daughter to bear it if I am very frank +with you, as in such a matter men ought to understand each other. +Personally I have liked you well enough, and have been glad to +see you at my house. Everett and you have seemed to be friends, +and I have had no objection to make. But marrying into a family +is a very serious thing indeed.' + +'No man feels that more strongly than I do, Mr Wharton.' + +'There had better be an end of it.' + +'Even though I should be happy enough to obtain her favour?' + +'I can't think that she cares about you. I don't think it for a +moment. You say that you haven't spoken to her, and I am sure +she's not a girl to throw herself at a man's head. I don't +approve it, and it had better fall to the ground. It must fall +to the ground.' + +'I wish you would give me a reason.' + +'Because you are not English.' + +'But I am English. My father was a foreigner.' + +'It doesn't suit my ideas. I suppose I may have my own ideas +about my own family, Mr Lopez? I feel perfectly certain that my +child will do nothing to displease me, and this would displease +me. If we were to talk for an hour, I could say nothing +further.' + +'I hope that I may be able to present things to you in an aspect +so altered,' said Lopez as he prepared to take his leave, 'as to +make you change your mind.' + +'Possibly;--possibly,' said Wharton; 'but I do not think it is +possible. Good morning to you, sir. If I have said anything +that has seemed to be unkind, put it down to my anxiety as a +father and to not to my conduct as a man.' Then the door was +closed behind his visitor, and Mr Wharton was left walking up and +down his room alone. He was by no means satisfied with himself. +He felt that he had been rude and at the same time not decisive. +He had not explained to the man as he would wish to have done, +that it was monstrous and out of the question that a daughter of +the Whartons, one of the oldest families in England, should be +given to a friendless Portuguese, a probable Jew,--about whom +nobody knew nothing. Then he remembered that sooner or later his +girl would have at least 60,000 pounds, a fact of which no human +being but himself was aware. Would it not be well that somebody +should be made aware of it, so that his girl might have the +chance of suitors preferable to the swarthy son of Judah? He +began to be afraid, as he thought of it, that he was not managing +his matters well. How would it be with him if he should find +that the girl was really in love with this swarthy son of Judah? +He had never inquired about his girl's heart, though there was +one to whom he hoped that his girl's heart might some day be +given. He almost made up his mind to go home at once, so anxious +was he. But the prospect of having to spend an entire afternoon +in Manchester Square was to much for him, as he remained in his +chamber till the usual hour. + +Lopez, as he returned from Lincoln's Inn, westward to his club, +was, on the whole, contented with the interview. He had expected +opposition. He had not thought the cherry would fall easily into +his mouth. But the conversation generally had not taken those +turns which he thought would be most detrimental to him. + + + +CHAPTER 4 + +MRS ROBY. + +Mr Wharton, as he walked home, remembered that Mrs Roby was to +dine at his house that evening. During the remainder of the day, +after the departure of Lopez, he had been unable to take his mind +from the consideration of the proposition made to him. He had +tried the novel, and he had tried Huggins v. the Trustees of the +Charity of St Ambox, a case of undeniable importance in which he +was engaged on the part of Huggins, but neither was sufficiently +powerful to divert his thoughts. Throughout the morning he was +imagining what he would say to Emily about this lover of hers,-- +in what way he would commence the conversation, and how he would +express his own opinion should he find that she was in any degree +favourable to the man. Should she altogether ignore the man's +pretensions, there would be no difficulty. But if she hesitated, +--if, as was certainly possible, she should show any partiality +for the man, then there would be a knot which would required +untying. Hitherto the intercourse between the father and +daughter had been simple and pleasant. He had given her +everything she had asked for, and she had obeyed him in all the +very few matters as to which he had demanded obedience. +Questions of discipline, as far as there had been any discipline, +had generally been left to Mrs Roby. Mrs Roby was to dine at +Manchester Square to-day, and perhaps it would be well that he +should have a few words with Mrs Roby before he spoke to his +daughter. + +Mrs Roby had a husband, but Mr Roby had not been asked to dine in +the Square on this occasion. Mrs Roby dined in the Square very +often, but Mr Roby very seldom,--not probably above once a year, +on some special occasion. He and Mr Wharton had married sisters, +but they were quite unlike in character, and had never become +friends. Mrs Wharton had been nearly twenty years younger than +her sister; and Mr Roby a year or two younger than his wife. The +two men therefore belonged to different periods of life, Mr Roby +at the present time being a florid youth of forty. He had a +moderate fortune, inherited from his mother, of which he was +sufficiently careful; but he loved races, and read sporting +papers; he was addicted to hunting and billiards; he shot +pigeons,--and, so Mr Wharton had declared calumniously more than +once to an intimate friend,--had not an H in his vocabulary. +The poor man did drop an aspirate now and again; but he knew his +defect and strove hard, and with fair average success, to +overcome it. But Mr Wharton did not love him, and they were not +friends. Perhaps neither did Mrs Roby love him very ardently. +She was at any rate almost always willing to leave her own house +to come to the Square, and on such occasions Mr Roby was always +willing to dine at the Nimrod, the club which it delighted him to +frequent. + +Mr Wharton on entering his own house, met his son on the +staircase. 'Do you dine at home to-day, Everett?' + +'Well, sir, no, sir. I don't think I do. I think I half +promised to dine with a fellow at the club.' + +'Don't you think you'd make things meet more easily about the end +of the year if you dined oftener here, where you have nothing to +pay, and less frequently at the club, where you pay for +everything?' + +'But what should I save you would lose, sir. That's the way I +look at it.' + +'Then I advise you to look at it the other way, and leave me to +take care of myself. Come in here, I want to speak to you.' +Everett followed his father into a dingy back parlour, which was +fitted up with book shelves and was generally called the study, +but which was gloomy and comfortless because it was seldom used. +'I have had your friend Lopez with me at my chambers to-day. I +don't like your friend Lopez.' + +'I am sorry for that, sir.' + +'He is a man to whom I should wish to have a good deal of +evidence before I would trust him to be what he seems to be. I +dare say he's clever.' + +'I think he's more than clever.' + +'I dare say;--and well instructed in some respects.' + +'I believe him to be a thorough linguist, sir.' + +'I dare say. I remember a waiter in a hotel in Holborn who could +speak seven languages. It's an accomplishment very necessary for +a Courier or Queen's Messenger.' + +'You don't mean to say, sir, that you disregard foreign +languages?' + +'I have said nothing of the kind. But in my estimation they +don't stand in the place of principles, or a profession, or +birth, or country. I fancy there has been some conversation +between you about your sister.' + +'Certainly there has.' + +'A young man should be very chary about how he speaks to another +man, to a stranger, about his sister. A sister's name should be +too sacred for club talk.' + +'Club talk! Good heavens, sir, you don't think that I have +spoken of Emily in that way? There isn't a man in London who has +a higher respect for his sister than I have for mine. This man, +by no means in a light way, but with all seriousness, has told me +that he was attached to Emily; and I believing him to be a +gentleman and well to do in this world, have referred him to you. +Can that have been wrong?' + +'I don't know how he's "to do", as you call it. I haven't asked, +and I don't mean to ask. But I doubt his being a gentleman. He +is not an English gentleman. What was his father?' + +'I haven't the least idea.' + +'Or his mother?' + +'He has never mentioned her to me.' + +'Nor his family; nor anything of their antecedents? He is a man +fallen out of the moon. All that is nothing to us as passing +acquaintances. Between men such ignorance should I think bar +absolute intimacy;--but that may be a matter of taste. But it +should be held to be utterly antagonistic to any such alliance as +that of marriage. He seems to be a friend of yours. You had +better make him understand that it is quite out of the question. +I have told him so, and you had better repeat it.' So saying, Mr +Wharton went upstairs to dress, and Everett, having received his +father's instructions, went away to the club. + +When Mr Wharton reached the drawing-room, he found Mrs Roby +alone, and he at once resolved to discuss the matter with her +before he spoke to his daughter. 'Harriet,' he said abruptly, +'do you know anything of Mr Lopez?' + +'Mr Lopez! Oh, yes, I know him.' + +'Do you mean that he is an intimate friend?' + +'As friends go on London, he is. He comes to our house, and I +think that he hunts with Dick.' Dick was Mr Roby. + +'That's a recommendation.' + +'Well, Mr Wharton, I hardly know what you mean by that,' said Mrs +Roby, smiling. 'I don't think my husband will do Mr Lopez any +harm; and I am sure Mr Lopez won't do my husband any.' + +'I dare say not. But that's not the question. Roby can take +care of himself.' + +'Quite so.' + +'And so I dare say can Mr Lopez.' At this moment Emily entered +the room. 'My dear,' said her father, 'I am speaking to your +aunt. Would you mind going downstairs and waiting for us? Tell +them we shall be ready for dinner in ten minutes.' Then Emily +passed out of the room, and Mrs Roby assumed a grave demeanour. +'The man we are speaking of has been to me and has made an offer +for Emily.' As he said this he looked anxiously into his sister- +in-law's face, in order that he might tell from that how far she +favoured the idea of such a marriage,--and he thought that he +perceived at once, that she was not averse to it. 'You know it +is quite out of the question,' he continued. + +'I don't know why it should be out of the question. But of +course your opinion would have great weight with Emily.' + +'Great weight! Well;--I should hope so. If not, I do not know +whose opinion is to have weight. In the first place, the man is +a foreigner.' + +'Oh, no;--he is English. But if he were a foreigner many +English girls marry foreigners.' + +'My daughter shall not;--not with my permission. You have not +encouraged her, I hope.' + +'I have not interfered at all,' said Mrs Roby. But this was a +lie. Mrs Roby had interfered. Mrs Roby, in discussing the +merits and character of the lover to the young lady, had always +lent herself to the lover's aid,--and had condescended to accept +from the lover various presents which she could hardly have taken +had she been hostile to him. + +'And now tell me about herself. Has she seen him often?' + +'Why, Mr Wharton, he has dined here, in the house, over and over +again. I thought you were encouraging him.' + +'Heavens and earth!' + +'Of course she has seen him. When a man dines at a house he is +bound to call. Of course he has called,--I don't know how +often. And she has met him round the corner.'--"Round the +corner" in Manchester Square, meant Mrs Roby's house in Berkeley +Street.--'Last Sunday they were at the Zoo together. Dick got +them tickets. I thought you knew about it.' + +'Do you mean that my daughter went to the Zoological Gardens +alone with this man?' the father asked in dismay. + +'Dick was with them. I should have gone, only I had a headache. +Did you not know that she went?' + +'Yes,--I heard about the Gardens. But I heard nothing about the +man.' + +'I thought, Mr Wharton, you were all in his favour.' + +'I am not at all in his favour. I dislike him particularly. For +anything I know he may have sold pencils about the streets like +any other Jew-boy.' + +'He goes to church, just as you do,--that is, if he goes +anywhere; which I dare say he does about as often as yourself, Mr +Wharton.' Now Mr Wharton, though he was a thorough and perhaps +bigoted member of the Church of England, was not fond of going to +church. + +'Do you mean to tell me,' he said, pressing his hands together, +and looking very seriously into his sister-in-law's face; 'do you +mean to tell me that she--likes him?' + +'Yes;--I think she does like him.' + +'You don't mean to say--she's in love with him?' + +'She has never told me that she is. Young ladies are shy of +making such assertions as to their own feelings before due time +for doing so has come. I think she prefers him to anybody else; +and that were he to propose to herself, she would give him her +consent to go to you.' + +'He shall never enter this house again,' said Mr Wharton +passionately. + +'You must arrange that with her. If you have so strong an +objection to him. I wonder that you should have had him here at +all.' + +'How was I to know? God bless my soul!--just because a man was +allowed to dine here once or twice! Upon my word, it's too bad.' + +'Papa, won't you and aunt come down to dinner?' asked Emily, +opening the door gently. Then they went down to dinner, and +during the meal nothing was said about Mr Lopez. But they were +not very merry together, and poor Emily felt sure her own affairs +had been discussed in a troublesome manner. + + + +CHAPTER 5 + +'NO ONE KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT HIM.' + +Neither at dinner on that evening at Manchester Square, nor after +dinner, as long as Mrs Roby remained in the house, was a word +said about Lopez by Mr Wharton. He remained longer than usual +with his bottle of port wine in the dining-room, and when he went +upstairs, he sat himself down and fell asleep, almost without a +sign. He did not ask for a song, nor did Emily offer to sing. +But as soon as Mrs Roby was gone,--and Mrs Roby went home, round +the corner, somewhat earlier than usual,--then Mr Wharton woke up +instantly and made inquiry of his daughter. + +There had, however, been a few words spoken on the subject +between Mrs Roby and her niece, which had served to prepare Emily +for what was coming. 'Lopez has been to your father,' said Mrs +Roby, in a voice not specially encouraging for such an occasion. +Then she paused a moment, but her niece said nothing, and she +continued, 'Yes,--and your father has been blaming me,--as if I +had done anything! If he did not mean you to choose for +yourself, why didn't he keep a closer look-out?' + +'I haven't chosen anyone, Aunt Harriet.' + +'Well;--to speak fairly. I thought you had; and I have nothing +to say against your choice. As young men go, I think Mr Lopez is +as good as the best of them. I don't know why you shouldn't have +him. Of course you'll have money, but then I suppose he makes a +large income himself. As to Mr Fletcher, you don't care a bit +about him.' + +'Not in that way certainly.' + +'No doubt your papa will have it out with you just now; so you +had better make up your mind what you will say to him. If you +really like the man, I don't see why you shouldn't say so, and +stick to it. He has made a regular offer, and girls these days +are not expected to be their father's slaves.' Emily said +nothing further to her aunt on that occasion, but finding that +she must in truth 'have it out' with her father presently, gave +herself up to reflection. It might probably be the case that the +whole condition of her future life would depend on the way in +which she might now 'have it out' with her father. + +I would not wish the reader to be prejudiced against Miss Wharton +by the most unnatural feeling which perhaps may be felt in regard +to the aunt. Mrs Roby was pleased with little intrigues, was +addicted to the amusement of fostering love affairs, was fond of +being thought to be useful in such matters, and was not averse to +having presents given to her. She had married a vulgar man; and +though she had not become like the man, she had become vulgar. +She was not an eligible companion for Mr Wharton's daughter,--a +matter as to which the father had not given himself proper +opportunities of learning the facts. An aunt in his close +neighbourhood was so great a comfort to him,--so ready and so +natural an assistance to him in his difficulties! But Emily +Wharton was not in the least like her aunt, nor had Mrs Wharton +been at all like Mrs Roby. No doubt the contact was dangerous. +Injury had perhaps already been done. It may be that some +slightest soil had already marred the pure white of the girl's +natural character. But if so, the stain was yet too impalpable +to be visible to ordinary eyes. + +Emily Wharton was a tall fair girl, with grey eyes, rather +exceeding the average proportions as well as height of women. +Her features were regular and handsome, and her form was perfect, +but it was by her manner and her voice that she conquered, rather +than by her beauty,--by those gifts and by a clearness of +intellect joined with that feminine sweetness which has its most +frequent foundation in self-denial. Those who knew her well, and +had become attached to her, were apt to endow her with all +virtues, and to give her credit for a loveliness which strangers +did not find on her face. But as we do not light up our houses +with our brightest lamps for all comers, so neither did she emit +from her eyes their brightest sparks till special occasion for +such shining had arisen. To those who were allowed to love her +no woman was more lovable. There was innate in her an +appreciation of her own position as a woman, and with it a +principle of self-denial as a human being, which it was beyond +the power of any Mrs Roby to destroy or even defile by small +stains. + +Like other girls she had been taught to presume that it was her +destiny to be married, and like other girls she had thought much +about her destiny. A young man generally regards it as his +destiny either to succeed or to fail in this world, and he thinks +about that. To him marriage, when it comes, is an accident to +which he has hardly as yet given a thought. But to the girl the +matrimony which is or is not to be her destiny contains within +itself the only success or failure which she anticipates. The +young man may become Lord Chancellor, or at any rate earn his +bread comfortably as a country court judge. But the girl can +look forward to little else than the chance of having a good man +for her husband;--a good man, or if her tastes lie in that +direction, a rich man. Emily Wharton had doubtless thought about +those things, and she sincerely believed that she had found the +good man in Ferdinand Lopez. + +The man, certainly, was one strangely endowed with the power of +creating a belief. When going to Mr Wharton in his chambers, he +had not intended to cheat the lawyer into any erroneous idea +about his family, but he had resolved that he would so discuss +the question of his own condition, which would probably be +raised, as to leave upon the old man's mind an unfounded +conviction that, in regard to money and income, he had no reason +to fear question. Not a word had been said about his money or +his income. And Mr Wharton had felt himself bound to abstain +from allusions to such matters from an assured feeling that he +could not in that direction plant an enduring objection. In this +way Lopez had carried his point with Mr Wharton. He had +convinced Mrs Roby that among all the girl's attractions the +greatest attraction for him was the fact that she was Mrs Roby's +niece. He had made Emily herself believe that the one strong +passion of his life was his love for her, and this he had done +without ever having asked for her love. And he had even taken +the trouble to allure Dick, and had listened to and had talked +whole pages out of "Bell's Life". On his own behalf it must be +acknowledged that he did love the girl, as well perhaps as he was +capable of loving anyone;--but he had found out many particulars +as to Mr Wharton's money before he had allowed himself to love +her. + +As soon as Mrs Roby had gathered up her knitting, and declared, +as she always did on such occasions, that she could go round the +corner without having anyone to look after her. Mr Wharton +began, 'Emily, my dear, come here.' Then she came and sat on a +footstool at his feet, and looked up into his face. 'Do you know +what I am going to speak about, my darling?' + +'Yes, papa; I think I do. It is about--Mr Lopez.' + +'Your aunt has told you, I suppose. Yes, it is about Mr Lopez. +I have been very much astonished to-day by Mr Lopez,--a man of +whom I have seen very little and know less. He came to me to-day +and asked for my permission--to address you.' She sat perfectly +quiet, still looking at him, but did not say a word. 'Of course +I did not give my permission.' + +'Why of course, papa?' + +'Because he is a stranger and a foreigner. Would you have wished +me to tell him that he might come?' + +'Yes, papa.' He was sitting on a sofa and shrank back a little +from her as she made this free avowal. 'In that case I could +have judged for myself. I suppose every girl would like to do +that.' + +'But should you have accepted him?' + +'I think I should have consulted you before I did that. But I +should have wished to accept him. Papa, I do love him. I have +never said that before to anyone. I would not say so to you now, +if he had not--spoken to you as he has done.' + +'Emily, it must not be.' + +'Why not, papa? If you say it shall not be so, it shall not, I +will do as you bid me.' Then he put out his hand and caressed +her, stroking down her hair. 'But I think you ought to tell me +why it must not be,--as I do love him.' + +'He is a foreigner.' + +'But is he? And why should not a foreigner be as good as an +Englishman? His name is foreign, but he talks English and lives +as an Englishman.' + +'He has no relatives, no family, no belongings. He is what we +call an adventurer. Marriage, my dear, is a most serious thing.' + +'Yes, papa, I know that.' + +'One is bound to be very careful. How can I give you to a man I +know nothing about,--an adventurer? What would they say in +Hertfordshire?' + +'I don't know why they should say anything, but if they did I +shouldn't much care.' + +'I should, my dear. I should care very much. One is bound to +think of one's family. Suppose it should turn out afterwards +that he was--disreputable?' + +'You may say that of any man, papa.' + +'But when a man has connections, a father and a mother, or uncles +and aunts, people that everybody knows about, then there is some +guarantee of security. Did you ever hear this man speak of his +father?' + +'I don't know that he ever did.' + +'Or his mother,--or his family? Don't you think that is +suspicious?' + +'I will ask him, papa, if you wish.' + +'No. I would have you ask him nothing. I would not wish that +there should be an opportunity for such asking. If there has +been intimacy between you, such information should have come +naturally,--as a thing of course. You have made him no +promise?' + +'Oh no, papa.' + +'Nor spoken to him--of your regard for him?' + +'Never;--not a word. Nor to me,--except in such words as one +understands even though they say nothing.' + +'I wish he had never seen you.' + +'Is he a bad man, papa?' + +'Who knows? I cannot tell. He may be ever so bad. How is one +to know whether a man be bad or good when one knows nothing about +him?' At this point the father got up and walked about the room. +'The long and the short of it is that you must not see him any +more.' + +'Did you tell him so?' + +'Yes;--well; I don't know whether I said exactly that, but I +told him that the whole thing must come to an end. And it must. +Luckily it seems that nothing has been said on either side.' + +'But papa;--is there to be no reason?' + +'Haven't I given reasons? I will not have my daughter encourage +an adventurer,--a man of whom nobody knows anything. That is +reason sufficient.' + +'He has a business, and lives with gentlemen. He is Everett's +friend. He is well educated;--oh, so much better than most men +that one meets. And he is clever. Papa, I wish you knew him +better than you do.' + +'I do not want to know him better.' + +'Is not that prejudice, papa?' + +'My dear Emily,' said Mr Wharton, striving to wax into anger that +he might be firm against her. 'I don't think it becomes you to +ask your father such a question as that. You ought to believe +that it is the chief object of my life to do the best I can for +my children.' + +'I am sure it is.' + +'And you ought to feel that, as I have had a long experience in +the world, my judgement about a young man might be trusted.' + +That was a statement which Miss Wharton was not prepared to +admit. She had already professed herself willing to submit to +her father's judgement, and did not now by any means contemplate +rebellion against parental authority. But she did feel that on a +matter so vital to her she had a right to plead her cause before +judgement should be given, and she was not slow to assure +herself, even as this interview went on, that her love for the +man was strong enough to entitle her to assure her father that +her happiness depended on his reversal of the sentence already +pronounced. 'You know, papa, that I trust you,' she said, 'And I +have promised you that I will not disobey you. If you tell me +that I am never to see Mr Lopez again, I will not see him.' + +'You are a good girl. You were always a good girl.' + +'But I think that you ought to hear me.' Then he stood still +with his hands in his trouser pockets looking at her. He did not +want to hear a word, but he felt that he would be a tyrant if he +refused. 'If you tell me that I am not to see him, I shall not +see him. But I shall be very unhappy. I do love him, and I +shall never love anyone else in the same way.' + +'That is nonsense, Emily. There is Arthur Fletcher.' + +'I am sure you will never ask me to marry a man I do not love, +and I shall never love Arthur Fletcher. If this is to be as you +say, it will make me very, very wretched. It is right that you +should know the truth. If it is only because Mr Lopez has a +foreign name--' + +'It isn't only that; no one knows anything about him, or where +one might inquire even.' + +'I think you should inquire, papa, and be quite certain before +you pronounce such a sentence against me. It will be a crushing +blow.' He looked at her, and saw that there was a fixed purpose +in her countenance of which he had never before seen similar +signs. 'You claim a right to my obedience, and I acknowledge it. +I am sure you believe me when I promise not to see him without +your permission.' + +'I do believe you. Of course I believe you.' + +'But if I do that for you, papa, I think that you ought to be +very sure, on my account, that I haven't to bear such unhappiness +for nothing. You'll think about it, papa,--will you not, before +you quite decide?' She leaned against him as she spoke, and he +kissed her. 'Good night, now, papa. You will think about it?' + +'I will. I will. Of course I will.' + +And he began the process of thinking about it immediately,-- +before the door was closed behind her. But what was there to +think about? Nothing that she had said altered in the least +his idea about the man. He was convinced as ever that unless +there was much to conceal there would not be so much concealment. +But a feeling began to grow upon him already that his daughter +had a mode of pleading with him which he would not ultimately be +able to resist. He had the power, he knew, of putting an end to +the thing altogether. He had only to say resolutely and +unchangeably that the thing shouldn't be, and it wouldn't. If he +could steel his heart against his daughter's sorrow for, say, a +twelvemonth, the victory would be won. But he already began to +fear that he lacked the power to steel his heart against his +daughter. + + + +CHAPTER 6 + +AN OLD FRIEND GOES TO WINDSOR. + +'And what are they going to make you now?' + +This question was asked of her husband by a lady with whom +perhaps the readers of this volume may have already formed some +acquaintance. Chronicles of her early life have been written, at +any rate copiously. The lady was the Duchess of Omnium, and her +husband was of course the Duke. In order that the nature of the +question asked by the Duchess may be explained, it must be stated +that just at this time the political affairs of the nation had +got themselves tied up into one of those truly desperate knots +from which even the wisdom and experience of septuagenarian +statesmen can see no unravelment. The heads of parties were at a +standstill. In the House of Commons, there was, so to say, no +majority on either side. The minds of members were so astray +that, according to the best calculation that could be made, there +would be a majority of about ten against any possible Cabinet. +There would certainly be a majority against either of those well- +tried, but, at this moment, little trusted Prime Ministers, Mr +Gresham and Mr Daubney. There were certain men, nominally +belonging to this or to the other party, who would certainly +within a week of the nomination of a Cabinet in the House, oppose +the Cabinet which they ought to support. Mr Daubney had been in +power,--nay, was in power, though he had twice resigned. Mr +Gresham had been twice sent for to Windsor, and had on one +occasion undertaken and on another had refused to undertake to +form a Ministry. Mr Daubney had tried two or three combinations, +and had been at his wits' end. He was no doubt still in power,-- +could appoint bishops, and make peers, and give away ribbons. +But he couldn't pass a law, and certainly continued to hold his +present uncomfortable position by no will of his own. But a +Prime Minister cannot escape till he has succeeded in finding a +successor; and though the successor be found and consents to make +an attempt, the old unfortunate cannot be allowed to go free when +the attempt is shown to be a failure. He has not absolutely +given up the keys of his boxes, and no one will take them from +him. Even a sovereign can abdicate; but the Prime Minister of a +constitutional government is in bonds. The reader may therefore +understand that the Duchess was asking her husband what place +among the political rulers of the country had been offered to him +by the last aspirant to the leadership of the Government. + +But the reader should understand more than this, and may perhaps +do so, if he has ever seen those former chronicles to which +allusion has been made. The Duke, before he became a duke, had +held very high office, having been the Chancellor of the +Exchequer. When he was transferred, perforce, to the House of +Lords, he had,--as it is not uncommon in such cases,--accepted +a lower political station. This had displeased the Duchess, who +was ambitious both on her own behalf and that of her lord,--and +who thought that a Duke of Omnium should be nothing in the +Government if not at any rate near the top. But after that, with +the simple and single object of doing some special piece of work +for the nation,--something which he fancied that nobody else +would do if he didn't do it,--his Grace, of his own motion, at +his own solicitation, had encountered further official +degradation, very much to the disgust of the Duchess. And it was +not the way with her Grace to hide such sorrows in the depth of +her bosom. When affronted she would speak out, whether to her +husband, or to another,--using irony rather than argument to +support her cause and to vindicate her ways. The shafts of +ridicule hurled by her against her husband in regard to his +voluntary abasement had been many and sharp. They stung him, but +never for a moment influenced him. It was her nature to say such +things,--and he knew that they came rather from her uncontrolled +spirit than from any malice. She was his wife too, and he had an +idea that of little injuries of that sort there should be no end +of bearing on the part of a husband. Sometimes he would +endeavour to explain to her the motives which actuated him; but +he had come to fear that they were and must be unintelligible to +her. But he credited her with less than her real intelligence. +She did understand the nature of his work and his reasons for +doing it; and, after her own fashion, did what she conceived to +be her own work in endeavouring to create within his bosom a +desire for higher things. 'Surely,' she said to herself, 'if a +man of his rank is to be a minister, he should be a great +minister;--at any rate as great as his circumstances will make +him. A man never can save his country by degrading himself.' In +this he would probably have agreed; but his idea of degradation +and hers hardly tallied. + +When therefore she asked him what they were going to make him, it +was as though some sarcastic housekeeper in a great establishment +should ask the butler,--some butler too prone to yield in such +matters,--whether the master had appointed him lately to the +cleaning of shoes or the carrying of coals. Since these knots +had become so very tight, and since the journeys to Windsor had +become so very frequent, her Grace had asked many such questions, +and had received but very indifferent replies. The Duke had +sometimes declared that the matter was not ripe enough to allow +him to make any answer. 'Of course,' said the Duchess, 'you +should keep the secret. The editors of the evening papers +haven't known it for above an hour.' At another time he told her +that he had undertaken to give Mr Gresham his assistance in any +way that might be asked. + +'Joint undersecretary with Lord Fawn, I should say,' answered the +Duchess. Then he told her that he believed an attempt would be +made at a mixed ministry, but that he did not in the least know +to whom the work of doing so would be confided. 'You will be +about the last man who will be told,' replied the Duchess. Now, +at this moment, he had, as she knew, come direct from the house +of Mr Gresham, and she asked her question in her usual spirit. + +'And what are they going to make you now?' + +But he did not answer the question in his usual manner. He would +customarily smile gently at her badinage, and perhaps say a word +intended to show that he was not in the least moved by her +raillery. But in this instance he was very grave, and stood +before her a moment making no answer at all, looking at her in a +sad and almost solemn manner. 'They have told you that they can +do without you,' she said, breaking out almost into a passion. +'I knew it would be. Men are always valued by others as they +value themselves.' + +'I wish it were so,' he replied. 'I should sleep easier to- +night.' + +'What is it, Plantagenet?' she exclaimed, jumping up from her +chair. + +'I never cared for your ridicule hitherto, Cora, but now I feel +that I want your sympathy.' + +'If you are going to do anything,--to do really anything, you +shall have it. Oh, how you shall have it!' + +'I have received her Majesty's orders to go down to Windsor at +once. I must start within half an hour.' + +'You are going to be Prime Minister!' she exclaimed. As she +spoke she threw her arms up, and then rushed into his embrace. +Never since their first union had she been so demonstrative +either of love or admiration. 'Oh, Plantagenet,' she said, 'if I +can do anything I will slave for you.' As he put his arm round +her waist he already felt the pleasantness of her altered way to +him. She had never worshipped him yet, and therefore her worship +when it did come had all the delight to him which it ordinarily +has to the newly married hero. + +'Stop a moment, Cora. I do not know how it may be yet. But this +I know, that if without cowardice I could avoid this task, I +would certainly avoid it.' + +'Oh no! And there would be cowardice; of course there would,' +said the Duchess, not much caring what might be the bonds which +bound him to the task so long as he should certainly feel himself +to be bound. + +'He has told me that he thinks it my duty to make the attempt.' + +'Who is he?' + +'Mr Gresham. I do not know that I should have felt myself bound +by him, but the Duke said also.' This duke was our duke's old +friend, the Duke of St Bungay. + +'Was he there? And who else?' + +'No one else. It is no case for exultation, Cora, for the +chances are that I shall fail. The Duke has promised to help me, +on condition that one or two he has named are included, and that +one or two whom he has also named are not. In each case, I +should myself have done exactly as he proposes.' + +'And Mr Gresham?' + +'He will retire. That is a matter of course. He will intend to +support me, but all that is veiled in the obscurity which is +always, I think, darker as to the future of politics than any +other future. Clouds arise, one knows not why or whence, and +create darkness when one expected light. But as yet, you must +understand, nothing is settled. I cannot even say what answer I +may make to her Majesty, till I know what commands her Majesty +may lay upon me.' + +'You must keep a hold of it now, Plantagenet,' said the Duchess, +clenching her own fist. + +'I will not even close a finger on it with any personal +ambition,' said the Duke. 'If I could be relieved from the +burden of this moment, it would be an ease to my heart. I +remember once,' he said,--and as he spoke he again put his arm +around her waist, 'when I was debarred from taking office, by a +domestic circumstance.' + +'I remember that too,' she said, speaking very gently and looking +up at him. + +'It was a grief to me at the time, though it turned out so well, +--because the office then suggested to me was one which I thought +I could fill with credit to the country. I believed in myself +then, as far as that work went. But for this attempt I have no +belief in myself. I doubt whether I have any gift for governing +men.' + +'It will come.' + +'It may be that I must try;--and it may be that I must break my +heart because I fail. But I shall make the attempt if I am +directed to do so in any manner that shall seem feasible. I must +be off now. The Duke is to be here this evening. They had +better have dinner ready for me whenever I may be able to eat +it.' Then he took his departure before she could say another +word. + +When the Duchess was alone she took to thinking of the whole +thing in a manner which they who best knew her would have thought +to be very unusual with her. She already possessed all that rank +and wealth could give her, and together with those good things a +peculiar position of her own, of which she was proud, and which +she had made her own not by her wealth and rank, but by a certain +fearless energy and power of raillery which never deserted her. +Many feared her, and she was afraid of none, and many also loved +her,--whom she also loved, for her nature was affectionate. She +was happy with her children, happy with her friends, in the +enjoyment of perfect health, and capable of taking an exaggerated +interest in anything that might come uppermost for the moment. +One would have been inclined to say that politics were altogether +unnecessary to her, and that as Duchess of Omnium, lately known +as Lady Glencora Palliser, she had a wider and pleasanter +influence than could belong to any woman as wife of a Prime +Minister. And she was essentially one of those women who are not +contented to be known simply as the wives of their husbands. She +had a celebrity of her own, quite independent of his position, +and which could not be enhanced by any glory or any power added +to him. Nevertheless, when he left her to go down to the Queen +with the prospect of being called upon to act as chief of the +incoming ministry, her heart throbbed with excitement. It had +come at last, and he would be, to her thinking, the leading man +in the greatest kingdom in the world. + +But she felt in regard to him somewhat as did Lady Macbeth +towards her lord. + + What thou would'st highly, + That would'st thou holily. + +She knew him to be full of scruples, unable to bend when aught +was to be got by bending, unwilling to domineer when men might be +brought to subjection only by domination. The first duty never +could be taught to him. To win support by smiles when his heart +was bitter within him would never be within the power of her +husband. He could never be brought to buy an enemy by political +gifts,--would never be prone to silence his keenest opponent by +making him his right hand supporter. But the other lesson was easier +and might she thought be learned. Power is so pleasant that men +quickly learn to be greedy in the enjoyment of it, and to flatter +themselves that patriotism requires them to be imperious. She +would be constant with him day and night to make him understand +that his duty to his country required him to be in very truth its +chief ruler. And then with some knowledge of things as they are, +--and also with much ignorance,--she reflected that he had at +his command a means of obtaining popularity and securing power, +which had not belonged to his immediate predecessors, and had +perhaps never to the same extent been at the command of any +minister of England. His wealth as Duke of Omnium had been +great; but hers, as available for immediate purposes, had been +greater than even his. After some fashion, of which she was +profoundly ignorant, her own property was separated from his and +reserved to herself and her children. Since her marriage she had +never said a word to him about her money,--unless it were to ask +that something out of the common course might be spent on some, +generally absurd, object. But now had come the time for +squandering money. She was not only rich, but she had a +popularity that was exclusively her own. The new Prime Minister +and the new Prime Minister's wife should entertain after a +fashion that had never yet been known even among the nobility of +England. Both in town and country those great mansions should be +kept open which were now rarely much used because she found them +dull, cold, and comfortless. In London there should not be a +member of Parliament whom she would not herself know and +influence by her flattery and grace,--or if there were men whom +she could not influence, they should live as men tabooed and +unfortunate. Money mattered nothing. Their income was enormous, +and for a series of years,--for half a dozen years if the game +could be kept up so long,--they could spend treble what they +called their income without real injury to their children. +Visions passed through her brain of wondrous things which might +be done,--if only her husband would be true to his own +greatness. + +The Duke had left her at about two. She did not stir out of the +house that day, but in the course of the afternoon she wrote a +line to a friend who lived not very far from her. The Duchess +dwelt in Carlton Terrace, and her friend in Park Lane. The note +was as follows: + + DEAR M, + Come to me at once. I am too + excited to go to you. Yours G + +This was addressed to one Mrs Finn, a lady as to whom chronicles +have been written, and who has been known to the readers of such +chronicles as a friend dearly loved by the Duchess. As quickly +as she could put on her carriage garments and get herself to +Carlton Terrace, Mrs Finn was there. 'Well, my dear, how do you +think it's all settled at last?' said the Duchess. It will +probably be felt that the new Prime Minister's wife was +indiscreet, and hardly worthy of the confidence placed in her by +her husband. But surely we all have some one friend to whom we +tell everything, and with the Duchess Mrs Finn was that one +friend. + +'Is the Duke to be Prime Minister?' + +'How on earth should you have guessed that?' + +'What else could make you so excited? Besides, it is by no means +strange. I understand that they have gone on trying the two old +stages till it is useless to try them any longer; and if there is +to be a fresh man, no one would be more likely than the Duke.' + +'Do you think so?' + +'Certainly. Why not?' + +'He has frittered away his political position by such meaningless +concessions. And then he had never done anything to put himself +forward,--at any rate since he left the House of Commons. +Perhaps I haven't read things right--but I was surprised, very +much surprised.' + +'And gratified?' + +'Oh yes. I can tell you everything, because you will neither +misunderstand me nor tell tales of me. Yes,--I shall like him +to be Prime Minister, though I know that I shall have a bad time +of it myself.' + +'Why a bad time?' + +'He is so hard to manage. Of course, I don't mean about +politics. Of course it must be a mixed kind of thing at first, +and I don't care a straw whether it run to Radicalism or Toryism. +The country goes on its own way; either for better or for worse, +which ever of them are in. I don't think it makes any difference +what sort of laws are passed. But among ourselves, in our set, +it makes a deal of difference who gets the garters, and the +counties, who are made barons and then earls, and whose name +stands at the head of everything.' + +'That is your way of looking at politics?' + +'I own it to you;--and I must teach it to him.' + +'You never will do that, Lady Glen.' + +'Never is a long word. I mean to try. For look back and tell me +of any Prime Minister who has become sick of his power. They +become sick of the want of power when it's falling away from +them,--and then they affect to disdain and put aside the thing +they can no longer enjoy. Love of power is a kind of feeling +which comes to man as he grows older.' + +'Politics with the Duke have been simple patriotism,' said Mrs +Finn. + +'The patriotism may remain, my dear, but not the simplicity. I +don't want him to sell his country to Germany, or to turn it into +an American republic in order that he may be president. But when +he gets the reins into his hands, I want him to keep them there. +If he's so much honester than other people, of course he's the +best man for the place. We must make him believe that the very +existence of the country depends on his firmness.' + +'To tell you the truth, Lady Glen, I don't think you'll ever make +the Duke believe anything. What he believes, he believes either +from very old habit, or from the working of his own mind.' + +'You're always singing his praises, Marie.' + +'I don't know that there is any special praise in what I say; but +as far as I can see, it is the man's character.' + +'Mr Finn will come in, of course,' said the Duchess. + +'Mr Finn will be like the Duke in one thing. He'll take his own +way as to being in or out, quite independent of his wife.' + +'You'd like him to be in office?' + +'No, indeed! Why should I? He would be more often at the House, +and keep later hours, and be always away all the morning into the +bargain. But I shall like him to do as he likes himself.' + +'Fancy thinking of all that, I'd sit up all night every night of +my life,--I'd listen to every debate in the House myself,--to +have Plantagenet Prime Minister. I like to be busy. Well now, +if it does come off--' + +'It isn't settled, then?' + +'How can one hope that a single journey will settle it, when +those other men have been going backwards and forwards between +Windsor and London, like buckets in a well, for the last three +weeks? But if it is settled, I mean to have a cabinet of my own, +and I mean that you shall do the foreign affairs.' + +'You'd better let me be at the exchequer. I'm very good at +accounts.' + +'I'll do that myself. The accounts that I intend to set a-going +would frighten anyone less audacious. And I mean to be my own +home secretary, and to keep my own conscience,--and to be my own +master of the ceremonies certainly. I think a small cabinet gets +on best. Do you know,--I should like to put the Queen down.' + +'What on earth do you mean?' + +'No treason; nothing of that kind. But I should like to make +Buckingham Palace second-rate; and I'm not quite sure but I can. +I dare say you don't quite understand me.' + +'I don't think that I do, Lady Glen.' + +'You will some of these days. Come in to-morrow before lunch. I +suppose I shall know all about it then, and shall have found that +my basket of crockery has been kicked over and everything +smashed.' + + + +CHAPTER 7 + +ANOTHER OLD FRIEND. + +At about nine the Duke returned, and was eating his very simple +dinner in the breakfast-room,--a beefsteak and a potato, with a +glass of sherry and Apollinaris water. No man more easily +satisfied as to what he eat and drank lived in London in those +days. As regarded the eating and drinking he dined alone, but +his wife sat with him and waited on him, having sent the servant +out of the room. 'I have told her Majesty I would do the best I +could,' said the Duke. + +'Then you are Prime Minister.' + +'Not at all. Mr Daubney is Prime Minister. I have undertaken to +form a ministry, if I find it practicable, with the assistance of +such friends as I possess, I never felt before that I had to lean +so entirely on others as I do now.' + +'Lean on yourself only. Be enough for yourself.' + +'Those are empty words, Cora;--words that are quite empty. In +one sense a man should always be enough for himself. He should +have enough of principle and enough of conscience to restrain him +from doing what he knows to be wrong. But can a shipbuilder +build his ship single-handed, or the watchmaker make his watch +without assistance? On former occasions such as this, I could +say, with little or no help from without, whether I would or +would not undertake the work that was proposed to me, because I +had only a bit of the ship to build, or a wheel of the watch to +make. My own efficacy for my present task would depend entirely +on the co-operation of others, and unfortunately upon that of +some others with whom I have no sympathy, nor they with me.' + +'Leave them out,' said the Duchess boldly. + +'But they are men who will not be left out, and whose services +the country has a right to expect.' + +'Then bring them in, and think no more about it. It is no good +crying for pain that cannot be cured.' + +'Co-operation is difficult without community of feeling. I find +myself to be too stubborn-hearted for the place. It was nothing +to me to sit in the same Cabinet with a man I disliked when I had +not put him there myself. But now--. As I have travelled up I +have almost felt that I could not do it! I did not know before +how much I might dislike a man.' + +'Who is the one man?' + +'Nay;--whoever he be, I will have to be a friend now, and +therefore I will not name him, even to you. But it is not one +only. If it were one, absolutely marked and recognised, I might +avoid him. But my friends, real friends, are so few! Who is +there besides the Duke on whom I can lean with both confidence +and love?' + +'Lord Cantrip.' + +'Hardly so, Cora. But Lord Cantrip goes out with Mr Gresham. +They will always cling together.' + +'You used to like Mr Mildmay.' + +'Mr Mildmay,--yes! If there could be a Mr Mildmay in the +Cabinet this trouble would not come upon my shoulders.' + +'Then I'm very glad that there can't be Mr Mildmay. Why +shouldn't there be as good fish in the sea as ever were caught +out of it?' + +'When you've got a good fish you like to make as much of it as +you can.' + +'I suppose Mr Monk will join you.' + +'I think we shall ask him. But I am not prepared to discuss +men's names as yet.' + +'You must discuss them with the Duke immediately.' + +'Probably;--but I had better discuss them with him before I fix +my own mind by naming them even to you.' + +'You'll bring in Mr Finn, Plantagenet?' + +'Mr Finn!' + +'Yes,--Phineas Finn,--the man who was tried.' + +'My dear Cora, we haven't come down to that yet. We need not at +any rate trouble ourselves about the small fishes till we are +sure that we can get the big fishes to join us.' + +'I don't know why he should be a small fish. No man has done +better than he has; and if you want a man to stick to you--' + +'I don't want a man to stick to me. I want a man to stick to his +country.' + +'You were talking about sympathy.' + +'Well, yes;--I was. But do not name anyone else just at +present. The Duke will be here soon, and I would be alone till +he comes.' + +'There is one thing more I want to say, Plantagenet.' + +'What is it?' + +'One favour I want to ask.' + +'Pray do not ask anything for any man at present.' + +'It is not anything for any man.' + +'Nor for any woman.' + +'It is for a woman,--but one whom I think you would wish to +oblige.' + +'Who is it?' Then she curtsied, smiling at him drolly, and put +her hand upon her breast. 'Something for you! What on earth can +you want that I can do for you?' + +'Will you do it,--if it be reasonable?' + +'If I think it reasonable, I certainly will do it.' + +Then her manner changed altogether, and she became serious and +almost solemn. 'If, as I suppose, all the great places about her +Majesty be changed, I should like to be Mistress of the Robes.' + +'You!' said he, almost startled out of his usual quiet demeanour. + +'Why not? Is not my rank high enough?' + +'You burden yourself with the intricacies and subserviences, with +the tedium and pomposities of the Court life! Cora, you do not +know what you are talking about, or what you are proposing for +yourself.' + +'If I am willing to try to undertake a duty, why should I be +debarred from it any more than you?' + +'Because I have put myself into a groove, and ground myself into +a mould, and clipped and pared and pinched myself all round,-- +very ineffectually, as I fear,--to fit myself for this thing. +You have lived as free as air. You have disdained,--and though +I may have grumbled I have still been proud to see you disdain,-- +to wrap yourself in the swaddling bandages of Court life. You +have ridiculed all those who have been near her Majesty as Court +ladies.' + +'The individuals, Plantagenet, perhaps, but not the office. I am +getting older now, and I do not see why I should not begin a new +life.' She had been somewhat quelled by the unexpected energy, +and was at the moment hardly able to answer him with her usual +spirit. + +'Do not think of it, my dear. You asked whether your rank was +high enough. It must be so, as there is, as it happens, none +higher. But your position, should it come to pass that your +husband is the head of Government, will be too high. I may say +that in no condition should I wish to my wife to be subject to +other restraint than that which is common to all married women. +I should not choose that she should have any duties unconnected +with our joint family and home. But as First Minister of the +Crown I would altogether object to her holding an office believed +to be at my disposal.' She looked at him with her large eyes +wide open, and then left him without a word. She had no other +way of showing her displeasure, for she knew that when he spoke +as he had spoken now all argument was unavailing. + +The Duke remained an hour alone before he was joined by the other +Duke, during which he did not for a moment apply his mind to the +subject which might be thought to be most prominent in his +thoughts,--the filling up, namely, of a list of his new +government. All that he could do in that direction without +further assistance had been already done very easily. There were +four or five certain names,--names that is of certain political +friends, and three or four almost equally certain of men who had +been political enemies, but who would not clearly be asked to +join the ministry. Sir Gregory Grogram, the late Attorney- +General, would of course be asked to resumed his place, but Sir +Timothy Beeswax, who was up to this moment Solicitor-General for +the Conservatives, would also be invited to retain that which he +held. Many details were known, not only to the two dukes who +were about to patch up the ministry between them, but to the +political world at large,--and where facts upon which the +newspapers were able to display their wonderful foresight and +general omniscience, with their usual confidence. And as to the +points which were in doubt,--whether or not, for instance, that +consistent old Tory, Sir Orlando Drought, should be asked to put +up with the Post-office or should be allowed to remain at the +Colonies,--the younger Duke did not care to trouble himself till +the elder should have come to his assistance. But his own +position and his questionable capacity for filling it,--that +occupied all his mind. If nominally first he would be really +first. Of so much it seemed to him that his honour required him +to assure himself. To be a faneant ruler was in direct +antagonism both to his conscience and to his predilections. To +call himself by a great name before the world, and then to be +something infinitely less than that name, would be to him a +degradation. But though he felt fixed as to that, he was by no +means assured as to that other point, which to most men firm in +their resolves as he was, and backed up as he had been by the +confidence of others, would be cause of small hesitation. He did +doubt his ability to fill that place which it would now be his +duty to occupy. He more than doubted. He told himself again and +again that there was wanting to him a certain noble capacity for +commanding support and homage from other men. With things and +facts he could deal, but human beings had not opened themselves +to him. But now it was too late! And yet,--as he said to his +wife,--to fail would break his heart! No ambition had prompted +him. He was sure of himself there. One only consideration had +forced him into this great danger, and that had been the +assurance of others that it was his manifest duty to encounter +it. And how there was clearly no escape,--no escape compatible +with that clean-handed truth from which it was not possible for +him to swerve. He might create difficulties in order that +through them a way might still be opened to him of restoring to +the Queen the commission which had been entrusted to him. He +might insist on this or that impossible concession. But the +memory of escape such as that would break his heart as surely as +the failure. + +When the Duke was announced, he rose to greet his old friend +almost with fervour. 'It is a shame,' he said, 'to bring you out +so late. I ought to have gone to you.' + +'Not at all. It is always the rule in these cases that the man +who has most to do should fix himself as well as he can where +others may be able to find him.' The Duke of St Bungay was an +old man between seventy and eighty, with hair nearly white, and +who on entering the room had to unfold himself out of various +coats and comforters. But he was in full possession not only of +his intellects but of his bodily power, showing, as many +politicians do show, that the cares of the nation may sit upon a +man's shoulders for many years without breaking or even bending +them. For the Duke had belonged to ministries nearly for the +last half century. As the chronicles have also dealt with him, +no further records of his past like shall now be given. + +He had said something about the Queen, expressing gracious wishes +for the comfort of her Majesty in all these matters, something of +the inconvenience of these political journeys to and fro, +something also of the delicacy and difficulty of the operations +on hand which were enhanced by the necessity of bringing together +as cordial allies who had hitherto acted with bitter animosity +one to another, before the younger Duke said a word. 'We may as +well,' said the elder, 'make out some small provisional list, and +you can ask those you name to be with you early tomorrow. But +perhaps you have already made a list.' + +'No indeed. I have not even had a pencil in my hand.' + +'We may as well begin then,' said the elder facing the table when +he saw that his less-experienced companion made no attempt at +beginning. + +'There is something horrible to me in the idea of writing down +men's names for such a work as this, just as boys at school used +to draw out the elevens for a cricket match.' The old stager +turned round and stared at the younger politician. 'The thing +itself is so momentous that one ought to have aid from heaven.' + +Plantagenet Palliser was the last man from whom the Duke of St +Bungay would have expected romance at any time, and, least of +all, at such a time as this. 'Aid from heaven you may have,' he +said, 'by saying your prayers; and I don't doubt you ask for this +and all other things generally. But an angel won't come to tell +you who ought to be Chancellor of the Exchequer.' + +'No angel will, and therefore I wish I could wash my hands of +it.' His old friend stared at him. 'It is like sacrilege to me, +attempting this without feeling one's own fitness for the work. +It unmans me,--this necessity of doing that which I know I +cannot do with fitting judgement.' + +'You mind has been a little too hard at work to-day.' + +'It hasn't been at work at all. I've had nothing to do, and have +been unable really to think of work. But I feel that chance +circumstances have put me into a position for which I am unfit, +and which yet I have been unable to avoid. How much better would +it be that you should do this alone,--you yourself.' + +'Utterly out of the question. I do know and think that I always +have known my own powers. Neither has my aptitude in debate nor +my capacity for work justified me in looking to the premiership. +But that, forgive me, is now not worthy of consideration. It is +because you do work and can work, and because you have fitted +yourself for that continued course of lucid explanation which we +now call debate, that men on both sides have called upon you as +the best man to come forward in this difficulty. Excuse me, my +friend, again, if I say that I expect to find your manliness +equal to your capacity.' + +'If I could only escape from it!' + +'Psha;--nonsense!' said the Duke, getting up. 'There is such a +thing as conscience with so fine an edge that it will allow a man +to do nothing. You've got to serve your country. On such +assistance as I can give you you know that you may depend with +absolute assurance. Now let us get to work. I suppose you would +wish that I should take the chair at the Council.' + +'Certainly;--of course,' said the Duke of Omnium, turning to the +table. The once practical suggestion had fixed him, and from +that moment he gave himself to the work in hand with all his +energies. It was not very difficult, nor did it take them a very +long time. If the future Prime Minister had not his names at his +fingers' ends, the future President of the Council had them. +Eight men were soon named whom it was thought well that the Duke +of Omnium should consult early in the morning as to their +willingness to fill certain places. + +'Each one of them may have some other one or some two whom he may +insist on bringing with him,' said the elder Duke; 'and though of +course you cannot yield to the pressure in every such case, it +will be wise to allow yourself scope for some amount of +concession. You'll find they'll shake down after the usual +amount of resistance and compliance. No;--don't leave your +house to-morrow to see anybody unless it be Mr Daubney or Her +Majesty. I'll come to you at two, and if her Grace will give me +luncheon, I'll lunch with her. Good night, and don't think too +much of the bigness of the thing. I remember dear old Lord Brock +telling me how much more difficult it was to find a good coachman +than a good Secretary of State.' + +The Duke of Omnium, as he sat thinking of things for the next +hour in his chair, succeeded in proving to himself that Lord +Brock never ought to have been Prime Minister of England after +having ventured to make so poor a joke on so solemn a subject. + + + +CHAPTER 8 + +THE BEGINNING OF A NEW CAREER. + +By the time that the Easter holidays were over,--holidays which +had been used so conveniently for the making of a new government, +--the work of getting a team together had been accomplished by +the united energy of the two dukes and other friends. The +filling up of the great places had been by no means so difficult +or so tedious,--nor indeed the cause of half so many heartburns, +--as the completion of the list of subordinates. Noblesse +oblige. The Secretaries of State, and the Chancellors, and the +First Lords, selected from this or the other party felt that the +eyes of mankind were upon them, and that it behoved them to +assume a virtue if they had it not. They were habitually +indifferent to self-exaltation, and allowed themselves to be +thrust into this or that unfitting role, professing that the +Queen's Government and the good of the country were their only +considerations. Lord Thrift made way for Sir Orlando Drought at +the Admiralty, because it was felt on all sides that Sir Orlando +could not join the new composite party without a high place. And +the same grace was shown in regard to Lord Drummond, who remained +at the Colonies, keeping the office to which he had lately been +transferred under Mr Daubney. And Sir Gregory Grogram said not a +word, whatever he may have thought, when he was told that Mr +Daubney's Lord Chancellor, Lord Ramsden, was to keep the seals. +Sir Gregory did, no doubt, think very much about it, for legal +offices have a signification differing much from that which +attaches itself to places simply political. A Lord Chancellor +becomes a peer, and on going out of office enjoys a large +pension. When the woolsack has been reached there comes an end +of doubt, and a beginning of ease. Sir Gregory was not a young +man, and this was a terrible blow. But he bore it manfully, +saying not a word when the Duke spoke to him; but he became +convinced from that moment that no more inefficient lawyer ever +sat upon the English bench, or a more presumptuous politician in +the British Parliament, than Lord Ramsden. + +The real struggle, however, lay in the appropriate distribution +of the Rattlers, the Robys, the Fitzgibbons, and the Macphersons +among the subordinate offices of State. Mr Macpherson and Mr +Roby, with a host of others who had belonged to Mr Daubney, were +prepared, as they declared from the first, to lend their +assistance to the Duke. They had consulted Mr Daubney on the +subject, and Mr Daubney told them that their duty lay in that +direction. At the first blush of the matter the arrangement took +the form of a gracious tender from themselves to a statesman +called upon to act in very difficult circumstances,--and they +were thanked accordingly by the Duke, with something of real +cordial gratitude. But when the actual adjustment of things was +in hand, the Duke, having but little power of assuming a soft +countenance and using soft words while his heart was bitter, felt +on more than one occasion inclined to withdraw his thanks. He +was astounded not so much by the pretensions as by the unblushing +assertion of these pretensions in reference to places which he +had been innocent enough to think were always bestowed at any +rate without direct application. He had measured himself rightly +when he told the older Duke in one of those anxious conversations +which had been held before the attempt was made, that long as he +had been in office himself he did not know what was the way of +bestowing office. 'Two gentlemen have been here this morning,' +he said one day to the Duke of St Bungay, 'one on the heels of +the other, each assuring me not only that the whole stability of +the enterprise depends on my giving a certain office to him,-- +but actually telling me to my face that I had promised it to +him!' The old statesman laughed. 'To be told within the same +half-hour by two men that I had made promises to each of them +inconsistent with each other.' + +'Who were the two men?' + +'Mr Rattler and Mr Roby.' + +'I am assured that they are inseparable since the work has begun. +They always had a leaning to each other, and now I hear they pass +their time between the steps of the Carlton and Reform Clubs.' + +'But what am I to do? One must be Patronage Secretary, no +doubt.' + +'They're both good men in their way, you know.' + +'But why do they come to me with their mouths open, like dogs +craving a bone? It used not to be so. Of course men were always +anxious for office as they are now.' + +'Well; yes. We've heard of that before to-day, I think.' + +'But I don't think any man ever ventured to ask Mr Mildmay.' + +'Time has done much for him in consolidating his authority, and +perhaps the present world is less reticent in its eagerness than +it was in his younger days. I doubt, however, whether it is more +dishonest, and whether struggles were not made quite as +disgraceful to the strugglers as anything that is done now. You +can't alter the men, and you must use them.' The younger Duke +sat down and sighed over the degenerate patriotism of the age. + +But at last even the Rattlers and Robys were fixed, if not +satisfied, and a complete list of the ministry appeared in all +the newspapers. Though the thing had been long a-doing, still it +had come suddenly,--so that the first proposition to form a +coalition ministry, the newspapers had hardly known whether to +assist or to oppose the scheme. There was no doubt, in the minds +of all these editors and contributors, the teaching of a +tradition that coalitions of this kind have been generally +feeble, sometimes disastrous, and on occasions, even disgraceful. +When a man, perhaps through a long political life, has bound +himself to a certain code of opinions, how can he change that +code at a moment? And when at the same moment, together with the +change, he secures power, patronage, and pay, how shall the +public voice absolve him? But then again, men, who have by the +work of their lives grown into a certain position in the country, +and have unconsciously but not therefore less actually made +themselves indispensable either to this side of politics, or to +that, cannot free themselves altogether from the responsibility +of managing them when a period comes such as that now reached. +This also the newspapers perceived, and having, since the +commencement of the session been very loud in exposing the +disgraceful collapse of government affairs, could hardly refuse +their support to any attempt at a feasible arrangement. When it +was first known that the Duke of Omnium had consented to make the +attempt, they had both on one side and the other been loud in his +praise, going so far as to say that he was the only man in +England who could do the work. It was probably this +encouragement which had enabled the new Premier to go on with an +undertaking which was personally distasteful to him, and for +which from day to day he believed himself to be less and less +fit. But when the newspapers told him that he was the only man +for the occasion, how could he be justified in crediting himself +in preference to them? + +The work in Parliament began under the new auspices with great +tranquillity. That there would soon come causes of hot blood,-- +the English Church, the county suffrage, the income tax, and +further education questions,--all men knew who knew anything. +But for the moment, for the months even, perhaps for the session, +there was to be peace, with full latitude for the performance of +routine duties. There was so to say no opposition, and at first +it seemed that one special bench in the House of Commons would +remain unoccupied. But after a day or two,--on one which Mr +Daubney had been seen sitting just below the gangway,--that +gentleman returned to the place usually held by the Prime +Minister's rival, saying with a smile that it might be for the +convenience of the House that the seat should be utilized. Mr +Gresham, at this time, had with declared purpose, asked and +obtained the Speaker's leave of absence, and was abroad. Who +should lead the House? That had been a great question, caused by +the fact that the Prime Minister was in the House of Lords;--and +what office should the leader hold? Mr Monk had consented to +take the Exchequer, but the right to sit opposite to the Treasure +Box and to consider himself for the time the principal spirit in +that chamber was at last assigned to Sir Orlando Drought. 'It +will never do,' said Mr Rattler to Mr Roby. 'I don't mean to say +anything against Drought, who had always been a very useful man +to your party;--but he lacks something of the position.' + +'The fact is,' said Roby, 'that we've trusted to two men so long +that we don't know how to suppose anyone else big enough to fill +their places. Monk wouldn't have done. The House doesn't care +about Monk.' + +'I always thought it should have been Wilson, and so I told the +Duke. He had an idea that it should be one of your men.' + +'I think he's right there,' said Roby. 'There ought to be +something like a fair division. Individuals might be content, +but the party would be dissatisfied. For myself, I'd have sooner +stayed out as an independent member, but Daubney said that he +thought I was bound to make myself useful.' + +'I told the Duke from the beginning,' said Rattler, 'that I +didn't think that I could be of any service to him. Of course, I +would support him, but I had been too thoroughly a party man for +a new movement of this kind. But he said just the same?--that +he considered I was bound to join him. I asked Gresham, and when +Gresham said so too, of course I had no help for it.' + +Neither of these excellent public servants had told a lie in +this. Some such conversations as those reported had passed;-- +but a man doesn't lie when he exaggerates an emphasis, or even +when he gives by a tone a meaning to a man's words exactly +opposite to that which another tone would convey. Or, if he does +lie in doing so, he does not know that he lies. Mr Rattler had +gone back to his old office at the Treasury and Mr Roby had been +forced to content himself with the Secretaryship at the +Admiralty. But, as the old Duke had said, they were close +friends, and prepared to fight together any battle which might +keep them in the present position. + +Many of the cares of office the Prime Minister did succeed in +shuffling off altogether on to the shoulders of his elder friend. +He would not concern himself with the appointment of ladies, +about whom he said he knew nothing, and as to whose fitness and +claims he professed himself to be as ignorant as the office +messenger. The offers were of course made in the usual form, as +though coming direct from the Queen, through the Prime Minister; +--but the selections were in truth effected by the old Duke in +council with--an illustrious personage. The matter affected our +Duke,--only in so far as he could get out of his mind that +strange application from his own wife. 'That she should have +even dreamed of it!' he would say to himself, not yet having +acquired sufficient experience of his fellow creatures to be +aware how wonderfully temptations will affect even those who +appear to be least subject to them. The town horse, used to +gaudy trappings, no doubt despises the work of his country +brother; but yet, now and again, there comes upon him a sudden +desire to plough. The desire for ploughing had come upon the +Duchess, but the Duke could not understand it. + +He perceived, however, in spite of the multiplicity of his +official work, that his refusal sat heavily on his wife's breast, +and that, though she spoke no further word, she brooded over her +injury. And his heart was sad within him when he thought he had +vexed her,--loving her as he did with all his heart, but with a +heart that was never demonstrative. When she was unhappy he was +miserable, though he would hardly know the cause of his misery. +Her ridicule and raillery he could bear, though they stung him; +but her sorrow, if ever she were sorrowful, or her sullenness, if +ever she were sullen, upset him altogether. He was in truth so +soft of heart that he could not bear the discomfort of the one +person in the world who seemed to him to be near to him. He had +expressly asked her for her sympathy for the business he had on +hand,--thereby going much beyond his usual coldness of manner. +She, with an eagerness which might have been expected from her, +had promised that she would slave for him, if slavery were +necessary. Then she had made her request, had been refused, and +was now moody. 'The Duchess of -- is to be Mistress of The +Robes,' he said to her one day. He had gone to her, up to her +own room, before he dressed for dinner, having devoted much more +time that as Prime Minister he ought to have done to a resolution +that he would make things straight with her, and to the best way +of doing it. + +'So I am told. She ought to know her away about the place, as I +remember she was at the same work when I was a girl of eleven.' + +'That's not so very long ago, Cora.' + +'Silverbridge is older now than I was then, and I think that +makes it a very long time ago.' Lord Silverbridge was the Duke's +eldest son. + +'But what does it matter? If she began her career at the time of +George the Fourth, what is it to you?' + +'Nothing on earth,--only that she did in truth begin her career +in the time of George the Third. I'm sure she's nearer sixty +than fifty.' + +'I'm glad to see you remember your dates so well.' + +'It's a pity she should not remember hers in the ways she +dresses,' said the Duchess. + +This was marvellous to him,--that his wife, who as Lady Glencora +Palliser had been so conspicuous for a wild disregard of social +rules as to be looked upon by many as an enemy of her own class, +should be so depressed by not being allowed to be the Queen's +head servant as to descend to personal invective! 'I'm afraid,' +said he, attempting to smile, 'that it won't come within the +compass of my office to effect or even to propose any radical +change in her Grace's apparel. But don't you think that you and +I can afford to ignore all that?' + +'I can certainly. She may be an antiquated Eve for me.' + +'I hope, Cora, you are not still disappointed because I did not +agree with you when you spoke about the place for yourself.' + +'Not because you did not agree with me,--but because you did not +think me fit to be trusted with any judgement of my own. I don't +know why I'm always to be looked upon as different from other +women,--as though I were half a savage.' + +'You are what you made yourself, and I have always rejoiced that +you are as you are, fresh, untrammelled, without many prejudices +which afflict other ladies, and free from bonds by which they are +cramped and confined. Of course such a turn of character is +subject to certain dangers of its own.' + +'There is no doubt about the dangers. The chances are that when +I see her Grace, I shall tell her what I think about her.' + +'You will I am sure say nothing unkind to a lady who is supposed +to be in the place she now fills by my authority. But do not let +us quarrel about an old woman.' + +'I won't quarrel with you even about a young one.' + +'I cannot be at ease within myself while I think you are +resenting my refusal. You do not know how constantly I carry you +about with me.' + +'You carry a very unnecessary burden then,' she said. But he +could tell at once from the altered tone of voice, and from the +light of her eye as he glanced into her face, that her anger +about 'The Robes' was appeased. + +'I have done as you have asked about a friend of yours,' he said. +This occurred just before the final and perfected list of the new +men had appeared in all the newspapers. + +'What friend?' + +'Mr Finn is to go to Ireland.' + +'Go to Ireland!--How do you mean?' + +'It is looked upon as being a very great promotion. Indeed, I am +told that he is considered to be the luckiest man in all the +scramble.' + +'You don't mean as Chief Secretary?' + +'Yes, I do. He certainly couldn't go as Lord Lieutenant.' + +'But they said that Barrington Erle was going to Ireland.' + +'Well; yes. I don't know that you'd be interested by all the ins +and outs of it. But Mr Erle declined. It seems that Mr Erle is +after all the one man in Parliament modest enough not to consider +himself to be fit for any place that can be offered to him.' + +'Poor Barrington! He does not like the idea of crossing the +Channel so often. I quite sympathize with him. And so Phineas +is to be Secretary for Ireland! Not in the Cabinet?' + +'No.--not in the Cabinet. It is not by any means usual that he +should be.' + +'That is promotion, and I'm glad! Poor Phineas! I hope they +won't murder him, or anything of that kind. They do murder +people, you know, sometimes.' + +'He's an Irishman himself.' + +'That just the reason why they should. He must pass up with that +of course. I wonder whether she'll like going. They'll be able +to spend money, which they always like, over there. He comes +backwards and forwards every week,--doesn't he?' + +'Not quite that, I believe.' + +'I shall miss her, if she has to stay away so long. I know you +don't like her.' + +'I do like her. She has always behaved well, both to me and to +my uncle.' + +'She was an angel to him,--and to you too, if you only knew it. +I dare say you're sending him to Ireland so as to get her away +from me.' This she said with a smile, as though not meaning it +altogether, but yet half meaning it. + +'I have asked him to undertake the office,' said the Duke +solemnly, 'because I am told he is fit for it. But I did have +some pleasure in proposing it to him because I thought it would +please you.' + +'It does please me, and I won't be cross any more, and the +Duchess of -- may wear her clothes just as she pleases, or go without +them. And as for Mrs Finn, I don't see why she should be with +him always when he goes. You can quite understand how necessary +she is to me. But she is in truth the only woman in London to +whom I can say what I think. And it is a comfort, you know, to +have someone.' + +In this way the domestic peace of the Prime Minister was +readjusted, and that sympathy and co-operation for which he had +first asked was accorded to him. It may be a question whether on +the whole the Duchess did not work harder than he did. She did +not at first dare to expound to him those grand ideas which she +had conceived in regard to magnificence and hospitality. She +said nothing of any extraordinary expenditure of money. But she +set herself to work after her own fashion, making to him +suggestions as to dinners and evening receptions, to which he +objected only on the score of time. 'You must eat your dinner +somewhere,' she said, 'and you need only come in just before we +sit down, and go into your room if you please without coming +upstairs at all. I can at any rate do that part of it for you.' +And she did do that part of it with marvellous energy all through +the month of May,--so that by the end of the month, within six +weeks of the time at which she first heard of the Coalition +Ministry, all the world had begun to talk of the Prime Minister's +dinners, and of the receptions given by the Prime Minister's +wife. + + + +CHAPTER 9 + +MRS DICK'S DINNER PARTY----NO 1. + +Our readers must not forget the troubles of poor Emily Wharton +amidst the gorgeous festivities of the new Prime Minister. +Throughout April and May she did not once see Ferdinand Lopez. +It may be remembered that on the night when the matter was +discussed between her and her father, she promised him that she +would not do so without his permission,--saying, however, at the +same time very openly that her happiness depended on such +permission being given to her. For two or three weeks not a word +further was said between her and her father on the subject, and +he had endeavoured to banish the subject from his mind,--feeling +no doubt that if nothing further were ever said it would be so +much the better. But then his daughter referred to the matter, +very plainly, with a simple question, and without disguise of her +own feeling, but still in a manner which he could not bring +himself to rebuke. 'Aunt Harriet has asked me once or twice to +go there of an evening, when you have been out. I have declined +because I thought Mr Lopez would be there. Must I tell her that +I am not to meet Mr Lopez, papa?' + +'If she has asked him there on purpose to throw him in your way, +I shall think very badly of her.' + +'But he has been in the habit of being there, papa. Of course if +you are decided about this, it is better that I should not see +him.' + +'Did I not tell you that I was decided?' + +'You said you would make some further inquiry, and speak to me +again.' Now Mr Wharton had made inquiry, but had learned nothing +to reassure himself;--neither had been able to learn any fact, +putting his finger on which he could point out to his daughter +clearly that the marriage would be unsuitable for her. Of the +man's ability and position, as certainly also of his manners, the +world at large seemed to speak well. He had been black-balled at +two clubs, but apparently without defined reason. He lived as +though he possessed a handsome income, and yet was in no degree +fast or flashy. He was supposed to be an intimate friend of Mr +Mills Happerton, one of the partners in the world-famous +commercial house of Hunky and Sons, which dealt in millions. +Indeed there had been at once time a rumour that he was going to +be taken into the house of Hunky and Sons as a junior partner. +It was evident that many people had been favourably impressed by +his outward demeanour, by his mode of talk, and by his way of +living. But no one knew anything about him. With regard to his +material position, Mr Wharton could of course ask direct +questions if he pleased, and require evidence as to his alleged +property. But he felt that by doing so he would abandon his +right to object to the man as being a Portuguese stranger, and he +did not wish to have Ferdinand Lopez as son-in-law, even though +he should be a partner in Hunky and Sons, and able to maintain a +gorgeous palace at South Kensington. + +'I have made inquiry.' + +'Well, papa.' + +'I don't know anything about him. Nobody knows anything about +him.' + +'Could you not ask him yourself anything you want to know? If I +might see him I would ask him.' + +'That would not do at all.' + +'It comes to this, papa, that I am to sever myself from a man to +whom I am attached, and who you must admit that I have been +allowed to meet from day to day with no caution that his intimacy +was unpleasant to you, because he is called,--Lopez.' + +'It isn't that at all. There are English people of that name, +but he isn't an Englishman.' + +'Of course, if you say so, papa, it must be so. I have told Aunt +Harriet that I consider myself prohibited from meeting Mr Lopez +by what you have said; but I think, papa, you are a little +cruel to me.' + +'Cruel to you!' said Mr Wharton, almost bursting into tears. + +'I am ready to obey as a child;--but, not being a child, I think +I ought to have a reason.' To this Mr Wharton made no further +immediate answer, but pulled his hair, and shuffled his feet +about, and then escaped out of the room. + +A few days afterwards his sister-in-law attached him. 'Are we to +understand, Mr Wharton, that Emily is not to meet Mr Lopez again? +It makes it very unpleasant, because he has been an intimate at +our house.' + +'I never said word about her not meeting him. Of course I do not +wish that any meeting should be contrived between them.' + +'As it stands now it is prejudicial to her. Of course it cannot +but be observed, and it so odd that a young lady should be +forbidden to meet a certain man. It looks so unpleasant for her, +--as though she had misbehaved herself.' + +'I have never thought so for a moment.' + +'Of course you have not. How could you have thought so, Mr +Wharton?' + +'I say that I never did.' + +'What must he think when he knows,--as of course he does know,--- +that she has been forbidden to meet him? It must make him fancy +that he is very much made of. All that is so very bad for a +girl! Indeed it is, Mr Wharton.' Of course there was absolute +dishonesty in all this on the part of Mrs Roby. She was true +enough to Emily's lover,--too true to him; but she was false to +Emily's father. If Emily would have yielded to her she would +have arranged meetings at her own house between the lovers +altogether in opposition to the father. Nevertheless, there was +a show of reason about what she said which Mr Wharton was unable +to overcome. And at the same time there was a reality about the +girl's sorrow which overcame him. He had never hitherto +consulted anyone about anything in his family, having always +found his own information and intellect sufficient for his own +affairs. But now he felt grievously in want of some pillar,--- +some female pillar,--on which he could lean. He did not know +all Mrs Roby's iniquities; but still he felt that she was not the +pillar of which he was in need. There was no such pillar for his +use, and he was driven to acknowledge to himself that in this +distressing position he must be guided by his own strength, and +his own lights. He thought it all out as well as he could in his +own chamber, allowing his book or brief to lie idle beside him +for many a half-hour. But he was much puzzled both as to the +extent of his own authority and the manner in which it should be +used. He certainly had not desired his daughter not to meet the +man. He could understand that unless some affront had been +offered such an edict enforced as to the conduct of a young lady +would induce all her acquaintance to suppose that she was either +very much in love or else she was very prone to misbehave +herself. He feared, indeed, that she was very much in love, but +it would not be prudent to tell her secret to all the world. +Perhaps it would be better that she should meet him, always with +the understanding that she was not to accept from him any +peculiar attention. If she would be obedient in one particular, +she would probably be so in the other, and, indeed, he did not at +all doubt her obedience. She would obey, but would take care to +show him that she was made miserable by obeying. He began to +foresee that he had a bad time before him. + +And then as he still sat idle, thinking of it all, his mind +wandered off to another view of the subject. Could he be happy, +or even comfortable, if she were unhappy? Of course he +endeavoured to convince himself that if he were bold, determined +and dictatorial with her, it would only be in order that her +future happiness might be secured. A parent is often bound to +disregard the immediate comfort of a child. But then was he sure +that he was right? He of course had his own way of looking at +life, but was it reasonable that he should force his girl to look +at things with his eyes? The man was distasteful to him as being +unlike his idea of an English gentleman, and as being without +those far-reaching fibres and roots by which he thought that the +solidity and stability of a human tree should be assured. But +the world was changing around him every day. Royalty was +marrying out of its degree. Peers' sons were looking only for +money. And, more than that, peers' daughters were bestowing +themselves on Jews and shopkeepers. Had he not better make the +usual inquiry about the man's means, and, if satisfied on that +head, let the girl do as she would? Added to all this, there was +growing on him a feeling that ultimately youth would as usual +triumph over age, and that he would be beaten. If that were so, +why worry himself, or why worry her? + +On the day after Mrs Roby's attack upon him he again saw that +lady, having on this occasion sent round to ask her to come to +him. 'I want you to understand that I put no embargo on Emily as +to meeting Mr Lopez. I can trust her fully. I do not wish her +to encourage his attentions, but I by no means wish her to avoid +him.' + +'Am I to tell Emily what you say?' + +'I will tell her myself. I think it better to say as much to +you, as you seemed to be embarrassed by the fear that they might +happen to see each other in your drawing-room.' + +'It was rather awkward, wasn't it?' + +'I have spoken to you now because you seemed to think so.' His +manner to her was not very pleasant, but Mrs Roby had known him +for many years, and did not care very much for his manner. She +had an object to gain, and could put up with a good deal for the +sake of her object. + +'Very well. Then I shall know how to act. But, Mr Wharton, I +must say this, you know Emily has a will of her own, and you must +not hold me responsible for anything that may occur.' As soon as +he heard this he almost resolved to withdraw the concession he +had made,--but he did not do so. + +Very soon after this there came a special invitation from Mr and +Mrs Roby, asking the Whartons, father and daughter, to dine with +them round the corner. It was quite a special invitation, +because it came in the form of a card,--which was unusual +between the two families. But the dinner was too, in some +degree, a special dinner,--as Emily was enabled to explain to +her father, the whole speciality having been fully detailed to +herself by her aunt. Mr Roby, whose belongings were not +generally aristocratic, had one great connection with whom, after +many years of quarrelling, he had lately come into amity. This +was his half-brother, considerably older than himself, and was no +other than that Mr Roby who was now Secretary to the Admiralty, +and who in the last Conservative Government had been one of the +Secretaries of the Treasury. The oldest Mr Roby of all, now long +since gathered to his fathers, had had two wives and two sons. +The elder son had not been left as well off as friends, or +perhaps as he himself, could have wished. But he had risen in +the world by his wits, had made his way into Parliament, and had +become, as all readers of these chronicles know, a staff of great +strength to his party. But he had always been a poor man. His +periods of office had been much shorter than those of his friend +Rattler, and his other sources of income had not been certain. +His younger half-brother, who, as far as the great world was +concerned, had none of his elder brother's advantages, had been +endowed with some fortune from his mother, and,--in an evil hour +for both of them,--had lent the politician money. As one +consequence of this transaction, they had not spoken to each +other for years. On this quarrel, Mrs Roby was always harping +with her own husband,--not taking his part. Her Roby, her Dick, +hd indeed the means of supporting her with fair comfort, but had, +of his own, no power of introducing her to that sort of society +for which her soul craved. But Mr Thomas Roby was a great man-- +though unfortunately poor,--and moved in high circles. Because +they had lent their money,--which was no doubt lost for ever,-- +why should they also lose the advantages of such a connection? +Would it not be wiser rather to take the debt as a basis whereon +to found a claim for special fraternal observation and kindred +intercourse? Dick, who was fond of his money, would not for a +long time look at the matter in this light, but harassed his +brother from time to time by applications which were quite +useless, and which by the acerbity of their language altogether +shut Mrs Roby from the good things which might have accrued to +her from so distinguished a brother-in-law. But when it came to +pass that Thomas Roby was confirmed in office by the coalition +which has been mentioned, Mrs Dick became very energetic. She +went herself to the official hero, and told him how desirous she +was of peace. Nothing more should be said about the money,--at +any rate for the present. Let brothers be brothers. And so it +came to pass that the Secretary to the Admiralty, with his wife, +were to dine at Berkeley Street, and that Mr Wharton was asked to +meet them. + +'I don't particularly want to meet Mr Thomas Roby,' the old +barrister said. + +'They want you to come,' said Emily, 'because there has been some +family reconciliation. You usually do go once or twice a year.' + +'I suppose it may as well be done,' said Mr Wharton. + +'I think, papa, that they mean to ask Mr Lopez,' said Emily +demurely. + +'I told you before that I don't want to have you banished from +your aunt's home by any man,' said the father. So the matter was +settled, and the invitation was accepted. This was just at the +end of May, at which time people were beginning to say that the +coalition was a success, and some wise men to predict that at +least fortuitous parliamentary atoms had so come together by +accidental connection, that a ministry had been formed which +might endure for a dozen years. Indeed there was no reason why +there should be any end to a ministry built on such a foundation. +Of course this was very comfortable to such men as Mr Roby, so +that the Admiralty Secretary when he entered his sister-in-law's +drawing-room was suffused with that rosy hue of human bliss which +a feeling of triumph bestows. 'Yes,' said he, in answer to some +would-be facetious remark from his brother, 'I think we have +weathered that storm pretty well. It does seem rather odd, my +sitting cheek by jowl with Mr Monk and gentlemen of that kidney; +but they don't bite. I've got one of our own set at the head of +our own office, and he leads the House. I think upon the whole +we've got a little the best of it.' This was listened to by Mr +Wharton with great disgust,--for Mr Wharton was a Tory of the +old school, who hated compromises, and abhorred in his heart the +clash of politicians to whom politics were a profession rather +than a creed. + +Mr Roby, senior, having escaped from the House, was of course the +last, and had indeed kept all the other guests waiting half-an- +hour,--as becomes a parliamentary magnate in the heat of the +session. Mr Wharton, who had been early, saw all the other +guests arrive, among them Mr Ferdinand Lopez. There was also Mr +Mills Happerton,--partner in Hunky and Sons,--with his wife, +respecting whom Mr Wharton at once concluded that he was there as +being the friend of Ferdinand Lopez. If so, how much influence +must Ferdinand Lopez have in that house! Nevertheless, Mr Mills +Happerton was in his way a great man, and a credit to Mrs Roby. +And there was Sir Damask and Lady Monogram, who were people +moving in quite the first circles. Sir Damask shot pigeons, and +so did also Dick Roby,--whence had perhaps arisen an intimacy. +But Lady Monogram was not at all the person to dine with Mrs Dick +Roby without other cause than this. But a great official among +one's acquaintance can do so much for one! It was probable that +Lady Monogram's presence was among the first fruits of the happy +family reconciliation that had taken place. Then there was Mrs +Leslie, a pretty widow, rather poor, who was glad to receive +civilities from Mrs Roby, and was Emily Wharton's pet aversion. +Mrs Leslie had said impertinent things to her about Ferdinand +Lopez, and she had snubbed Mrs Leslie. But Mrs Leslie was +serviceable to Mrs Roby, and had now been asked to her great +dinner party. + +But the two most illustrious guests have not yet been mentioned. +Mrs Roby had secured a lord,--an absolute peer of Parliament. +This was no less than Lord Mongrober, whose father had been a +great judge in the early part of the century, and had been made a +peer. The Mongrober estates were not supposed to be large, nor +was the Mongrober influence at this time extensive. But this +nobleman was seen about a good deal in society when the dinners +given were supposed to be worth eating. He was a fat, silent, +red-faced, elderly gentleman, who said very little, and who when +he did speak seemed always to be in an ill-humour. He would now +and then make ill-natured remarks about his friends' wines, as +suggesting '68 when a man would boast of his '48 claret; and when +costly dainties were supplied for his use, would remark that such +and such a dish was very well at some other time of the year. So +that ladies attentive to their tables and hosts proud of their +cellars would almost shake in their shoes before Lord Mongrober. +And it may also be said that Lord Mongrober never gave any chance +of retaliation by return dinners. There lived not the man or +woman who had dined with Lord Mongrober. But yet the Robys of +London were glad to entertain him; and the Mrs Robys, when he was +coming, would urge their cooks to superhuman energies by the +mention of his name. + +And there was Lady Eustace! Of Lady Eustace it was impossible to +say whether her beauty, her wit, her wealth, or the remarkable +history of her past life, most recommended her to such hosts and +hostesses as Mr and Mrs Roby. As her history may already be +known to some, no details of it shall be repeated here. At this +moment she was free from all marital persecution, and was very +much run after by a certain set in society. There were others +again who declared that no decent man or woman ought to meet her. +On the score of lovers there was really little or nothing to be +said against her; but she had implicated herself in an +unfortunate second marriage, and then there was the old story +about the jewels! But there was no doubt about her money and her +good looks, and some considered her to be clever. These +completed the list of Mrs Roby's great dinner party. + +Mr Wharton, who had arrived early, could not but take notice that +Lopez, who soon followed him into the room, had at once fallen +into conversation with Emily, as though there had never been any +difficulty in the matter. The father, standing on the rug and +pretending to answer the remarks made to him by Dick Roby, could +see that Emily said but little. The man, however, was so much at +his ease that there was no necessity for her to exert herself. +Mr Wharton hated him for being at his ease. Had he appeared to +have been rebuffed by the circumstances of his position the +prejudices of the old man would have been lessened. By degrees +the guests came. Lord Mongrober stood also on the rug dumb, with +a look of intense impatience for his food, hardly ever +condescending to answer the little attempts at conversation made +by Mrs Dick. Lady Eustace gushed into the room, kissing Mrs Dick +and afterwards kissing her great friend of the moment, Mrs +Leslie, who followed. She then looked as though she meant to +kiss Lord Mongrober, whom she playfully and almost familiarly +addressed. But Lord Mongrober only grunted. Then came Sir +Damask and Lady Monogram, and Dick at once began about his +pigeons. Sir Damask, who was the most good-natured man in the +world, interested himself at once and became energetic; but Lady +Monogram looked around the room carefully, and seeing Lady +Eustace turned up her nose, nor did she care much for meeting +Lord Mongrober. If she had been taken in as to the Admiralty +Robys, then would she let the junior Robys know what she thought +about it. Mills Happerton, with his wife, caused the frown on +Lady Monogram's brow to loosen itself a little, for, so great was +the wealth and power of the house of Hunky and Sons, that Mr +Mills Happerton was no doubt a feature at any dinner party. Then +came the Admiralty Secretary with his wife, and the order for +dinner was given. + + + +CHAPTER 10 + +MRS DICK'S DINNER PARTY--NO 2. + +Dick walked downstairs with Lady Monogram. There had been some +doubt whether of right he should not have taken Lady Eustace, but +it was held by Mrs Dick that her ladyship had somewhat impaired +her rights by the eccentricities of her career, and also that she +would amiably pardon any little wrongdoing against her of that +kind,--whereas Lady Monogram was a person much to be considered. +Then followed Sir Damask with Lady Eustace. They seemed to be +paired so well together that there could be no doubt about them. +The ministerial Roby, who was really the hero of the night, took +Mrs Happerton, and our friend Mr Wharton took the Secretary's +wife. All that had been easy,--so easy that fate had goodnaturedly +arranged things which are sometimes difficult of +management. But then there came an embarrassment. Of course it +would in a usual way be right that a married man as was Mr +Happerton should be assigned to the widow Mrs Leslie, and that +the only two 'young' people,--in the usual sense of the word,-- +should go down to dinner together. But Mrs Roby was at first +afraid of Mr Wharton, and planned it otherwise. When, however, +the last moment came she plucked up courage, gave Mrs Leslie to +the great commercial man, and with a brave smile asked Mr Lopez +to give his arm to the lady he loved. It is sometimes so hard to +manage these 'little things', said she to Lord Mongrober as she +put her hand upon his arm. His lordship had been kept standing +in that odious drawing-room for more than half-an-hour waiting +for a man whom he regarded as a poor Treasury hack, and was by no +means in a good humour. Dick Roby's wine was no doubt good, but +he was not prepared to purchase it at such a price as this. + +'Things always get confused when you have waited an hour for +anyone,' he said. + +'What can you do, you know, when the House is sitting?' said the +lady apologetically. 'Of course you lords can get away, but then +you have nothing to do.' + +Lord Mongrober grunted, meaning to imply by his grunt that anyone +would be very much mistaken who supposed that he had any work to +do because he was a peer of Parliament. + +Lopez and Emily were seated next to each other, and immediately +opposite to them was Mr Wharton. Certainly nothing fraudulent +had been intended on this occasion,--or it would have been +arranged that the father should sit on the same side of the table +with the lover, so that he should see nothing of what was going +on. But it seemed to Mr Wharton as though he had been positively +swindled by his sister-in-law. There they sat opposite to him, +talking to each other apparently with thoroughly mutual +confidence, the very two persons whom he most especially desired +to keep apart. He had not a word to say to either of the ladies +near him. He endeavoured to keep his eyes away from his daughter +as much as possible, and to divert his ears from their +conversation;--but he could not but look and he could not but +listen. Not that he really heard a sentence. Emily's voice +hardly reached him, and Lopez understood the game he was playing +much too well to allow his voice to travel. And he looked as +though his position were the most commonplace in the world, and +as though he had nothing of more than ordinary interest to say to +his neighbour. Mr Wharton, as he sat there, almost made up his +mind that he would leave his practice, give up his chambers, +abandon even his club, and take his daughter at once to,--to,--- +it did not matter where, so that the place should be very distant +from Manchester Square. There could be no other remedy for this +evil. + +Lopez, though he talked throughout the whole of dinner,--turning +sometimes indeed to Mrs Leslie who sat at his left hand,--said +very little that all the world might not have heard. But he did +say one such word. 'It has been dreary to me, the last month!' +Emily of course had no answer to make to this. She could not +tell him that her desolation had been infinitely worse than his, +and that she sometimes felt as though her very heart would break. +'I wonder whether it must always be like this with me,' he said, +--and then he went back to the theatres and other ordinary +conversation. + +'I suppose you've got to the bottom of that champagne you used to +have,' said Lord Mongrober roaring across the table to his host, +holding his glass in his hand and with strong marks of +disapprobation on his face. + +'The very same wine as we were drinking when your lordship last +did me the honour of dining here,' said Dick. Lord Mongrober +raised his eyebrows, shook his head and put down the glass. + +'Shall we try another bottle?' asked Mrs Dick with solicitude. + +'Oh, no;--it'd be all the same, I know. I'll just take a little +dry sherry if you have it.' The man came with the decanter. +'No, dry sherry;--dry sherry,' said his lordship. The man was +confounded, Mrs Dick was at her wits' ends, and everything was in +confusion. Lord Mongrober was not the man to be kept waiting by +a government subordinate without exacting some penalty for such +ill-treatment. + +'His lordship is a little out of sorts,' whispered Dick to Lady +Monogram. + +'Very much out of sorts, it seems.' + +'And the worst of it is, there isn't a better glass of wine in +London, and his lordship knows it.' + +'I suppose that's what he comes for,' said Lady Monogram, being +quite as uncivil in her way as the nobleman. + +'He's like a good many others. He knows where he can get a good +dinner. After all, there's no attraction like that. Of course, +a hansome woman won't admit that, Lady Monogram.' + +'I will not admit it, at any rate, Mr Roby.' + +'But I don't doubt Monogram is as careful as anyone else to get +the best cook he can, and takes a good deal of trouble about his +wine too. Mongrober is very unfair about that champagne. It +came out of Madame Cliquot's cellars before the war, and I gave +Sprott and Burlinghammer 100s for it.' + +'Indeed!' + +'I don't think there are a dozen men in London can give you such +a glass of wine as that. What do you say about the champagne, +Monogram?' + +'Very tidy wine,' said Sir Damask. + +'I should think it is. I gave 100s for it before the war. His +lordship's got a fit of the gout coming, I suppose.' + +But Sir Damask was engaged with his neighbour Lady Eustace. 'Of +all things I should so like to see a pigeon match,' said Lady +Eustace. 'I have heard about them all my life. Only I suppose +it isn't quite proper for a lady.' + +'Oh, dear, yes.' + +'The darling little pigeons! They do sometimes escape, don't +they? I hope they escape sometimes. I'll go any day you'll make +up a party,--if Lady Monogram will join us.' Sir Damask said +that he would arrange it, making up his mind, however, at the +same time, that this last stipulation, if insisted on, would make +the thing impracticable. + +Roby the ministerialist, sitting at the end of the table between +his sister-in-law and Mrs Happerton, was very confidential +respecting the Government and parliamentary affairs in general. +'Yes, indeed;--of course it's a coalition, but I don't see why +we shouldn't go on very well. As to the Duke, I've always had +the greatest possible respect for him. The truth is, there's +nothing special to be done at the present moment, and there's no +reason why we shouldn't agree and divide the good things between +us. The Duke has got some craze of his own about decimal +coinage. He'll amuse himself with that; but it won't come to +anything, and it won't hurt us.' + +'Isn't the Duchess giving a great many parties?' asked Mrs +Happerton. + +'Well;---yes. That kind of thing used to be done in old Lady +Brock's time, and the Duchess is repeating it. There's no end to +their money, you know. But it's rather a bore for the persons +who have to go.' The ministerial Roby knew well how he would +make his sister-in-law's mouth water by such an allusion, as this +to the great privilege of entering the Prime Minister's mansion +in Carlton Terrace. + +'I suppose you in the Government are always asked.' + +'We are expected to go too, and are watched pretty close. Lady +Glen, as we used to call her, has the eyes of Argus. And of +course we who used to be on the other side are especially bound +to pay her observance.' + +'Don't you like the Duchess?' asked Mrs Happerton. + +'Oh yes;--I like her very well. She's mad, you know,--mad as a +hatter;--and no one can ever guess what freak may come next. +One always feels that she'll do something sooner or later that +will startle all the world.' + +'There was a queer story once,--wasn't there?' asked Mrs Dick. + +'I never quite believed that,' said Roby. 'It was something +about some lover she had before she was married. She went off to +Switzerland. But the Duke,--he was Mr Palliser then,--followed +her very soon and it all came right.' + +'When ladies are going to be duchesses, things do come right, +don't they?'said Mrs Happerton. + +On the other side of Mrs Happerton was Mr Wharton, quite unable +to talk to his right-hand neighbour, the Secretary's wife. The +elder Mrs Roby had not, indeed, much to say for herself, and he +during the whole dinner was in misery. He had resolved that +there should be no intimacy of any kind between his daughter and +Ferdinand Lopez,--nothing more than the merest acquaintance, and +there they were, talking together before his very eyes, with more +evident signs of understanding each other than were exhibited by +any other two persons at the table. And yet he had no just +ground of complaint against either of them. If people dine +together at the same house, it may of course happen that they +shall sit next to each other. And if people sit next to each +other at dinner, it is expected that they shall talk. Nobody +could accuse Emily of flirting; but then she was a girl who under +no circumstances would condescend to flirt. But she had declared +boldly to her father that she loved this man, and there she was +in close conversation with him! Would it not be better for him +to give up any further trouble, and let her marry the man? She +would certainly do so sooner or later. + +When the ladies went upstairs that misery was over for a time, +but Mr Wharton was still not happy. Dick came round and took his +wife's chair so that he sat between the lord and his brother. +Lopez and Happerton fell into City conversation, and Sir Damask +tried to amuse himself with Mr Wharton. But the task was +hopeless,--as it always is when the elements of the party have +been ill-mixed. Mr Wharton had not even heard of the Aldershot +coach which Sir Damask had just started with Colonel Buskin and +Sir Alfonso Blackbird. And when Sir Damask declared that he +drove the coach up and down twice a week himself, Mr Wharton at +any rate affected to believe that such a thing was impossible. +Then when Sir Damask gave him the opinion as to the cause of the +failure of a certain horse at Northampton, Mr Wharton gave him no +encouragement whatever. 'I never was at a race-course in my +life,' said the barrister. After that Sir Damask drank his wine +in silence. + +'You remember that claret, my lord?' said Dick, thinking that +some little compensation was due to him for what had been said +about the champagne. + +But Lord Mongrober's dinner had not yet had the effect of +mollifying the man sufficiently for Dick's purposes. 'Oh, yes. +I remember the wine. You call it '57, don't you?' + +'And it is '57;--'57, Leoville.' + +'Very likely,--very likely. If it hadn't been heated before the +fire--' + +'It hasn't been near the fire,' said Dick. + +'Or put into a decanter--' + +'Nothing of the kind.' + +'Or treated after some other damnable fashion, it would be very +good wine, I dare say.' + +'You are hard to please, my lord, to-day,' said Dick, who was put +beyond his bearing. + +'What is a man to say? If you will talk about your wine, I can +only tell you what I think. Any man may get good wine,--that is +if he can afford to pay the price,--but one isn't out of ten who +knows how to put it on the table.' Dick felt this to be very +hard. When a man pays 100s a dozen for his champagne, and then +gives it to guests like Lord Mongrober, who are not even expected +to return the favour, then that man ought to be allowed to talk +about his wine without fear of rebuke. One doesn't have an +agreement to that effect written down in parchment and sealed; +but it is as well understood and ought to be as faithfully kept +as any legal contract. Dick, who could on occasions be awakened +to a touch of manliness, gave the bottle a shove and threw +himself back in his chair. 'If you ask me, I can only tell you,' +repeated Lord Mongrober. + +'I don't believe you ever had a bottle of wine put before you in +better order in all your life,' said Dick. His lordship's face +became very square and very red as he looked round at his host. +'And as for talking about my wine, of course I talk to a man +about what he understands. I talk to Monogram about pigeons, to +Tom there about politics, to 'Apperton and Lopez about the price +of consols, and to you about wine. If I asked you what you +thought of the last new book, your lordship would be a little +surprised.' Lord Mongrober grunted and looked redder and squarer +that ever; but he made no attempt at reply, and the victory was +evidently left with Dick,--very much the general exaltation of +his character. And he was proud of himself. 'We had a little +tiff, me and Mongrober,' he said to his wife that night. 'He's a +very good fellow, and of course he's a lord and all that. But he +has to be put down occasionally, and by George, I did it tonight. +You ask Lopez.' + +There were two drawing-rooms upstairs opening into each other, +but still distinct. Emily had escaped into the back room, +avoiding the gushing sentiments and equivocal morals of Lady +Eustace and Mrs Leslie,--and here she was followed by Ferdinand +Lopez. Mr Wharton was in the front room, and though on entering +it he did look furtively for his daughter, he was ashamed to +wander about in order that he might watch her. And there were +others in the back room,--Dick and Monogram standing on the rug, +and the elder Mrs Roby seated in a corner,--so that there was +nothing peculiar in the position of the two lovers. + +'Must I understand,' said he, 'that I am banished from Manchester +Square?' + +'Has papa banished you?' + +'That's what I want you to tell me.' + +'I know you had an interview with him, Mr Lopez.' + +'Yes, I had.' + +'And you must know best what he told you.' + +'He would explain himself better to you than he did to me.' + +'I doubt that very much. Papa, when he has anything to say +generally says it plainly. However, I do think that he did +intend to banish you. I do not know why I should not tell you +the truth.' + +'I do not know either.' + +'I think he did--intend to banish you.' + +'And you?' + +'I shall be guided by him in all things,--as far as I can.' + +'Then I am banished by you also?' + +'I did not say so. But if papa says that you are not to come +there, of course I cannot ask you to do so.' + +'But I may see you here?' + +'Mr Lopez, I will not be asked some questions. I will not +indeed.' + +'You know why I ask them. You know that to me you are more than +all the world.' She stood still for a moment after hearing this, +and then without any reply walked away into the other room. She +felt half ashamed of herself in that she had not rebuked him for +speaking to her in that fashion after his interview with her +father, and yet his words had filled her heart with delight. He +had never before plainly declared his love to her,--though she +had been driven by her father's questions to declare her own love +to herself. She was quite sure of herself,--that the man was +and would always be to her the one being whom she would prefer to +all others. Her fate was in her father's hands. If he chose to +make her wretched he must do so. But on one point she had quite +made up her mind. She would make no concealment. To the world +at large she had nothing to say on the matter. But with her +father there should be no attempt on her part to keep back the +truth. Were he to question her on the subject she would tell +him, as far as her memory would serve her, the very words which +Lopez had spoken to her this evening. She would ask nothing from +him. He had already told her that the man was to be rejected, +and had refused to give any other reason than his dislike to the +absence of any English connection. She would not again ask even +for a reason. But she would make her father understand that +though she obeyed him she regarded the exercise of his authority +as tyrannical and irrational. + +They left the house before any of the other guests and walked +round the corner together into the Square. 'What a very vulgar +set of people!' said Mr Wharton as soon as they were down the +steps. + +'Some of them were,' said Emily, making a mental reservation of +her own. + +'Upon my word I don't know where to make the exception. Why on +earth anyone should want to know such a person as Lord Mongrober +I can't understand. What does he bring into society?' + +'A title.' + +'But what does that do of itself? He is an insolent, bloated +brute.' + +'Papa, you are using strong language to-night.' + +'And that Lady Eustace! Heaven and earth! Am I to be told that +that creature is a lady?' + +They had come to their own door, and while that was being opened, +and as they went up into their own drawing-room, nothing was +said, but then Emily began again. 'I wonder why you go to Aunt +Harriet's at all. You don't like the people?' + +'I didn't like any of them today.' + +'Why do you go there? You don't like Aunt Harriet herself. You +don't like Uncle Dick. You don't like Mr Lopez.' + +'Certainly I do not.' + +'I don't know who it is you do like.' + +'I like Mr Fletcher.' + +'It's no use saying that to me, papa.' + +'You ask me a question, and I choose to answer it. I like Arthur +Fletcher, because he is a gentleman,--because he is a gentleman +of the class to which I belong myself; because he works, because +I know all about him, so that I can be sure of him, being quite +sure that he will say to me neither awkward things nor +impertinent things. He will not talk to me about driving a mail +coach like that foolish baronet, nor tell me the price of all the +wines like your uncle.' Nor would Ferdinand Lopez do so, thought +Emily to herself. 'But in all such matters, my dear, the great +thing is like to like. I have spoken of a young person, merely +because I wish you to understand that I can sympathize with +others besides those of my own age. But to-night there was no +one there at all like myself,--or, as I hope, like you. That +man Roby is a chattering ass. How such a man can be useful to +any government I can't conceive. Happerton was the best, but +what had he to say for himself? I've always thought that there +was very little wit wanted to make a fortune in the City.' In +this frame of mind, Mr Wharton went off to bed, but not a word +more was spoken about Ferdinand Lopez. + + + +CHAPTER 11 + +CARLTON TERRACE. + +Certainly the thing was done very well by Lady Glen,--as many in +the political world persisted in calling her even in these days. +She had not as yet quite carried out her plan,--the doing of +which would have required her to reconcile her husband to some +excessive abnormal expenditure, and to have obtained from him a +deliberate sanction for appropriation and probably sale of +property. She never could find the proper moment for doing this, +having with all her courage,--low down in some corner of her +heart,--a wholesome fear of a certain quiet power which her +husband possessed. She could not bring herself to make her +proposition;--but she almost acted as though it had been made +and approved. Her house was always gorgeous with flowers. Of +course there would be the bill;--and he, when he saw the +exotics, and the whole place turned into a bower of every fresh +blooming floral glories, must know that there would be the bill. +And when he found that there was an archducal dinner-party every +week and an almost imperial reception twice a week; that at these +receptions a banquet was always provided; when he was asked to +whether she might buy a magnificent pair of bay carriage-horses, +as to which she assured him that nothing so lovely had ever as +yet been seen stepping in the streets of London,--of course he +must know that the bill would come. It was better, perhaps, to +do it in this way, than to make any direct proposition. And +then, early in June, she spoke to him as the guests to be invited +to Gatherum Castle in August. 'Do you want to go to Gatherum in +August?' he asked in surprise. For she hated the place, and had +hardly been content to spend ten days there every year at +Christmas. + +'I think it should be done,' she said solemnly. 'One cannot +quite consider just now what one likes oneself.' + +'Why not?' + +'You would hardly go to a small place like Matching in your +present position. There are so many people whom you should +entertain! You would probably have two or three of the foreign +ministers down for a time.' + +'We always used to find plenty of room at Matching.' + +'But you did not always use to be Prime Minister. It is only for +such a time as this that such a house as Gatherum is +serviceable.' + +He was silent for a moment, thinking about it, and then gave way +without another word. She was probably right. There was the +huge pile of magnificent buildings; and somebody, at any rate, +had thought that it behoved a Duke of Omnium to live in such a +palace. It ought to be done at any time, it ought to be done +now. In that his wife had been right. 'Very well. Let us go +there.' + +'I'll manage it all,' said the Duchess, 'I and Locock.' Locock was +the house-steward. + +'I remember once,' said the Duke, and he smiled as he spoke with +a peculiarly sweet expression, which would at times come across +his generally inexpressive face,--'I remember once that some +First Minister of the Crown gave evidence as the amount of his +salary, saying that his place entailed upon him expenses higher +than his stipend would defray. I begin to think that my +experience will be the same.' + +'Does that fret you?' + +'No, Cora;--it certainly does not fret me, or I should not allow +it. But I think there should be a limit. No man is ever rich +enough to squander.' + +Though they were to squander her fortune,--the money which she +had brought,--for the next ten years at a much greater rate than +she contemplated, they might do so without touching the Palliser +property. Of that she was quite sure. And the squandering was +to be all for his glory,--so that he might retain his position +as a popular Prime Minister. For an instant it occurred to her +that she would tell him all this. But she checked herself, and +the idea of what she had been about to say brought the blood into +her face. Never yet had she in talking to him alluded to her own +wealth. + +'Of course we are spending money,' she said. 'If you give me a +hint to hold my hand, I will hold it.' + +He had looked at her; and read it all in her face. 'God knows,' +he said, 'you've a right to do it if it pleases you.' + +'For your sake!' Then he stooped down and kissed her twice, and +left her to arrange her parties as she pleased. After that she +congratulated herself that she had not made the direct +proposition, knowing that she might now do pretty much as she +pleased. + +Then there were solemn cabinets held, at which she presided, and +Mrs Finn and Locock assisted. At other cabinets it is supposed +that, let a leader be ever so autocratic by disposition and +superior by intelligence, still he must not unfrequently yield to +the opinion of his colleagues. But in this cabinet the Duchess +always had her own way, though she was very persistent in asking +for counsel. Locock was frightened about the money. Hitherto +money had come without a word, out of the common, spoken to the +Duke. The Duke had always signed certain cheques, but they had +been normal cheques, and the money in its natural course had +flown in to meet them;--but now he must be asked to sign +abnormal cheques. That, indeed, had already been done; but still +the money had been there. A large balance, such as had always +stood to his credit, would stand a bigger racket than had yet +been made. But Locock was sure that the balance ought not to be +much further reduced,--and that steps must be taken. Something +must be sold! The idea of selling anything was dreadful to the +mind of Locock! Or else money must be borrowed! Now the +management of the Palliser property had always been conducted on +principles antagonistic to borrowing. 'But his Grace has never +spent his income,' said the Duchess. That was true. But the +money, as it showed a tendency to heap itself up, had been used +for the purchase of other bits of property, or for the +amelioration of the estates generally. 'You don't mean to say +that we can't get money if we want it!' Locock was profuse in +his assurance that any amount of money could be obtained,--only +that something had to be done. 'Then let something be done,' +said the Duchess, going on with her general plans. 'Many people +are rich,' said the Duchess afterwards to her friend, 'and some +people are very rich indeed; but nobody seems to be rich enough +to have ready money to do just what he wishes. It all goes into +a grand sum total, which is never to be touched without a feeling +of sacrifice. I suppose you have always enough for anything.' +It was well known that the present Mrs Finn, as Madame Goesler, +had been a wealthy woman. + +'Indeed, no,--very far from that. I haven't a shilling.' + +'What has happened?' asked the Duchess, pretending to be +frightened. + +'You forget that I've got a husband of my own, and that he has to +be consulted.' + +'That must be nonsense. But don't you think women are fools to +marry when they've got anything of their own, and could be their +own mistresses? I couldn't have been. I was made to marry +before I was old enough to assert myself.' + +'And how well they did for you!' + +'Pas si mal.--He's Prime Minister, which is a great thing, and I +begin to find myself filled to the full with political ambition. +I feel myself to be a Lady Macbeth, prepared for the murder of +any Duncan or any Daubney who may stand in my lord's way. In the +mean time, like Lady Macbeth herself, we must attend to the +banquetings.' Her lord appeared and misbehaved himself; my lord +won't show himself at all,--which I think is worse.' + +Our old friend Phineas Finn, who had now reached a higher place +in politics than even his political dreams had assigned to him, +though he was a Member of Parliament, was much away from London +in these days. New brooms sweep clean; and official new brooms, +I think, sweep cleaner than any other. Who has not watched at +the commencement of a Ministry some Secretary, some Lord, or some +Commissioner, who intends by fresh Herculean labours to cleanse +the Augean stables just committed to his care? Who does not know +the gentleman at the Home Office, who means to reform the police +and put an end to malefactors; or the new Minister at the Board +of Works, who is to make London beautiful as by a magician's +stroke,--or, above all, the new First Lord, who is resolved that +he will really build a fleet, purge the dockyards, and save us +half a million a year at the same time? Phineas Finn was bent on +unriddling the Irish sphinx. Surely something might be done to +prove to his susceptible countrymen that at the present moment no +curse could be laid upon them so heavy as that of having to rule +themselves apart from England; and he thought that this might be +easier, as he became from day to day more thoroughly convinced +that those Home Rulers who were all around him in the House were +altogether of the same opinion. Had some inscrutable decree of +fate ordained and made it certain,--with a certainty not to be +disturbed,--that no candidate would be returned to Parliament +who would not assert the earth to be triangular, there would rise +immediately a clamorous assertion of triangularity among +political aspirants. The test would be innocent. Candidates +have swallowed, and daily do swallow, many a worse one. As might +be this doctrine of a great triangle, so is the doctrine of Home +Rule. Why is a gentleman of property to be kept out in the cold +by some O'Mullins because he will not mutter an unmeaning +shibboleth? 'Triangular? Yes,--or lozenge-shaped, if you +please; but, gentlemen, I am the man for Tipperary.' Phineas +Finn, having seen, or thought that he had seen, all this, began, +from the very first moment of his appointment, to consider +painfully within himself whether the genuine services of an +honest and patriotic man might compass some remedy for the +present ill-boding ferment of the country. What was in it that +the Irish really did want;--what that they wanted, and had not +got, and which might with propriety be conceded to them? What +was it that the English really would refuse to sanction, even +though it might not be wanted? He found himself beating about +among the rocks as to Catholic education and Papal interference, +the passage among which might be made clearer to him in Irish +atmosphere than in that of Westminster. There he was away a good +deal in these days, travelling backwards and forwards as he might +be wanted for any debate. But as his wife did not accompany him +on these fitful journeys, she was able to give her time very much +to the Duchess. + +The Duchess was on the whole very successful with her parties. +There were people who complained that she had everybody; that +there was no selection whatever as to politics, principles, rank, +morals,--or even manners. But in such a work as the Duchess has +now taken in hand, it was impossible that she should escape +censure. They who really knew what was being done were aware +that nobody was asked to that house without an idea that his or +her presence might be desirable,--in however remote a degree. +Paragraphs in newspapers go for much, and therefore the writers +and editors of such paragraphs were there,--sometimes with their +wives. Mr Broune, of the "Breakfast Table", was to be seen there +constantly, with his wife Lady Carbury, and poor old Booker of +the "Literary Chronicle". City men can make a budget popular or +the reverse, and therefore the Mills Happertons of the day were +welcome. Rising barristers might be wanted to become Solicitors- +General. The pet Orpheus of the hour, the young tragic actor who +was thought to have a real Hamlet within him, the old painter who +was sill strong with hope, even the little trilling poet, though +he trilled never so faintly, and the somewhat wooden novelist, +all had tongues of their own, and certain modes of expression, +which might assist or injure the Palliser Coalition,--as the +Duke's Ministry was now called. + +'Who is that man? I've seen him here before. The Duchess was +talking to him ever so long just now.' The question was asked by +Mr Rattler of Mr Roby. About half-an-hour before this time Mr +Rattler had essayed to get a few words with the Duchess, +beginning with the communication of some small political secret. +But the Duchess did not care much for the Rattlers attached to +her husband's Government. They were men whose services could be +had for a certain payment,--and when paid for were, the Duchess +thought, at the Premier's command without further trouble. Of +course they came to the receptions, and were entitled to a smile +apiece when they entered. But they were entitled to nothing +more, and on this occasion, Rattler had felt himself to be +snubbed. It did not occur to him to abuse the Duchess. The +Duchess was too necessary for abuse,--just at present. But any +friend of the Duchess,--and favourite for the moment,--was of +course open to remark. + +'He is a man named Lopez,' said Roby, 'a friend of Happerton;--a +very clever fellow they say.' + +'Did you ever see him anywhere else?' + +'Well, yes,--I have met him at dinner.' + +'He was never in the House. What does he do?' Rattler was +distressed to think that any drone should have made it way into +the hive of working bees.' + +'Oh;--money, I fancy.' + +'He's not a partner at Hunky's, is he?' + +'I fancy not. I think I should have known if he was.' + +'She ought to remember that people make use of coming here,' said +Rattler. She was, of course, the Duchess. 'It's not like a +private house. And whatever influence outsiders get by coming, +so much she loses. Somebody ought to explain that to her.' + +'I don't think you or I could do that,' replied Mr Roby. + +'I'll tell the Duke in a minute,' said Rattler. Perhaps he +thought he could tell the Duke, but we may be allowed to doubt +whether his prowess would not have fallen below the necessary +pitch when he met the Duke's eye. + +Lopez was there for the third time, about the middle of June, and +had certainly contrived to make himself personally known to the +Duchess. There had been a deputation from the City to the Prime +Minister asking for a subsidized mail, via San Francisco, to +Japan. And Lopez, though he had no interest in Japan, had +contrived to be one of the number. He had contrived also, as the +deputation was departing, to say a word on his own account to the +Minister, and had ingratiated himself. The Duke had remembered +him, and had suggested that he should have a card. And now he +was among the flowers and the greatness, the beauty, the +politics, and the fashion of the Duchess's gatherings for the +third time. 'It is very well done,--very well, indeed,'said Mr +Boffin to him. Lopez had been dining with Mr and Mrs Boffin, and +had now again encountered his late host and hostess. Mr Boffin +was a gentleman who had belonged to the late Ministry, but had +somewhat out-Heroded Herod in his Conservatism, so as to have +been considered to be unfit for the Coalition. Of course, he was +proud of his own staunchness, and a little inclined to criticize +the lax principles of men who, for the sake of carrying on her +Majesty's Government, could be Conservatives one day and Liberals +the next. He was a labourious, honest man,--but hardly of +calibre sufficient not to regret his own honesty in such an +emergency as the present. It is easy for most of us to keep our +hands from picking and stealing when picking and stealing plainly +lead to prison diet and prison garments. But when silks and +satins come of it, and with the silks and satins general respect, +the net result of honesty does not seem to be so secure. Whence +will come the reward, and when? On whom the punishment, and +where? A man will not, surely, be damned for belonging to a +Coalition Ministry? Boffin was a little puzzled as he thought on +all this, but in the meantime was very proud of his own +constancy. + +'I think it so lovely,' said Mrs Boffin. 'You look down through +an Elysium of rhododendrons into a Paradise of mirrors. I don't +think there was anything like it in London before.' + +'I don't know that we ever had anybody at the same time, rich +enough to do this kind of thing as it is done now,' said Boffin, +'and powerful enough to get such people together. If the country +can be ruled by flowers and looking-glasses, of course it is very +well.' + +'Flowers and looking-glasses won't prevent the country being +ruled well,' said Lopez. + +'I'm not so sure of that,' continued Boffin. 'We all know what +the bread and games came to in Rome.' + +'What did they come to?' asked Mrs Boffin. + +'To a man burning in Rome, my dear, for his amusement, dressed in a +satin petticoat and a wreath of roses.' + +'I don't think the Duke will dress himself like that,' said Mrs +Boffin. + +'And I don't think,' said Lopez, 'that the graceful expenditure +of wealth in a rich man's house has any tendency to demoralize +the people.' + +'The attempt here,' said Boffin severely, 'is to demoralize the +rulers of the people. I am glad to have come once to see how the +thing is done; but as an independent member of the House of +Commons I should not wish to be known to frequent the saloon of +the Duchess.' Then Mr Boffin took away Mrs Boffin, much to that +lady's regret. + +'This is fairy land,' said Lopez to the Duchess, as he left the +room. + +'Come and be a fairy then,' she answered, very graciously. 'We +are always on the wing about this hour on Wednesday night.' The +words contained a general invitation for the season, and were +esteemed by Lopez as an indication of great favour. It must be +acknowledged of the Duchess that she was prone to make +favourites, perhaps without adequate cause; though it must be +conceded to her that she rarely altogether threw off from her +anyone whom she had once taken to her good graces. It must also +be confessed that when she had allowed herself to hate either a +man or a woman, she generally hated on to the end. No Paradise +could be too charming for her friends; no Pandemonium too +frightful for her enemies. In reference to Mr Lopez she would +have said, if interrogated, that she had taken the man up in +obedience to her husband. But in truth she had liked the look +and the voice of the man. Her husband before now had recommended +men to her notice and kindness, whom at the first trial she had +rejected from her good-will, and whom she had continued to reject +ever afterwards, let her husband's urgency be what it might. + +Another old friend, of whom former chronicles were not silent, +was at the Duchess's that night, and there came across Mrs Finn. +This was Barrington Erle, a politician of long standing, who was +still looked upon by many as a young man, because he had always +been known as a young man, and because he had never done anything +to compromise his position in that respect. He had not married, +or settled himself down in a house of his own, or become subject +to gout, or given up being careful about the fitting of his +clothes. No doubt the grey hairs were getting the better of the +black hairs, both on his head and face, and marks of coming +crows' feet were to be seen if you looked close at him, and he +had become careful about his great-coat and umbrella. He was in +truth much nearer fifty than forty;--nevertheless he was felt in +the House and among Cabinet Ministers and among the wives of +members and Cabinet Ministers, to be a young man still. And when +he was invited to become Secretary for Ireland it was generally +felt that he was too young for the place. He declined it, +however, and when he went to the Post-office, the gentlemen there +all felt that they had had a boy put over them. Phineas Finn, +who had become Secretary for Ireland, was in truth ten years the +junior. But Phineas Finn had been twice married, and had gone +through other phases of life, such as make a man old. 'How does +Phineas like it?' Erle asked. Phineas Finn and Barrington Erle +had gone through some political struggles together, and had been +very intimate. + +'I hope not very much,' said the lady. + +'Why so? Because he's away so much?' + +No;--not that. I should not grudge his absence if the work +satisfied him. But I know him so well. The more he takes to it +now,--the more sanguine he is as to some special thing to be +done,--the more bitter will be the disappointment when he is +disappointed. For there never really is anything special to be +done;--is there, Mr Erle?' + +'I thing there is always a little too much zeal about Finn.' + +'Of course there is. And then with zeal there always goes a thin +skin,--and unjustifiable expectations, and biting despair, and +contempt of others, and all the elements of unhappiness.' + +'That is a sad programme for your husband.' + +'He has recuperative faculties which bring him round at last:-- +but I really doubt whether he was made for a politician in this +country. You remember Lord Brock?' + +'Dear old Brock;--of course I do. How should I not, if you +remember him?' + +'Young men are boys at college, rowing in boats, when women have +been ever so long out in the world. He was the very model of an +English statesman. He loved his country dearly, and wished her +to be, as he believed her to be, first among nations. But he had +no belief in perpetuating her greatness by any grand +improvements. Let things take their way naturally--with a +slight direction hither or thither as thing might required. That +was his method of ruling. He believed in men rather than +measures. As long as he had the loyalty around him, he could be +personally happy, and quite confident as to the country. He +never broke his heart because he could not carry this or that +reform. What would have hurt him would have been to be worsted +in personal conflict. But he could always hold his own, and he +was always happy. Your man with a thin skin, a vehement +ambition, a scrupulous conscience, and a sanguine desire for +rapid improvement, is never happy, and seldom a fortunate +politician.' + +'Mrs Finn, you understand it all better than anyone else that I +ever knew.' + +'I have been watching it a long time, and of course very closely +since I have been married.' + +'But you have an eye trained to see it all. What a useful member +you would have made in government!' + +'But I should never have had the patience to sit all night upon +that bench in the House of Commons. How men can do it! They +mustn't read. They can't think because of the speaking. It +doesn't do for them to talk. I don't believe they ever listen. +It isn't in human nature to listen hour after hour to such +platitudes. I believe they fall into habit of half-wakeful +sleeping, which carries them through the hours; but even that +can't be pleasant. I look upon the Treasury Bench in July as a +sort of casual-ward, which we know to be necessary, but is almost +too horrid to be contemplated.' + +'Men do get bread and skilly there certainly; but, Mrs Finn, we +can go into the library and smoking-room.' + +'Oh, yes;--and a clerk in an office can read the newspapers +instead of doing his duty. But there is a certain surveillance +exercised, and a certain quantity of work exacted. I have met +Lords of the Treasury out at dinner on Mondays and Thursdays, but +we all regard them as boys who have shirked out of school. I +think upon the whole, Mr Erle, we women have the best of it.' + +'I don't suppose you will go in for your "rights".' + +'Not by Act of Parliament, or by platform meeting. I have a +great idea of a woman's rights; but that is the way, I think, to +throw them away. What do you think of the Duchess's evenings?' + +'Lady Glen is in her way as great a woman as you are,--perhaps +greater, because nothing ever stops her.' + +'Whereas I have scruples.' + +'Her Grace has none. She has feelings and convictions which keep +her straight, but no scruples. Look at her now talking to Sir +Orlando Drought, a man she both hates and despises. I am sure +she is looking forward to some happy time in which the Duke may +pitch Sir Orlando overboard, and rule supreme, with me or some +other subordinate leading the House of Commons simply as +lieutenant. Such a time will never come, but that is her idea. +But she is talking to Sir Orlando now as if she were pouring her +full confidence into his ear; and Sir Orlando is believing her. +Sir Orlando is in a seventh heaven, and she is measuring his +credulity inch by inch.' + +'She makes the place very bright.' + +'And is spending an enormous deal of money,' said Barrington +Erle. + +'What does it matter?' + +'Well, no;--if the Duke likes it. I had an idea that the Duke +would not like the display of the thing. There he is. Do you +see him in the corner with his brother duke. He doesn't look as +if he were happy; does he? No one would think he was the master +of everything here. He has got himself hidden almost behind the +screen. I'm sure he doesn't like it.' + +'He tries to like whatever she likes,' said Mrs Finn. + +As her husband was away in Ireland, Mrs Finn was staying in the +house in Carlton Gardens. The Duchess at present required so +much of her time that this was found to be convenient. When, +therefore, the guests on the present occasion had all gone, the +Duchess and Mrs Finn were left together. 'Did you ever see +anything so hopeless as he is?' said the Duchess. + +'Who is hopeless?' + +'Heaven and earth! Plantagenet;--who else? Is there another +man in the world would come in his own house, among his own +guests, and speak only to one person? And, then, think of it! +Popularity is the staff on which alone Ministers can lean in this +country with security.' + +'Political but not social security.' + +'You know as well as I do that the two go together. We've seen +enough of that even in our day. What broke up Mr Gresham's +Ministry? If he had stayed away people might have thought that +he was reading blue-books, or calculating coinage, or preparing a +speech. That would have been much better. But he comes in and +sits for half an hour whispering to another duke! I hate dukes!' + +'He talks to the Duke of St Bungay because there is no one he +trusts so much. A few years ago it would have been Mr Mildmay.' + +'My dear,' said the Duchess angrily, 'you treat me as though I +were a child. Of course I know why he chooses that old man out +of all the crowd. I don't suppose he does from any stupid pride +of rank. I know very well what set of ideas govern him. But +that isn't the point. He has to reflect what others think of it, +and to endeavour to do what will please them. There was I +telling tarradiddles by the yard to that old oaf Sir Orlando +Drought, when a confidential word from Plantagenet would have had +ten times more effect. And why can't he speak a word to the +people's wives? They wouldn't bit him. He has got to say a few +words to you sometimes,--to whom it doesn't signify, my dear.' + +'I don't know about that.' + +'But he never speaks to another woman. He was here this evening +for exactly forty minutes, and he didn't open his lips to a +female creature. I watched him. How on earth am I to pull him +through if he goes on in that way? Yes, Locock, I'll go to bed, +and I don't think I'll get up for a week.' + + + +CHAPTER 12 + +THE GATHERING OF CLOUDS. + +Throughout June and the first week of July the affairs of the +Ministry went on successfully, in spite of the social sins of the +Duke and the occasional despair of the Duchess. There had been +many politicians who had thought, or had, at any rate, predicted +that the Coalition Ministry would not live a month. There had +been men, such as Lord Fawn on one side and Mr Boffin on the +other, who had found themselves stranded disagreeably,--with no +certain position,--unwilling to sit behind a Treasury bench from +which they were excluded, and too shy to place themselves +immediately opposite. Seats beneath the gangway were, of course, +open to such of them as were members of the Lower House and those +seats had to be used; but they were not accustomed to sit beneath +the gangway. These gentlemen had expected that the seeds of +weakness, of which they had perceived a scattering, would grow at +once into an enormous crop of blunders, difficulties, and +complications; but, for a while, the Ministry were saved from +these dangers either by the energy of the Prime Minister, or the +popularity of his wife, or perhaps by the sagacity of the elder +Duke;--so that there grew up an idea that the Coalition was +really the proper thing. In one respect it certainly was +successful. The Home Rulers, or Irish party generally, were left +without an inch of standing ground. Their support was not +needed, and therefore they were not courted. For the moment +there was not even a necessity to pretend that Home Rule was +anything but an absurdity from beginning to end;--so much so +that one or two leading Home Rulers, men who had taken up the +cause not only that they might become Members of Parliament, but +with some further idea of speech-making and popularity, declared +that the Coalition had been formed merely with a view of putting +down Ireland. This capability of dispensing with a generally +intractable element of support was felt to be a great comfort. +Then, too, there was a set in the House,--at that moment not a +very numerous set,--who had been troublesome friends to the old +Liberal party, and which the Coalition was able, if not to +ignore, at any rate to disregard. These were the staunch +economists, and argumentative philosophical Radicals,--men of +standing and repute, who are always in doubtful times +individually flattered by Ministers, who have great privileges +accorded to them of speaking and dividing, and who are not +unfrequently even thanked for their rods by the very owners of +the backs which bear the scourges. These men could not be quite +set aside by the Coalition as were the Home Rules. It was not +even yet, perhaps, wise to count them out, or to leave them to +talk to the benches absolutely empty;--but the tone of flattery +with which they had been addressed became gradually less warm; +and when the scourges were wielded, ministerial backs took +themselves out of the way. There grew up unconsciously a feeling +of security against attack which was distasteful to these +gentlemen, and was in itself perhaps a little dangerous. +Gentlemen bound to support the Government, when they perceived +that there was comparatively but little to do, and that little +might easily be done, became careless, and, perhaps a little +contemptuous. So that the great popular orator, Mr Turnbull, +found himself compelled to rise in his seat, and ask whether the +noble Duke at the head of the Government thought himself strong +enough to rule without attention to parliamentary details. The +question was asked with an air of inexorable severity, and was +intended to have deep signification. Mr Turnbull had disliked +the Coalition from the beginning; but then Mr Turnbull always +disliked everything. He had so accustomed himself to wield the +constitutional cat-of-nine-tails, that heaven will hardly be +happy to him unless he be allowed to flog the cherubim. Though +the party with which he was presumed to act had generally been in +power since he had been in the House, he had never allowed +himself to agree with a Minister on any point. And as he had +never been satisfied with a Liberal Government, it was not +probable that he should endure a Coalition in silence. At the +end of a rather lengthy speech, he repeated his question, and +then sat down, taking his place with all that constitutional +indignation, which becomes the parliamentary flagellator of the +day. The little jokes with which Sir Orlando answered him were +very well in their way. Mr Turnbull did not care much whether he +were answered or not. Perhaps the jauntiness of Sir Orlando, +which implied that the Coalition was too strong to regard attack, +somewhat irritated outsiders. But there certainly grew up from +that moment a feeling among such men as Erle and Rattler that +care was necessary, that the House, taken as a whole, was not in +a condition to be manipulated with easy freedom, and that Sir +Orlando must be made to understand that he was not strong enough +to depend on such jauntiness. The jaunty statesman must be very +sure of his personal following. There was a general opinion that +Sir Orlando had not brought the Coalition well out of the first +real attack which had been made upon it. + +'Well, Phineas; how do you like the Phoenix?' Phineas Finn had +flown back to London at the instigation of probably Mr Rattler, +and was now standing at the window of Brook's club with +Barrington Erle. It was near nine one Thursday evening, and they +were both about to return to the House. + +'I don't like the Castle, if you mean that.' + +'Tyrone isn't troublesome, surely.' The Marquis of Tyrone was +the Lord Lieutenant of the day, and had in his time been a very +strong Conservative. + +'He finds me troublesome, I fear,' + +'I don't wonder at that, Phineas.' + +'How should it be otherwise? What can he and I have in sympathy +with one another? He has been brought up with all the +Orangeman's hatred for a Papist. Now that he is in high office, +he can abandon the display of the feeling,--perhaps the feeling +itself as regards the country at large. He knows that it doesn't +become a Lord Lieutenant to be Orange. But how can he put +himself into a boat with me?' + +'All that kind of thing vanishes when a man is in high office.' + +'Yes, as a rule; because men go together into office with the +same general predilections. Is it too hot to walk down?' + +'I'll walk a little way,--till you make me hot by arguing.' + +'I haven't an argument left in me,' said Phineas. 'Of course +everything over there seems easy enough now,--so easy that Lord +Tyrone evidently imagines that the good times are coming back in +which governors may govern and not be governed.' + +'You are pretty quiet in Ireland now, I suppose;--no martial +law, suspension of the habeas corpus, or anything of that kind, +just at present?' + +'No; thank goodness!' said Phineas. + +'I'm not quite sure whether a general suspension of the habeas +corpus would not upon the whole be the most comfortable state of +things for Irishmen themselves. But whether good or bad, you've +nothing of that kind of thing now. You've no great measure that +you wish to pass?' + +'But they've a great measure that they wish to pass.' + +'They know better than that. They don't want to kill their +golden goose.' + +'The people, who are infinitely ignorant of all political work, +do want it. There are counties which, if you were to poll the +people, Home Rule would carry nearly every voter,--except the +members themselves.' + +'You wouldn't give it them?' + +'Certainly not;--any more than I would allow a son to ruin +himself because he asked me. But I would endeavour to teach them +that they get nothing by Home Rule,--that their taxes would be +heavier, the property less secure, their lives less safe, their +general position more debased, and their chances of national +success more remote than ever.' + +'You can never teach them, except by the slow lesson of habit. +The Heptarchy didn't mould itself into a nation in a day.' + +'Men were governed then, and could be an were moulded. I feel +sure that even in Ireland there is a stratum of men, above the +working peasants, who would understand, and make those below them +understand, the position of the country, if they could only be +got to give up the feeling about religion. Even now Home Rule is +regarded by the multitude as a weapon to be used against +Protestantism in behalf of the Pope.' + +'I suppose the Pope is the great sinner?' + +'They got over the Pope in France,--even in early days, before +religion had become a farce in the country. They have done so in +Italy.' + +'Yes;--they have got over the Pope in Italy, certainly.' + +'And yet,' said Phineas, 'the bulk of the people are staunch +Catholics. Of course the same attempt to maintain a temporal +influence, with the hope of recovering temporal power, is made in +other countries. But while we see the attempt failing elsewhere, +--so that we know the power of the Church is going to the wall, +--yet in Ireland it is infinitely stronger now than it was fifty, +or even twenty years ago.' + +'Because we have been removing restraints on Papal aggression, +while other nations have been imposing restraints. There are +those at Rome who believe all England to be Romish at heart, +because here in England a Roman Catholic can say what he will, +and print what he will.' + +'And yet,' said Phineas, 'all England does not return one +Catholic to the House, while we have Jews in plenty. You have a +Jew among your English judges, but at present not a single Roman +Catholic. What do you suppose are the comparative numbers of the +population here in England?' + +'And you are going to cure all this;--while Tyrone thinks it +ought to be left as it is? I rather agree with Tyrone.' + +'No,; said Phineas, wearily; 'I doubt whether I shall ever cure +anything, or even make any real attempt. My patriotism just goes +far enough to make me unhappy, and Lord Tyrone thinks that while +Dublin ladies dance at the Castle, and the list of agrarian +murders is kept low, the country is admirably managed. I don't +quite agree with him,--that's all.' + +Then there arose a legal difficulty, which caused much trouble to +the Coalition Ministry. There fell vacant a certain seat on the +bench of judges,--a seat of considerable dignity and importance, +but not quite of the highest rank. Sir Gregory Grogram, who was +a rich, energetic man, determined to have a peerage, and +convinced that, should the Coalition fall to pieces, the Liberal +element would be in the ascendant,--so that the woolsack would +then be opened to him,--declined to occupy the place. Sir +Timothy Beeswax, the Solicitor-General, saw that it was exactly +suited for him, and had no hesitation in expressing an opinion to +that effect. But the place was not given to Sir Timothy. It was +explained to Sir Timothy that the old rule,--or rather custom, +--of offering certain high positions to the law officers of the +Crown, had been abrogated. Some Prime Minister, or, more +probably, some collection of Cabinet Ministers, had asserted the +custom to be a bad one,--and as far as right went, Sir Timothy +was declared not have a leg to stand upon. He was informed that +his services in the House were too valuable to be lost. Some +people said that his temper was against him. Others were of the +opinion that he had risen from the ranks too quickly, and that +Lord Ramsden who had come from the same party, thought that Sir +Timothy had not yet won his spurs. The Solicitor-General +resigned in a huff, and then withdrew his resignation. Sir +Gregory thought the withdrawal should not be accepted, having +found Sir Timothy to be an unsympathetic colleague. Our Duke +consulted the old Duke, among whose theories of official life +forbearance to all colleagues and subordinates was conspicuous. +The withdrawal was therefore allowed,--but the Coalition could +not after that be said to be strong in regard to its Law +Officers. + +But the first concerted attack against the Ministry was made in +reference to the budget. Mr Monk, who had consented to undertake +the duties of Chancellor of the Exchequer under the urgent +entreaties of the two dukes, was of course late with the budget. +It was April before the Coalition had been formed. The budget +when produced had been very popular. Budgets, like babies, are +always little loves when first born. But as their infancy passes +away, they also become subject to many stripes. The details are +less pleasing than was the whole in the hands of the nurse. +There was a certain 'interest', very influential both by general +wealth and by the presence of many members in the House, which +thought that Mr Monk had disregarded its just claims. Mr Monk +had refused to relieve the Brewers from their licences. Now the +Brewers had for some years been agitating about their licences, +--and it is acknowledged in politics that any measure is to be +carried out, or left out in the cold uncarried and neglected, +according to the number of deputations which may be got to press +a Minister on the subject. Now the Brewers had had deputation +after deputation to many Chancellors of the Exchequer; and these +deputations had been most respectable,--we may almost say +imperative. It was quite usual for a deputation to have four or +five County members among the body, all Brewers; and the average +wealth of a deputation of Brewers would buy up half London. All +the Brewers in the House had been among the supporters of the +Coalition, the number of Liberal and Conservative Brewers having +been about equal. But now there was a fear that the 'interest' +might put itself into opposition. Mr Monk had been firm. More +than one of the Ministry had wished to yield;--but he had +discussed the matter with the Chief; and they were both very +firm. The Duke had never doubted. Mr Monk had never doubted. + +From day to day certain organs of the Press expressed an opinion, +gradually increasing in strength, that however strong might be +the Coalition as a body, it was weak as to finance. This was +hard because not very many years ago, the Duke himself had been +known as a particularly strong Minister of Finance. An amendment +was moved in Committee as to the Brewer's Licences, and there was +almost a general opinion that the Coalition would be broken up. +Mr Monk would certainly not remain in office if the Brewers were +to be relieved from their licences. + +Then it was that Phineas Finn was recalled from Ireland in red +hot haste. The measure was debated for a couple of nights, and +Mr Monk carried his point. The Brewers' Licences were allowed to +remain, as one great gentleman from Burton declared, a 'disgrace +to the fiscal sagacity of the country.' The Coalition was so far +victorious,--but there was a general feeling that its strength +had been impaired. + + + +CHAPTER 13 + +MR WHARTON COMPLAINS. + +'I think you have betrayed me.' This accusation was brought by +Mr Wharton against Mrs Roby in that lady's drawing-room, and was +occasioned by a report that had been made to the old lawyer by +his daughter. He was very angry and almost violent;--so much so +that by his manner, he gave considerable advantage to the lady +whom he was accusing. + +Mrs Roby undoubtedly had betrayed her brother-in-law. She had +been false to the trust reposed in her. He had explained his +wishes to her in regard to his daughter, to whom she had in some +sort assumed to stand in place of a mother, and she, while +pretending to act in accordance with his wishes, had directly +opposed them. But it was not likely that he would be able to +prove her treachery though he might be sure of it. He had +desired that the girl should see as little as possible of +Ferdinand Lopez, but had hesitated to give a positive order that +she should not meet him. He had indeed himself taken her to a +dinner party at which he knew that she would meet him. But Mrs +Roby had betrayed him. Since the dinner party she had arranged a +meeting at her own house in behalf of the lover,--as to which +arrangement Emily Wharton had herself been altogether innocent. +Emily had met the man in her aunt's house, not expecting to meet +him, and the lover had had an opportunity of speaking his mind +freely. She also had spoken hers freely. She would not engage +herself without her father's consent. With that consent she +would do so,--oh, so willingly! She did not coy her love. He +might be certain that she would give herself to no one else. Her +heart was entirely his. But she had pledged herself to her +father, and on no consideration would she break that pledge. She +went on to say that after what had passed she thought that they +had better not meet. In such meetings there could be no +satisfaction, and must be much pain. But he had her full +permission to use any arguments that he could use with her +father. On the evening of that day she told her father all that +had passed,--omitting no detail either of what she had said or +of what had been said to her--adding a positive assurance of +obedience, but doing so with a severe solemnity and apparent +consciousness of ill-usage which almost broke her father's heart. +'Your aunt must have laid him there on purpose,' Mr Wharton had +said. But Emily would neither accuse nor defend her aunt. 'I at +least knew nothing of it,' she said. 'I know that,' Mr Wharton +had ejaculated. 'I know that. I don't accuse you of anything, +my dear,--except of thinking that you understand the world +better than I do.' Then Emily had retired and Mr Wharton had +been left to pass half the night in perplexed reverie, feeling +that he would be forced ultimately to give way, and yet certain +that by doing so he would endanger his child's happiness. + +He was so angry with his sister-in-law, and on the next day, +early in the morning, he attacked her. 'I think you have +betrayed me,' he said. + +'What do you mean by that, Mr Wharton?' + +'You have had this man here on purpose that he might make love to +Emily.' + +'I have done no such thing. You told me yourself that they were +not to be kept apart. He comes here, and it would be very odd +indeed if I were to tell the servants that he is not to be +admitted. If you want to quarrel with me, of course you can. I +have always endeavoured to be a good friend to Emily.' + +'It is not being a good friend to her, bringing her and this +adventurer together.' + +'I don't know why you call him an adventurer. But you are so +very odd in your ideas! He is received everywhere, and is always +at the Duchess of Omnium's.' + +'I don't care a fig about the Duchess.' + +'I dare say not. Only the Duke happens to be Prime Minister, and +his house is considered to have the very best society in England, +or indeed, Europe, can give. And I think it is something in a +young man's favour when it is known that he associates with such +persons as the Duke of Omnium. I believe that most fathers would +have a regard to the company which a man keeps when they think of +their daughter's marrying.' + +'I ain't thinking of her marrying. I don't want her to marry; -- +not this man at least. And I fancy the Duchess of Omnium is just +as likely to have scamps in her drawing-room as any other lady in +London.' + +'And do such men as Mr Happerton associate with scamps?' + +'I don't know anything about Mr Happerton,--and I don't care +anything about him.' + +'He has 20,000 pounds a year out of his business. And does +Everett associate with scamps.' + +'Very likely.' + +'I never knew anyone so much prejudiced as you are, Mr Wharton. +When you have a point to carry there's nothing you won't say. I +suppose it comes from being in the courts.' + +'The long and short of it is this,' said the lawyer, 'if I find +that Emily is brought here to meet Mr Lopez, I must forbid her to +come at all.' + +'You must do as you please about that. But to tell you the +truth, Mr Wharton, I think the mischief is done. Such a girl as +Emily, when she has taken it into her head to love a man, is not +likely to give him up.' + +'She has promised to have nothing to say to him without my +sanction.' + +'We all know what that means. You'll have to give way. You'll +find that it will be so. The stern parent who dooms his daughter +to perpetual seclusion because she won't marry the man he likes, +doesn't belong to this age.' + +'Who talks about seclusion?' + +'Do you suppose that she'll give up the man she loves because you +don't like him? Is that the way girls live nowadays? She won't +run away with him, because she's not one of that sort; but unless +you're harder-hearted than I take you to be, she'll make your +life a burden to you. And as for betraying you, that's nonsense. +You've no right to say it. I'm not going to quarrel with you +whatever you may say, but you've no right to say it.' + +Mr Wharton as he went away to Lincoln's Inn, bewailed himself +because he knew he was not hard-hearted. What his sister-in-law +had said to him in that respect was true enough. If he could +only rid himself of a certain internal ague which made him feel +that his life was, indeed, a burden to him while his daughter was +unhappy, he need only remain passive and simply not give the +permission without which his daughter would not ever engage +herself to this man. But the ague troubled every hour of his +present life. That sister-in-law of his was a silly, vulgar, +worldly, and most untrustworthy woman;--but she had understood +what she was saying. + +And there had been something in that argument about the Duchess +of Omnium's parties, and Mr Happerton, which had its effect. If +the man did live with the great and wealthy, it must be because +they thought well of him and his position. The fact of his being +"a nasty foreigner", and probably of Jewish descent, remained. +To him, Wharton, the man must always be distasteful. But he +could hardly maintain his opposition to one of whom the choice +spirits of the world thought well. And he tried to be fair on +the subject. It might be that it was a prejudice. Others +probably did not find a man to be odious because he was swarthy, +or even object to him if he were a Jew by descent. But it was +wonderful to him that his girl should like such a man,--should +like such a man well enough to choose him as the one companion of +her life. She had been brought up to prefer English men, and +English thinking, and English ways,--and English ways, too, +somewhat of a past time. He thought as did Brabantio, that it +could not be that without magic, his daughter had also shunned-- + + "The wealthy curled darlings of our nation, + Would ever have, to incur a general mock, + Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom + Of such a thing as--" + +the distasteful Portuguese. + +That evening he said nothing further to his daughter, but sat +with her, silent and disconsolate. Later in the evening, after +she had gone to her room, Everett came in while the old man was +still walking up and down the drawing-room. 'Where have you +been?' asked the father,--not caring a straw as to any reply +when he asked the question, but roused almost to anger by the +answer when it came. + +'I have been dining with Lopez at the club.' + +'I believe you live with that man.' + +'Is there a reason, sir, why I should not?' + +'You know there is a good reason why there should be no peculiar +intimacy. But I don't suppose that my wishes, or your sister's +welfare, will interest you.' + +'That is severe, sir.' + +'I am not such a fool as to suppose that you are to quarrel with +a man because I don't approve of his addressing your sister; but +I do think that while this is going on, and while he perseveres +in opposition to my distinct refusal, you need not associate with +him in any special manner.' + +'I don't understand your objection to him, sir.' + +'I dare say not. There are a great many things you don't +understand. But I do object.' + +'He's a very rising man. Mr Roby was saying to me just now--' + +'Who cares a straw what a fool like Roby says?' + +'I don't mean Uncle Dick, but his brother,--who, I suppose, is +somebody in the world. He was saying to me just now that he +wondered why Lopez does not go into the House;--that he would be +sure to get a seat if he chose, and safe to make a mark when he +got there.' + +'I dare say he would get into the House. I don't know any well- +to-do blackguard of whom you might not predict as much. A seat +in the House of Commons doesn't make a man a gentleman, as far as +I can see.' + +'I think everyone allows that Ferdinand Lopez is a gentleman.' + +'Who was his father?' + +'I didn't happen to know him, sir.' + +'And who was his mother? I don't suppose you will credit +anything because I say it, but as far as my experience goes, a +man doesn't often become a gentleman in the first generation. A +man may be very worthy, very clever, very rich,--very well worth +knowing, if you will;--but when one talks of admitting a man +into close family communion by marriage, one would, I fancy, wish +to know something of his father and mother.' Then Everett +escaped, and Mr Wharton was again left to his own meditations. +Oh, what a peril, what a trouble, what a labyrinth of +difficulties was a daughter! He must either be known as a stern, +hard-hearted parent, utterly indifferent to his child's feelings, +using with tyranny the power over her which came to him only from +a sense of filial duty,--or else he must give up his own +judgement, and yield to her in a matter as to which he believed +that such yielding would be most pernicious to her own interests. + +Hitherto he really knew nothing of the man's means;--nor, if he +could have his own way, did he want to such information. But, as +things were going now, he began to feel that if he could hear +anything averse to the man, he might thus strengthen his hands +against him. On the following day he went into the city, and +called on an old friend, a banker,--one whom he had known for +nearly half a century, and of whom, therefore, he was not afraid +to ask a question. For Mr Wharton was a man not prone, in the +ordinary intercourse of life, either to ask or to answer +questions. 'You don't know anything, do you, of a man named +Ferdinand Lopez?' + +'I have heard of him. But why do you ask?' + +'Well; I have reason for asking. I don't know that I quite wish +to say what my reason is.' + +'I have heard of him as connected with Hunky's house,' said the +banker,--'or rather with one of the partners in the house.' + +'Is he a man of means?' + +'I imagine him to be so;--but I know nothing. He has rather +large dealings, I take it, in foreign stocks. Is he after my old +friend, Miss Wharton?' + +'Well;--yes.' + +'You had better get more information than I can give you. But, +of course, before anything of that kind was done, you would see +that money was settled.' This was all he heard in the city, and +this was not satisfactory. He had not liked to tell his friend +that he wished to hear that the foreigner was a needy adventurer, +--altogether untrustworthy; but that had really been his desire. +Then he thought of the 60,000 pounds which he himself destined +for his girl. If the man were to his liking there would be money +enough. Though he had been careful to save money, he was not a +greedy man, even for his children. Should his daughter insist on +marrying this man, he could take care that she should never want +a sufficient income. + +As a first step,--a thing to be done almost at once,--he must +take her away from London. It was now July, and the custom of +the family was that the house in Manchester Square should be left +for two months, and that the flitting should take place in about +the middle of August. Mr Wharton usually liked to postpone the +flitting, as he also liked to hasten the return. But now it was +a question whether he had not better start at once,--start +somewhither, and probably for a much longer period than the usual +vacation. Should he take the bull by the horns and declare his +purpose of living for the next twelvemonth at ; well, it did +not much matter where, Dresden, he thought, was a long way off, +and would do as well as any place. Then it occurred to him that +his cousin, Sir Alured was in town, and that he had better see +his cousin before he came to any decision. They were, as usual, +expected at Wharton Hall this autumn, and that arrangement could +not be abandoned without explanation. + +Sir Alured Wharton was a baronet, with a handsome old family +place on the Wye, in Hertfordshire, whose forefathers had been +baronets since baronets were first created, and whose earlier +forefathers had lived at Wharton Hall much before that time. It +may be imagined, therefore, that Sir Alured was proud of his +name, of his estate, and of his rank. But there were drawbacks +to his happiness. As regarded his name, it was to descend to a +nephew whom he specially disliked,--and with good cause. As to +his estate, delightful as it was in many respects, it was hardly +sufficient to maintain his position with that plentiful +hospitality which he would have loved;--and other property he +had none. And as to his rank, he had almost become ashamed of +it, since,--as he was wont to declare was now the case,--every +prosperous tallow-maker throughout the country was made a baronet +as a matter of course. So he lived at home through the year with +his wife and daughters, not pretending to the luxury of the +season for which his modest three or four thousand a year did not +suffice;--and so living, apart from all the friction of clubs, +parliaments, and mixed society, he did veritably believe that his +dear country was going utterly to the dogs. He was so staunch in +politics, that during the doings of the last quarter of a +century,--from the repeal of the Corn Laws down to the Ballot,-- +he had honestly declared one side to be as bad as the other. +Thus he felt that all his happiness was to be drawn from the +past. There was nothing of joy or glory to which he could look +forward either on behalf of his country or his family. His +nephew,--and alas, his heir,--was a needy spendthrift, with +whom he would hold no communication. The family settlement for +his wife and daughters would leave them but poorly off; and +though he did struggle to save something, the duty of living as +Sir Alured Wharton of Wharton Hall should live made those +struggles very ineffective. He was a melancholy, proud, ignorant +man, who could not endure a personal liberty, and who thought the +assertion of social equality on the part of men of lower rank to +amount to the taking of a personal liberty;--who read little or +nothing, and thought that he knew the history of his country +because he was aware that Charles I had had his head cut off, and +that the Georges had come from Hanover. If Charles I had never +had had his head cut off, and if the Georges had never come from +Hanover, the Whartons would now probably be great people and +Britain a great nation. But the Evil One had been allowed to +prevail, and everything had gone astray, and Sir Alured now had +nothing of this world to console him but a hazy retrospect of +past glories, and a delight in the beauty of his own river, his +own park, and his own house. Sir Alured, with all his foibles, +and with all his faults, was a pure-minded, simple gentleman, who +could not tell a lie, who could not do a wrong, and who was +earnest in his desire to make those who were dependent on him +comfortable, and, if possible, happy. Once a year he came up to +London for a week, to see his lawyers, and get measured for a +coat, and go to the dentist. These were the excuses which he +gave, but it was fancied by some that his wig was the great +moving cause. Sir Alured and Mr Wharton were second cousins, and +close friends. Sir Alured trusted his cousin altogether in all +things, believing him to be the great legal luminary of Great +Britain, and Mr Wharton returned his cousin's affection, +entertaining something akin to reverence for the man who was the +head of his family. He dearly loved Sir Alured,--and loved Sir +Alured's wife and two daughters. Nevertheless, the second week +at Wharton Hall became very tedious to him, and the fourth, fifth +and sixth weeks frightful with ennui. + +Perhaps it was with some unconscious dread of this tedium that he +made a sudden suggestion to Sir Alured in reference to Dresden. +Sir Alured had come to him at his chambers, and the two old men +were sitting together near the open window. Sir Alured delighted +in the privilege of sitting there, which seemed to confer upon +him something of an insight into the inner ways of London life +beyond what he could get at the hotel or his wigmaker's. 'Go to +Dresden;--for the winter!' he exclaimed. + +'Not only for the winter. We should go at once.' + +'Not before you come to Wharton!' said the amazed baronet. + +Mr Wharton replied in a low, sad voice, 'in that case we should +not go down to Hertfordshire at all.' The baronet looked hurt as +well as unhappy. 'Yes, I know what you will say, and how kind +you are.' + +'It isn't kindness at all. You always come. It would be +breaking up everything.' + +'Everything has to be broken up sooner or later. One feels that +as one grows older.' + +'You and I, Abel, are just of an age. Why should you talk to me +like this? You are strong enough, whatever I am. Why shouldn't +you come? Dresden! I never heard of such a thing. I suppose +it's some nonsense of Emily's.' + +Then Mr Wharton told his whole story. 'Nonsense of Emily's!' he +began. 'Yes, it is nonsense, worse than you think. But she +doesn't want to go abroad.' The father's plaint needn't be +repeated to the reader as it was told to the baronet. Though it +was necessary that he should explain himself, yet he tried to be +reticent. Sir Alured listened in silence. He loved his cousin +Emily, and knowing that she would be rich, knowing her advantages +of birth, and recognizing her beauty, had expected that she would +make a match creditable to the Wharton family. But a Portuguese +Jew! A man who had never been even known to allude to his own +father! For by degrees Mr Wharton had been driven to confess all +the sins of the lover, though he had endeavoured to conceal the +extent of his daughter's love. + +'Do you mean that Emily--favours him?' + +'I am afraid so.' + +'And would she,-would she--do anything without your sanctions?' +He was always thinking of the disgrace attaching to himself by +reason of his nephew's vileness, and now, if a daughter of the +family should also go astray, so as to be exiled from the bosom +of the Whartons, how manifest would it be that all the glory was +departing from their house! + +'No! She will do nothing without my sanction. She has given her +word,--which is gospel.' As he spoke the old lawyer struck his +hand upon the table. + +'Then why should you run to Dresden?' + +'Because she is unhappy. She will not marry him,-or even see him +if I forbid it. But she is near him.' + +'Hertfordshire is a long way off,' said the baronet pleading. + +'Changes of scene are what she should have,' said the father. + +'There can't be more of a change than she would get at Wharton. +She always did like Wharton. It was there that she met Arthur +Fletcher.' The father only shook his head as Arthur Fletcher's +name was mentioned. 'Well,--that is sad. I always thoughts +she'd give way about Arthur at last.' + +'It is impossible to understand a young woman,' said the lawyer. +With such an English gentleman as Arthur Fletcher on one side, +and with his Portuguese Jew on the other, it was to him Hyperion +to a Satyr. A darkness had fallen over the girl's eyes, and for +a time her power of judgment had left her. + +'But I don't see why Wharton should not do just as well as +Dresden,' continued the baronet. + +Mr Wharton found himself quite unable to make his cousin +understand the greater disruption caused by a residence abroad, +the feeling that a new kind of life had been considered necessary +for her, and that she must submit to the new kind of life, might +be gradually effective, while the journeyings and scenes which +had been common to her year after year would have no effect. +Nevertheless he gave way. They could hardly start to Germany at +once, but the visit to Wharton might be accelerated; and the +details of the residence abroad might there be arranged. It was +fixed, therefore, that Mr Wharton and Emily should go down to +Wharton Hall at any rate before the end of July. + +'Why do you go earlier than usual, papa?' Emily asked him +afterwards. + +'Because I think it's best,' he replied angrily. She ought at +any rate to understand the reason. + +'Of course I shall be ready, papa. You know that I always like +Wharton. There is no place on earth I like so much, and this +year it will be especially pleasant to me to go out of town. +But--' + +'But what?' + +'I can't bear to think that I shall be taking you away.' + +'I've got to bear worse things than that, my dear.' + +'Oh, papa, do not speak to me like that! Of course I know what +you mean. There is no real reason for your going. If you wish +it I will promise you I will never see him.' He only shook his +head,--meaning to imply that a promise could go no farther than +that would not make him happy. 'It will be just the same, papa, +-either here, or at Wharton, or elsewhere. You need not be +afraid of me.' + +'I am not afraid of you;--but I am afraid for you. I fear for +your happiness,--and for my own.' + +'So do I, papa. But what can be done? I suppose sometimes +people must be unhappy. I can't change myself and I can't change +you. I find myself as much bound to Mr Lopez as though I were +his wife.' + +'No, no! You shouldn't say so. You've no right to say so.' + +'But I have given you a promise, and I certainly will keep it. +If we must be unhappy, still we need not,--need not quarrel; +need we, papa?' Then she came up to him and kissed him,-- +whereupon he went out of the room wiping his eyes. + +That evening he again spoke to her, saying merely a word. 'I +think, my dear, we'll have it fixed that we go on the 30th. Sir +Alured seemed to wish it.' + +'Very well, papa;--I shall be quite ready.' + + + +CHAPTER 14 + +A LOVER'S PERSEVERANCE. + +Ferdinand Lopez learned immediately through Mrs Roby that the +early departure for Hertfordshire had been fixed. 'I should go +to him and speak to him very plainly,' said Mrs Roby. 'He can't +bite you.' + +'I'm not in the least afraid of his biting me.' + +'You can talk so well! I should tell him everything, especially +about money,--which I'm sure is all right.' + +'Yes,--that is all right,' said Lopez, smiling. + +'And about your people.' + +'Which, I've no doubt you think is all wrong.' + +'I don't know anything about it,' said Mrs Roby, 'and I don't +much care. He has old-world notions. At any rate you should say +something, so that he should not be able to complain to her that +you had kept him in the dark. If there is anything to be known, +it's much better to have it known.' + +'But there is nothing to be known.' + +'Then tell him nothing;--but still tell it to him. After that +you must trust to her. I don't suppose she'd go off with you.' + +'I'm sure she wouldn't.' + +'But she's as obstinate as a mule. She'll get the better of him +if you really mean it.' He assured her that he really did mean +it, and determined that he would take her advice as to seeing, or +endeavouring to see, Mr Wharton once again. But before doing so +he thought it to be expedient to put his house in order, so that +he might be able to make a statement of his affairs if asked to +do so. Whether they were flourishing or the reverse, it might be +necessary that he should have to speak of them,--with, at any +rate, apparent candour. + +The reader may, perhaps, remember that in the month of April +Ferdinand Lopez had managed to extract a certain signature from +his unfortunate city friend, Sexty Parker, which made that +gentleman responsible for the payment of a considerable sum of +money before the end of July. The transaction had been one of +unmixed painful nature to Mr Parker. As soon as he came to think +of it, after Lopez had left him, he could not prevail upon +himself to forgive himself for his folly. That he,--he, Sextus +Parker,--should have been induced by a few empty words to give +his name for seven hundred and fifty pounds without any +consideration or possibility of benefit! And the more he thought +of it the more sure he was that the money was lost. The next day +he confirmed his own fears, and before a week was gone he had +written down the sum as gone. He told nobody. He did not like +to confess his folly. But he made some inquiry about his friend, +--which was absolutely futile. No one that he knew seemed to +know anything of the man's affairs. But he saw his friend from +time to time in the city, shining as only successful men do +shine, and he heard of him as one whose name was becoming known +in the city. Still he suffered grievously. His money was surely +gone. A man does not fly a kite in that fashion till things with +him have reached a bad pass. + +So it was with Mr Parker all through May and to the end of June, +the load ever growing heavier and heavier as the time became +nearer. Then, while he was still afflicted with a heaviness of +spirits which had never left him since that fatal day, who but +Ferdinand Lopez should walk into his office, wearing the gayest +smile and with a hat splendid as hats are splendid only in the +city. And nothing could be more 'jolly' than his friend's +manner,--so much so that Sexty was almost lifted up into +temporary jollity himself. Lopez, seating himself almost at once +began to describe a certain speculation into which he was going +rather deeply, and as to which he invited his friend Parker's co- +operation. He was intending, evidently, not to ask, but to +confer a favour. + +'I rather think that steady business is best,' said Parker. 'I +hope it's all right about the 750 pounds.' + +'Ah; yes,--I meant to have told you. I didn't want the money, +as it turned out, for much above a fortnight, and as there was no +use in letting the bill run out, I settled it.' So saying he +took out a pocket-book, extracted the bill, and showed it to +Sexty. Sexty's heart fluttered in his bosom. There was his name +still on the bit of paper, and it might still be used. Having it +shown him after this fashion in its mid career, of course he had +strong ground for hope. But he could not bring himself to put +out his hand for it. 'As to what you say about steady business, +of course that's very well,' said Lopez. 'It depends on whether +a man wants to make a small income or a large fortune.' He still +held the bill as though he were going to fold it up again, and +the importance of it was so present to Sexty's mind that he could +hardly digest the argument about the steady business. 'I own +that I an not satisfied with the former,' continued Lopez, 'and +that I go in for the fortune.' As he spoke he tore the bill into +three or four bits, apparently without thinking of it, and let +the fragments fall upon the floor. It was as though a mountain +had been taken off Sexty's bosom. He felt almost inclined to +send out for a bottle of champagne on the moment, and the +arguments of his friend rang in his ears with quite a different +sound. The allurements of a steady income paled before his eyes, +and he too began to tell himself as he had often told himself +before, that if he would only keep his eyes open and his heart +high, there was no reason why he too should not become a city +millionaire. But on that occasion Lopez left him soon, without +saying very much about his favourite speculation. In a few days, +however, the same matter was brought before Sexty's eyes from +another direction. He learned from a side wind that the house of +Hunky and Sons was concerned largely in this business,--or at +any rate he thought that he had so learned. The ease with which +Lopez had destroyed that bill six weeks before it was due had had +great effect upon him. Those arguments about a large fortune or +a small income still clung to him. Lopez had come to him about +the business in the first instance, but it was now necessary that +he should go to Lopez. He was, however, very cautious. He +managed to happen to meet Lopez in the street, and introduced the +subject in his own slap-dash, aery manner,--the result of which +was, that he had gone rather deep into two or three American +mines before the end of July. But he had already made some money +out of them, and, though he would find himself sometimes +trembling before he had taken his daily allowance of port wine +and brandy and water, still he was buoyant, and hopeful of living +in a park, with a palace at the West End, and a seat in +Parliament. Knowing also as he did, that his friend Lopez was +intimate with the Duchess of Omnium, he had much immediate +satisfaction in the intimacy which these relations created. He +was getting in the thin edge of the wedge, and would calculate as +he went home to Ponder's End how long it must be before he could +ask his friend to propose him at some West End club. On one +halcyon summer evening Lopez had dined with him at Ponder's End, +had smiled on Mrs Parker and played with the hopeful little +Parkers. On that occasion Sexty had assured his wife that he +regarded his friendship with Ferdinand Lopez as the most +fortunate circumstance of his life. 'Do be careful, Sexty,' the +poor woman had said. But Parker had simply told her that she +understood nothing about business. On that evening Lopez had +thoroughly imbued him with the conviction that if you will only +set your mind that way, it is quite as easy to amass a large +fortune as to earn a small income. + +About a week before the departure of the Whartons to +Hertfordshire, Lopez in compliance with Mrs Roby's counsels, +called at the chambers in Stone Buildings. It is difficult to +say that you will not see a man, when the man is standing just on +the other side of an open door,--nor, in this case, was Mr +Wharton quite clear that he had better decline to see the man. +But while he was doubting,--at any rate before he had resolved +upon denying his presence,--the man was there, inside his room. +Mr Wharton got up from his chair, hesitated a moment, and then +gave his hand to the intruder in that half-unwilling, +unsatisfactory manner which most of us have experienced when +shaking hands with some cold-blooded, ungenial acquaintance. +'Well, Mr Lopez,--what can I do for you?' he said, as he re- +seated himself. He looked as though he were at his ease and +master of the situation. He had control over himself sufficient +for assuming such a manner. But his heart was not high within +his bosom. The more he looked at the man the less he liked him. + +'There is one thing, and one thing only, you can do for me,' said +Lopez. His voice was peculiarly sweet, and when he spoke his +words seemed to mean more than when they came from other mouths. +But Mr Wharton did not like sweet voices and mellow, soft words, +--at least not from men's mouths. + +'I do not think I can do anything for you, Mr Lopez,' he said. +There was slight pause, during which the visitor put down his hat +and seemed to hesitate. 'I think your coming here can be of no +avail. Did I not explain myself when I saw you before?' + +'But, I fear, I did not explain myself. I hardly told my story.' + +'You can tell it, of course,--if you think the telling will do +you any good.' + +'I was not able to say than, as I can say now, that your daughter +had accepted my love.' + +'You ought not to have spoken to my daughter on the subject after +what passed between us. I told you my mind frankly.' + +'Ah, Mr Wharton, how was obedience in such a matter possible? +What would you yourself think of a man who in such a position +would be obedient? I did not seek her secretly. I did nothing +underhand. Before I had once directly asked her for her love, I +came to you.' + +'What's the use of that, if you go to her immediately afterwards +in manifest opposition to my wishes? You found yourself bound, +as would any gentleman, to ask a father's leave, and when it was +refused, you went on just though it had been granted! Don't you +call that a mockery?' + +'I can say now, sir, what I could not say then. We love each +other. And I am sure of her as I am of myself when I assert that +we shall be true to each other. You must know her well enough to +be sure of that also.' + +'I am sure of nothing but of this;--that I will not give her my +consent to become your wife.' + +'What is your objection, Mr Wharton?' + +'I explained it before as far as I found myself called upon to +explain it.' + +'Are we both to be sacrificed for some reason that we neither of us +understand?' + +'How dare you take upon yourself to say that she doesn't +understand! Because I refuse to be more explicit to you a +stranger, do you suppose that I am equally silent to my own +child?' + +'In regard to money and social rank, I am able to place your +daughter as my wife in a position as good as she now holds as +Miss Wharton.' + +'I care nothing about money. Mr Lopez, and our ideas of social +rank are perhaps different. I have nothing further to say to +you, and I do not think that you can have anything further to say +to me that can be of any avail.' Then, having finished his +speech, he got up from his chair and stood upright, thereby +demanding of his visitor that he should depart. + +'I think it no more than honest, Mr Wharton, to declare this one +thing. I regard myself as irrevocably engaged to your daughter, +and she, although she has refused to bind herself to me by that +special word, is, I am certain, as firmly fixed in her choice as +I am in mine. My happiness, as a matter of course, can be +nothing to you.' + +'Not much,' said the lawyer, with angry impatience. + +Lopez smiled, but he put down the word in his memory and +determined he would treasure it there. 'Not much, at any rate as +yet,' he said. 'But her happiness must be much to you.' + +'It is everything. But in thinking of her happiness I must look +beyond what might be the satisfaction of the present day. You +must excuse me, Mr Lopez, if I say that I would rather not +discuss the matter with you any further.' Then he rang the bell +and passed quickly into an inner room. When the clerk came Lopez +of course marched out of the chamber and went his way. + +Mr Wharton had been very firm, and yet he was shaken. It was by +degrees becoming a fixed idea in his mind that the man's material +prosperity was assured. He was afraid even to allude to that +subject when talking to the man himself, lest he should be +overwhelmed by evidence on that subject. Then the man's manner, +though it was distasteful to Wharton himself, would, he well +knew, recommend him to others. He was good-looking, he lived +with people who were highly regarded, he could speak up for +himself, and he was a favoured guest at Carlton House Terrace. +So great had been the fame of the Duchess and her hospitality +during the last two months, that the fact of the man's success in +this respect had come home even to Mr Wharton. He feared that +the world would be against him, and he already began to dread the +joint opposition of the world and his own child. The world of +this day did not, he thought, care whether its daughter's +husbands had or had not any fathers or mothers. The world as it +was now didn't care whether its sons-in-law were Christian or +Jewish;--whether they had the fair skin and bold eyes and +uncertain words of an English gentleman, or the swarthy colour +and false grimace and glib tongue of some inferior Latin race. +But he cared for those things;--and it was dreadful to him to +think that his daughter should not care for them. 'I suppose I +had better die and leave them to look after themselves,' he said, +as he returned to his arm-chair. + +Lopez himself was not altogether ill-satisfied with the +interview, not having expected that Mr Wharton would have given +way at once and bestowed upon him then and there the kind father- +in-law's "bless you,--bless you!". Something had yet to be done +before the blessing would come, or the girl,--or the money. He +had to-day asserted his own material success, speaking of himself +as of a moneyed man,--and his statement had been received with +no contradiction,--even without the suggestion of a doubt. He +did not therefore suppose that the difficulty was over; but he +was clever enough to perceive that the aversion to him on another +score might help to tide him over that difficulty. And if once +he could call the girl his wife, he did not doubt but that he +could build himself up with the barrister's money. After leaving +Lincoln's Inn he went at once to Berkeley Street, and was soon +closeted with Mrs Roby. 'You can get her here before you go?' he +said. + +'She wouldn't come;--and if we arranged it without letting her +know that you were to be here, she would tell her father. She +hasn't a particle of female intrigue in her.' + +'So much the better,' said the lover. + +'That's all very well for you to say, but when a man makes such a +tyrant of himself as Mr Wharton is doing, a girl is bound to look +after herself. If it was me I'd go off with my young man before +I'd stand such treatment.' + +'You could give her a letter.' + +'She'd only show it to her father. She is so perverse that I +sometimes feel inclined to say that I'll have nothing further to +do with her.' + +'You'll give her a message at any rate?' + +'Yes,--I can do that;--because I can do it in a way that won't seem +to make it important.' + +'But I want my message to be very important. Tell her that I've +seen her father, and have offered to explain all my affairs to +him,--so that he may know that there is nothing to fear on her +behalf.' + +'It isn't any thought of money that is troubling him.' + +'But tell her what I say. He, however, would listen to nothing. +Then I assured him that no consideration on earth would induce me +to surrender her, and I was sure of her as I am of myself. Tell +her that;--and tell her that I think she owes to me to say one +word to me before she goes into the country.' + + + +CHAPTER 15 + +ARTHUR FLETCHER. + +It may, I think, be a question whether the two old men acted +wisely in having Arthur Fletcher at Wharton Hall when Emily +arrived there. The story of his love for Miss Wharton, as far as +it had yet gone, must shortly be told. He had been the second +son, as he was now the second brother, of a Hertfordshire squire +endowed with much larger property than that belonging to Sir +Alured. John Fletcher, Esq., of Longbarns, some twelve miles +from Wharton, was a considerable man in Hertfordshire. This +present squire had married Sir Alured's eldest daughter, and the +younger brother had, almost since they were children together, +been known to be in love with Emily Wharton. All the Fletchers +and everything belonging to them were almost worshipped at +Wharton Hall. There had been marriages between the two families +certainly as far back as the time of Henry VII, and they were +accustomed to speak, if not of alliances, at any rate of +friendships, much anterior to that. As regards family, +therefore, the pretensions of a Fletcher would always be held to +be good by a Wharton. But this Fletcher was the very pearl of +the Fletcher tribe. Though a younger brother, he had a very +pleasant little fortune of his own. Though born to comfortable +circumstances, he had worked so hard in his younger days as to +have already made for himself a name at the bar. He was a fair- +haired, handsome fellow, with sharp, eager eyes, with an aquiline +nose and just that shape of mouth and chin which such men as Abel +Wharton regarded as characteristic of good blood. He was rather +thin, about five feet ten in height, and had the character of +being one of the best horsemen in the county. He was one of the +most popular men in Hertfordshire, and at Longbarns was almost as +much thought of as the squire himself. He certainly was not the +man to be taken, from his appearance, for a forlorn lover. He +looked like one of those happy sons of the gods who are born to +success. No young man of his age was more courted both by men +and women. There was no one who in his youth had suffered fewer +troubles from those causes of trouble which visit English young +men,--occasional impecuniosity, sternness of parents, native +shyness, fear of ridicule, inability of speech, and a general +pervading sense of inferiority combined with an ardent desire to +rise to a feeling of conscious superiority. So much had been +done for him by nature that he was never called upon to pretend +to anything. Throughout the county those were the lucky men-- +and those too were the happy girls,--who were allowed to call +him Arthur. And yet this paragon was vainly in love with Emily +Wharton, who, in the way of love, would have nothing to say to +him, preferring,--as her father once said in extreme wrath,--a +greasy Jew adventurer out of the gutter! + +And now it had been thought expedient to have him down to +Wharton, although the lawyer's regular summer vacation had not +yet commenced. But there was some excuse made for this, over and +above the emergency of his own love, in the fact that his brother +John, with Mrs Fletcher, was also to be at the Hall,--so that +there was gathered there a great family party of the Whartons and +Fletchers; for there was present there also old Mrs Fletcher, a +magnificently aristocratic and high-minded old lady, with snow- +white hair, and lace worth fifty guineas a yard, who was as +anxious as everybody else that her younger son should marry Emily +Wharton. Something of the truth as to Emily Wharton's 60,000 +pounds was, of course, known to the Longbarns people. Not that I +would have it inferred that they wanted their darling to sell +himself for money. The Fletchers were great people, with great +spirits, too good in every way for such baseness. But when love, +old friendship, good birth, together with every other propriety +as to age, manners, and conduct, can be joined in money, such a +combination will always be thought pleasant. + +When Arthur reached the Hall it was felt to be necessary that a +word should be said to him as to that wretched interloper, +Ferdinand Lopez. Arthur had not of late been often in Manchester +Square. Though always most cordially welcomed by old Wharton, +and treated with kindness by Emily Wharton short of that love +which he desired, he had during the last three or four months +abstained from frequenting the house. During the past winter, +and early in the spring, he had pressed his suit--but had been +rejected, with warmest assurances of all friendship short of +love. It had then been arranged between him and the elder +Whartons that they should all meet down in the Hall, and there +had been sympathetic expressions of hope that all might yet be +well. But at that time little or nothing had been known of +Ferdinand Lopez. + +But now the old baronet spoke to him, the father having deputed +the loathsome task to his friend,--being unwilling himself even +to hint at his daughter's disgrace. 'Oh, yes, I've heard of +him,' said Arthur Fletcher. 'I met him with Everett and I don't +think I ever took a stronger dislike to a man. Everett seems +very fond of him.' The baronet mournfully shook his head. It +was sad to find that Whartons could go so far astray. 'He goes +to Carlton Terrace,--to the Duchess's,' continued the young man. + +'I don't think that is very much in his favour,' said the +baronet. + +'I don't know that it is, sir,--only they try to catch all fish +in that net that are of any use.' + +'Do you go there, Arthur?' + +'I should if I were asked, I suppose. I don't know who wouldn't. +You see it's a Coalition affair, so that everybody is able to +feel that he is supporting his party by going to the Duchess's.' + +'I hate Coalitions,' said the baronet. 'I think they are +disgraceful.' + +'Well;--yes; I don't know. The coach has to be driven somehow. +You mustn't stick in the mud, you know. And after all, sir, the +Duke of Omnium is a respectable man, though he is a Liberal. A +Duke of Omnium can't want to send the country to the dogs.' The +old man shook his head. He did not understand much about it, but +he felt convinced that the Duke and his colleagues were sending +the country to the dogs, whatever might be their wishes. 'I +shan't think of politics for the next ten years, and so I don't +trouble myself about the Duchess's parties, but I suppose I +should go if I were asked.' + +Sir Alured felt that he had not as yet begun even to approach the +difficult subject. 'I'm glad you don't like that man,' he said. + +'I don't like him at all. Tell me, Sir Alured;--why is he +always going to Manchester Square?' + +'Ah;--that is it.' + +'He has been there constantly;--has he not?' + +'No;--no I don't think that. Mr Wharton doesn't love him a bit +better than you do. My cousin thinks him a most objectionable +young man.' + +'But Emily?' + +'Ah--That's where it is.' + +'You don't mean to say she--cares about that man!' + +'He has been encouraged by that aunt of hers, who, as far as I +can make out, is a very unfit sort of person to be much with such +a girl as our dear Emily. I never saw her but once, and then I +didn't like her at all.' + +'A vulgar, good-natured woman. But what can she have done? She +can't have twisted Emily round her finger.' + +'I don't suppose there is very much in it, but I thought it +better to tell you. Girls take fancies into their heads,--just +for a time.' + +'He's a handsome fellow, too,' said Arthur Fletcher, musing in +his sorrow. + +'My cousin says he's a nasty Jew-looking man.' + +'He's not that, Sir Alured. He's a handsome man with a fine +voice;---dark, and not just like an Englishman; but still I can +fancy--That's bad news for me, Sir Alured.' + +'I think she'll forget him down here.' + +'She never forgets anything. I shall ask her, straight away. +She knows my feeling about her, and I haven't a doubt that she'll +tell me. She's too honest to be able to lie. Has he got any +money?' + +'My cousin seems to think he's rich.' + +'I suppose he is. Oh, Lord! That's a blow. I wish I could have +the pleasure of shooting him as a man might a few years ago. But +what would be the good? The girl would only hate me the more +after it. The best thing to do would be to shoot myself.' + +'Don't talk like that, Arthur.' + +'I shan't throw up the sponge as long as there's a chance left, +Sir Alured. But it will go badly with me if I'm beat at last. I +shouldn't have thought it possible that I should have felt +anything so much.' Then he pulled his hair, and thrust his hand +into his waistcoat; and turned away, so that his old friend might +not see the tear in his eye. + +His old friend also was much moved. It was dreadful to him that +the happiness of a Fletcher, and the comfort of the Whartons +generally, should be marred by a man with such a name as +Ferdinand Lopez. 'She'll never marry him without her father's +consent,' said Sir Alured. + +'If she means it, of course he'll consent.' + +'That I'm sure he won't. He doesn't like the man a bit better +than you do.' Fletcher shook his head. 'And he's as fond of you +as though you were already his son.' + +'What does it matter? If a girl sets her heart on marrying a man, +of course, she will marry him. If he had no money it might be +different. But if he's well off, of course he'll succeed. Well +-; I suppose other men have borne the same sort of thing before +and it hasn't killed them.' + +'Let us hope, my boy. I think of her quite as much as of you.' + +'Yes,--we can hope. I shan't give it up. As for her, I dare +say she knows what will suit her best. I've nothing to say +against the man,--excepting that I should like to cut him into four +quarters.' + +'But a foreigner!' + +'Girls don't think about that,--not as you do and Mr Wharton. +And I think thy like dark, greasy men with slippery voices, who +are up to dodges and full of secrets. Well, sir, I shall go to +her at once and have it out.' + +'You'll speak to my cousin?' + +'Certainly I will. He has always been one of the best friends I +ever had in my life. I know it hasn't been his fault. But what +can a man do? Girls won't marry this or that because they are +told.' + +Fletcher did speak to Emily's father, and learned more from him +than had been told him by Sir Alured. Indeed he learned the +whole truth. Lopez had been twice with the father pressing his +suit and had been twice repulsed, with as absolute denial as +words could convey. Emily, however, had declared her own feeling +openly, expressing her wish to marry the odious man, promising +not to do so without her father's consent, but evidently feeling +that that consent ought not to be withheld from her. All this Mr +Wharton told very plainly, walking with Arthur a little before +dinner along a shaded, lonely path, which for half a mile ran +along the very marge of the Wye at the bottom of the park. And +then he went on to speak other words which seemed to rob his +young friend of all hope. The old man was walking slowly, with +his hands clasped behind his back and with his eyes fixed on the +path as he went;--and he spoke slowly, evidently weighing his +words as he uttered them, bringing home to his hearer a +conviction that the matter discussed was one of supreme +importance to the speaker,--as to which he had thought much, so +as to be able to express his settled resolutions. 'I've told you +all now, Arthur,--only this. I do not know how long I may be +able to resist this man's claim if it be backed by Emily's +entreaties. I am thinking very much about it. I do not know +that I have really been able to think of anything else for the +last two months. It is all the world to me,--what she and +Everett do with themselves, and what she may do in this matter of +marriage is of infinitely greater importance than can befall him. +If he makes a mistake, it may be put right. But with a woman's +marrying--, vestigia nulla retrorsum. She has put off all her +old bonds and taken new ones, which must be her bonds for life. +Feeling this very strongly, and disliking this man greatly,-- +disliking him, that is to say, in the view of this close +relation,--I have felt myself to be justified in so far opposing +my child by the use of a high hand. I have refused my sanction +to the marriage both to him and to her,--though in truth I have +been hard set to find any adequate reason for doing so. I have +no right to fashion my girl's life by my prejudices. My life has +been lived. Hers is to come. In this matter I should be cruel +and unnatural were I to allow myself to be governed by any +selfish inclination. Though I were to know that she would be +lost to me forever, I must give way,--if once brought to a +conviction that by not giving way I should sacrifice her young +happiness. In this matter, Arthur, I must not even think of you, +though I love you well. I must consider only my child's welfare; +and in doing so I must try to sift my own feelings and my own +judgement, and ascertain, if it be possible, whether any distance +to the man is reasonable or irrational;--whether I should serve +her or sacrifice her by obstinacy of refusal. I can speak to you +more plainly than to her. Indeed I have laid bare to you my +whole heart and my whole mind. You have all my wishes, but you +will understand that I do not promise you my continued assistance.' +When he had so spoken he put out his hand and pressed his +companion's arm. Then he turned slowly into a little by-path +which led across the park up to the house, and left Arthur +Fletcher standing alone by the river's bank. + +And so by degrees the blow had come full home to him. He had +been twice refused. Then rumours had reached him,--not at first +that he had a rival, but that there was a man who might possibly +become so. And now this rivalry, and its success, were declared +to him plainly. He told himself from this moment that he had not +a chance. Looking forward he could see it. He understood the +girl's character sufficiently to be sure that she would not be +wafted about, from one lover to another, by change of scene. +Taking her to Dresden,--or to New Zealand, would only confirm in +her passion such a girl as Emily Wharton. Nothing would shake +her but the ascertained unworthiness of the man,--and not that +unless it were ascertained beneath her own eyes. And then years +must pass by before she would yield to another lover. There was +a further question, too, which he did not fail to ask himself. +Was the man necessarily unworthy because his name was Lopez, and +because he had not come of English blood? + +As he strove to think of this, if not coolly yet rationally, he +sat himself down among the rocks, among which at that spot the +water made its way rapidly. There had been moments in which he +had been almost ashamed of his love,--and now he did not know +whether to be most ashamed or most proud of it. But he +recognized the fact that it was crucifying him, and that it would +continue to crucify him. He knew himself in London to be a +popular man,--one of those for whom, according to general +opinion, girls should sigh, rather than one who would break his +heart sighing for a girl. He had often told himself that it was +beneath his manliness to be despondent; that he should let such a +trouble run from him like water from a duck's back, consoling +himself with the reflection that if the girl had such bad taste +she could hardly be worthy of him. He had almost tried to belong +to that school which throws the heart away and rules by the head +alone. He knew that others,--perhaps not those who knew him +best, but who nevertheless were the companions of may of his +hours,--gave him credit for such power. Why should a man +afflict himself by the inward burden of an unsatisfied craving, +and allow his heart to sink into his very feet because a girl +would not smile when he wooed her? 'If she be not fair for me, +what care I how fair she be!' He had repeated the lines to +himself a score of times, and had been ashamed of himself because +he could not make them come true to himself. + +They had not come true in the least. There he was, Arthur +Fletcher, whom all the world courted, with his heart in his very +boots! There was a miserable load within him, absolutely +palpable to his outward feeling,--a very physical pain,--which +he could not shake off. As he threw the stones into the water he +told himself that it must be so with him always. Though the +world did pet him, though he was liked at his club, and courted +in the hunting-field, and loved at balls and archery meetings, +and reputed by old men to be a rising star, he told himself that +he was so maimed and mutilated as to be only half a man. He +could not reason about it. Nature had afflicted him with a +certain weakness. One man had a hump;--another can hardly see +out of his imperfect eyes,--a third can barely utter a few +disjointed words. It was his fate to be constructed with some +weak arrangement of the blood vessels which left him in this +plight. 'The whole damned thing is nothing to me,' he said +bursting into absolute tears, after vainly trying to reassure +himself by a recollection of the good things which the world +still had in store for him. + +Then he strove to console himself by thinking that he might take +a pride in his love, even though it were so intolerable a burden +to him. Was it not something to be able to love as he loved? +Was it not something at any rate that she to whom he had +condescended to stoop was worthy of all love? But even here he +could get no comfort,--being in truth unable to see very closely +into the condition of the thing. It was a disgrace to him,--to +him within his own bosom,--that she should have preferred to him +such a one as Ferdinand Lopez, and this disgrace he exaggerated, +ignoring the fact that the girl herself might be deficient in +judgement, or led away into her love by falsehood and counterfeit +attractions. To him she was such a goddess that she must be +right--and therefore his own inferiority to such a one as +Ferdinand Lopez was proved. He could take no pride in his +rejected love. He would rid himself of it at a moment's notice +if he knew the way. He would throw himself at the feet of some +second-rate, tawdry, well-born, well-known beauty of the day,-- +only that there was not now left to him strength to pretend the +feeling that would be necessary. Then he heard steps, and +jumping up from his seat, stood just in the way of Emily Wharton +and her cousin Mary. 'Ain't you going to dress for dinner, young +man?' said the latter. + +'I shall have time if you have, anyway,' said Arthur, +endeavouring to pluck up his spirits. + +'That's nice of him;--isn't it?' said Mary. 'Why, we are +dressed. What more do you want? We came out to look for you, +though we didn't mean to come as far as this. It's past seven +now, and we are supposed to dine at a quarter past.' + +'Five minutes will do for me.' + +'But you've got to get to the house. You needn't be in a +tremendous hurry, because papa has only just come in from +haymaking. They've got up the last load, and there has been the +usual ceremony. Emily and I have been looking at them.' + +'I wish I'd been there all the time,' said Emily. 'I do so hate +London in July.' + +'So do I,' said Arthur,--'in July and all other times.' + +'You hate London?' said Mary. + +'Yes,--and Hertfordshire,--and other places generally. If I've +got to dress I'd better go across the park as quick as I can go,' +and so he left them. Mary turned around and looked at her +cousin, but at the moment said nothing. Arthur's passion was +well known to Mary Wharton, but Mary had as yet heard nothing of +Ferdinand Lopez. + + + +CHAPTER 16 + +NEVER RUN AWAY! + +During the whole of that evening there was a forced attempt on +the part of all the party at Wharton Hall to be merry,--which, +however, as is the case whenever such attempts are forced, was a +failure. There had been a haymaking harvest-home which was +supposed to give special occasion for mirth, as Sir Alured farmed +the land around the park himself, and was great in hay. 'I don't +think it pays very well,' he said with a gentle smile, 'but I +like to employ some of the people myself. I think the old people +find it easier with me than with the tenants.' + +'I shouldn't wonder,' said his cousin;--'but that's charity; not +employment.' + +'No, no,' exclaimed the baronet. 'They work for their wages and +do their best. Powell sees to that.' Powell was the bailiff, +who knew the length of his master's foot to a quarter of an inch, +and was quite aware that the Wharton haymakers were not to be +overtasked. 'Powell doesn't keep any cats about the place, but +what catch mice. But I am not quite sure that haymaking does +pay.' + +'How do the tenants manage?' + +'Of course they look to things closer. You wouldn't wish me to +let the land up to the house next door.' + +'I think,' said old Mrs Fletcher, 'that a landlord should consent +to lose a little by his own farming. It does good in the long +run.' Both Mr Wharton and Sir Alured felt that this might be +very well at Longbarns, though it could hardly be afforded at +Wharton. + +'I don't think I lose much by my farming,' said the squire of +Longbarns. 'I have four hundred acres on hand, and I keep my +accounts pretty regularly.' + +'Johnson is a very good man, I dare say,' said the baronet. + +'Like most of the others,' continued the squire, 'he's very well +as long as he's looked after. I think I know as much about it as +Johnson. Of course, I don't expect a farmer's profit; but I do +expect my rent, and I get it.' + +'I don't think I manage it in quite that way,' said the baronet +in a melancholy tone. + +'I'm afraid not,' said the barrister. + +'John is as hard upon the men as any one of the tenants,' said +John's wife, Mrs Fletcher of Longbarns. + +'I'm not hard at all,' said John, 'and you understand nothing +about it. I'm paying three shillings a week more to every man, +and eighteen pence a week more to every woman, than I did three +years ago.' + +'That's because of the Unions,' said the barrister. + +'I don't care a straw for the Unions. If the Unions interfered +with my comfort, I'd let the land and leave the place.' + +'Oh, John!' ejaculated John's mother. + +'I would not consent to be made a slave even for the sake of the +country. But the wages had to be raised,--having raised them I +expect to get proper value for my money. If anything has to be +given away, let it be given away,--so that the people should +know what it is that they receive.' + +'That's just what we don't want to do here,' said Lady Wharton, +who did not often join in any of these arguments. + +'You're wrong, my lady,' said her stepson. 'You're only breeding +idleness when you teach people to think that they are earning +wages without working for their money. Whatever you do with +them, let them know and feel the truth. It'll be the best in the +long run.' + +'I'm sometimes happy when I think that I shan't live to see the +long run,' said the baronet. This was the manner in which they +tried to be merry that evening after dinner at Wharton Hall. The +two girls sat listening to their seniors in contented silence,-- +listening or perhaps thinking of their own peculiar troubles, +while Arthur Fletcher held some book in his hand which he strove +to read with all his might. + +There was not one there in the room who did not know that it was +the wish of the united families that Arthur Fletcher should marry +Emily Wharton, and also that Emily had refused him. To Arthur of +course the feeling that it was so could not but be an additional +vexation; but the knowledge had grown up and had become common in +the two families without any power on his part to prevent so +disagreeable a condition of affairs. There was not one in that +room, unless it was Mary Wharton, who was not more or less angry +with Emily, thinking her to be perverse and unreasonable. Even +to Mary her cousin's strange obstinacy was a matter of surprise and +sorrow,--for to her Arthur Fletcher was one of those demigods, +who should never be refused, who are not expected to do more than +express a wish and be accepted. Her own heart had not strayed +that way because she thought but little of herself, knowing +herself to be portionless, and believing from long thought on the +subject that it was not her destiny to the wife of any man. She +regarded Arthur Fletcher as being of all men the most lovable,-- +though, knowing her own condition, she did not dream of loving +him. It did not become her to be angry with another girl on such +a cause;--but she was amazed that Arthur Fletcher should sigh in +vain. + +The girl's folly and perverseness on this head were known to them +all,--but as yet her greater folly and worse perverseness, her +vitiated taste and dreadful partiality for the Portuguese +adventurer, were known but to the two old men and to poor Arthur +himself. When that sternly magnificent old lady Mrs Fletcher,-- +whose ancestors had been Welsh kings in the time of the Romans,-- +when she should hear this story, the roof of the old hall would +hardly be able to hold her wrath and her dismay! The old kings +had died away, but the Fletchers and the Vaughans,--of whom she +had been one,--and the Whartons remained, a peculiar people in +an age that was then surrendering itself to quick perdition, and +with peculiar duties. Among these duties, the chiefest of them +incumbent on females was that of so restraining their affections +that they should never damage the good cause by leaving it. They +might marry within the pale,--or remain single, as might be +their lot. She would not take upon herself to say that Emily +Wharton was bound to accept Arthur Fletcher, merely because such +a marriage was fitting,--although she did think that there was +much perverseness in the girl, who might have taught herself, had +she not been so stubborn, to comply with the wishes of the +families. But to love one so below herself, a man without a +father, a foreigner, a black Portuguese Jew, merely because he +had a bright eye, and a hook nose, and a glib tongue,--that a +girl from the Whartons should do this,--! It was so unnatural +to Mrs Fletcher that it would be hardly possible to her to be +civil to the girl after she had heard that her mind and taste were so +astray. All this Sir Alured knew and the barrister knew it,-- +and they feared her indignation the more because they sympathized +with the old lady's feelings. + +'Emily Wharton doesn't seem to me to be a bit more gracious than +she used to be,' Mrs Fletcher said to Lady Wharton that night. +The two old ladies were sitting together upstairs, and Mrs John +Fletcher was with them. In such conferences Mrs Fletcher always +domineered,--to perfect contentment of old Lady Wharton, but not +equally so to that of her daughter-in-law. + +'I'm afraid she's not very happy,' said Lady Wharton. + +'She has everything that ought to make a girl happy, and I don't +know what it is she wants. It makes me quite angry to see her so +discontented. She doesn't say a word, but sits there as glum as +death. If I were Arthur I would leave her for six months, and +never speak to her during that time.' + +'I suppose, mother,' said the younger Mrs Fletcher,--who called +her husband's mother, mother, and her own mother, mamma,--'a +girl needn't marry a man unless she likes him.' + +'But she should try to like him if it's suitable in other +respects. I don't mean to take any trouble about it. Arthur +needn't beg for any favour. Only I wouldn't have come here if I +had thought that she had intended to sit silent like that +always.' + +'It makes her unhappy, I suppose,' said Lady Wharton, 'because +she can't do what we all want.' + +'Fall, lall! She'd have wanted it herself if nobody else had +wished it. I'm surprised that Arthur should be so much taken +with her.' + +'You'd better say nothing more about it, mother.' + +'I don't mean to say anything more about it. It's nothing to me. +Arthur can do very well in the world without Emily Wharton. Only +a girl like that will sometimes make a disgraceful match; and we +should all feel that.' + +'I don't think Emily will do anything disgraceful,' said Lady +Wharton. And so they parted. + +In the meantime the two brothers were smoking their pipes in the +housekeeper's room, which, at Wharton, when the Fletchers or +Everett were there, was freely used for that purpose. + +'Isn't it rather quaint of you,' said the elder brother, 'coming +down here in the middle of term time?' + +'It doesn't matter much.' + +'I should have thought it would matter;--that is, if you mean to +go on with it.' + +'I'm not going to make a slave of myself about it, if you mean +that. I don't suppose I shall ever marry,--and for rising to be +a swell in the profession, I don't care about it.' + +'You used to care about it,--very much. You used to say that if +you didn't get to the top it shouldn't be your own fault.' + +'And I have worked;--and I do work. But things get changed +somehow. I've half a mind to give it all up,--to raise a lot of +money, and to start off with a resolution to see every corner of +the world. I suppose a man could do it in about thirty years if +he lived so long. It's the kind of thing that would suit me.' + +'Exactly. I don't know of any fellow who has been more into +society, and therefore you are exactly the man to live alone for +the rest of your life. You've always worked hard, I will say +that for you;--and therefore you're just the man to be contented +with idleness. You've always been ambitious and self-confident, +and therefore it will suit you to a T, to be nobody, and to do +nothing.' Arthur sat silent, smoking his pipe with all his +might, and his brother continued,--'Besides,--you read +sometimes, I fancy.' + +'I should read all the more.' + +'Very likely. But what you have read, in the old plays, for +instance, must have taught you that when a man is cut about a +woman,--which I suppose is your case just at present,--he never +does get over it. He never gets all right after a time,--does +he? Such a one had better go and turn monk at once, as the world +is over for him altogether;--isn't it? Men don't recover after +a month or two, and go on just the same. You've never seen that +kind of thing yourself?' + +'I'm not going to cut my throat or turn monk either.' + +'No. There are so many steamboats and railways now that +travelling seems easier. Suppose you go as far as St Petersburg, +and see if that does you any good. If it don't, you needn't go +on, because it will be hopeless. If it does,--why, you can come +back, because the second journey will do the rest.' + +'There never was anything, John, that wasn't a matter for chaff +with you.' + +'And I hope there never will be. People understand it when logic +would be thrown away. I suppose the truth is the girl cares for +somebody else.' Arthur nodded his head. 'Who is it? Anyone I +know?' + +'I think not.' + +'Anyone you know?' + +'I have met the man.' + +'Decent?' + +'Disgustingly indecent, I should say.' John looked very black, +for even with him the feeling about the Whartons and the Vaughans +and the Fletchers was very strong. 'He's a man I should say you +wouldn't let into Longbarns.' + +'There might be various reasons for that. It might be that you +wouldn't care to meet him.' + +'Well;--no,--I don't suppose I should. But without that you +wouldn't like him. I don't think he's an Englishman.' + +'A foreigner!' + +'He has got a foreign name.' + +'An Italian nobleman?' + +'I don't think he's noble in any country.' + +'Who the d-d is he?' + +'His name is--Lopez.' + +'Everett's friend?' + +'Yes,--Everett's friend. I ain't very much obliged to Master +Everett for what he has done.' + +'I've seen the man. Indeed I may say I know him,--for I dined +with him at Manchester Square. Old Wharton himself must have +asked him there.' + +'He was there as Everett's friend. I only heard all this to-day, +you know,--though I had heard about it before.' + +'And therefore you want me to set out your travels. As far as I +saw I should say he was a clever fellow.' + +'I don't doubt that.' + +'And a gentleman.' + +'I don't know that he is not,' said Arthur. 'I've no right to +say word against him. From what Wharton says I suppose he's +rich.' + +'He's good-looking too;--at least he's the sort of man that +women like to look at.' + +'Just so. I've no cause to quarrel with him,--nor with her. +But--' + +'Yes, my friend. I see it all,' said the elder brother. 'I +think I know all about it. But running away is not the thing. +One may be pretty nearly sure that one is right when one says +that a man shouldn't run away from anything.' + +'The thing is to be happy if you can,' said Arthur. + +'No;--that's not the thing. I'm not much of a philosopher, but +as far as I can see there are two philosophies in the world. The +one is to make one's self happy, and the other is to make other +people happy. The latter answers the best.' + +'I can't add to her happiness by hanging about London.' + +'That's a quibble. It isn't her happiness we are talking about, +--nor yet your hanging about London. Gird yourself up and go on +with what you've got to do. Put your work before your feelings. +What does a poor man do, who goes out hedging and ditching with a +dead child lying in his house? If you get a blow in the face, +return it if it ought to be returned, but never complain of the +pain. If you must have your vitals eaten into,--have them eaten +into like a man. But mind you,--these ain't your vitals.' + +'It goes pretty near.' + +'These ain't your vitals. A man gets cured of it,--almost +always. I believe always; though some men get hit so hard they +can never bring themselves to try it again. But tell me this. +Has old Wharton given his consent?' + +'No. He has refused,' said Arthur with strong emphasis. + +'How is to be, then?' + +'He has dealt very fairly by me. He has done all he could to get +rid of the man,--both with him and with her. He has told Emily +that he will have nothing to do with the man. And she will do +nothing without his sanction.' + +'Then it will remain as it is.' + +'No, John; it will not. He has gone on to say that though he has +refused,--and has refused roughly enough,--he must give way if +he sees that she has really set her heart upon him. And she +has.' + +'Has she told you so?' + +'No;--but he has told me. I shall have it out with her to- +morrow, if I can. And then I shall be off.' + +'You'll be here for the shooting on the 1st?' + +'No. I dare say you're right in what you say about sticking to +my work. It does seem unmanly to run away because of a girl.' + +'Because of anything! Stop and face it, whatever it is.' + +'Just so;--but I can't stop and face her. It would do no good. +For all our sakes I should be better away. I can get shooting +with Musgrave and Carnegie in Perthshire. I dare say I shall go +there, and take a share with them.' + +'That's better than going into all quarters of the globe.' + +'I didn't mean that I was to surrender and start at once. You +take a fellow up so short. I shall do very well, I've no doubt, +and shall be hunting here as jolly as ever at Christmas. But a +fellow must say it all to somebody.' The elder brother put his +hand out and laid it affectionately upon the younger one's arm. +'I'm not going to whimper about the world like a whipped dog. +The worst of it is so many people have known of this.' + +'You mean down here.' + +'Oh;--everywhere. I have never told them. It has been a kind +of family affair and thought to be fit for general discussions.' + +'That'll wear away.' + +'In the meantime, it's a bore. But that shall be the end of it. +Don't you say another word to me about it, and I won't to you. +And tell mother not to, or Sarah.' Sarah was John Fletcher's +wife. 'It has got to be dropped, and let us drop it as quickly +as we can. If she does marry this man, I don't suppose she'll be +much at Longbarns or Wharton.' + +'Not at Longbarns certainly, I should say,' replied John. 'Fancy +mother having to curtsey to her as Mrs Lopez! And I doubt +whether Sir Alured would like him. He isn't of our sort. He's +too clever, too cosmopolitan,--a sort of man whitewashed of all +prejudices, who wouldn't mind whether he ate horseflesh or beef +if horseflesh were as good as beef, and never had on any occasion +in his life. I'm not sure that he's not on the safest side. +Good-night, old fellow. Pluck up, and send us plenty of grouse +if you do go to Scotland.' + +John Fletcher, as I hope may have been already seen, was by no +means a weak man or an indifferent brother. He was warm-hearted, +sharp-witted, and though perhaps a little self-opinionated, +considered throughout the county to be one of the most prudent in +it. Indeed no one ever ventured to doubt his wisdom on all +practical matters,--save his mother, who seeing him almost every +day, had a stronger bias towards her younger son. 'Arthur has +been hit hard about that girl,' he said to his wife that night. + +'Emily Wharton?' + +'Yes;--your cousin Emily. Don't say anything to him, but be as +good to him as you know how.' + +'Good to Arthur! Am I not always good to him?' + +'Be a little more than usually tender with him. It makes one +almost cry to see such a fellow hurt like that. I can understand +it, though I never had anything of it myself.' + +'You never had, John,' said the wife leaning close upon the +husband's breast as she spoke. 'It all came very easily to you; +--too easily perhaps.' + +'If any girl had refused me, I should have taken her at her word. +I can tell you. There would have been no second "hop" to that +ball.' + +'Then I suppose I was right to catch it the first time?' + +'I don't say how that may be.' + +'I was right. Oh, dear me!--Suppose I had doubted, just for +once, and you had gone off. You should have tried once more,-- +wouldn't you?' + +'You'd have gone about it like a broken-winged old hen, and have +softened me in that way.' + +'And now Arthur has had his wing broken.' + +'You mustn't let on to know it's broken, and the wing will be +healed in due time. But what fools girls are!' + +'Indeed they are, John,--particularly me.' + +'Fancy a girl like Emily Wharton,' said he, not condescending to +notice her little joke, 'throwing herself over a fellow like +Arthur for a greasy, black foreigner.' + +'A foreigner!' + +'Yes,--a man named Lopez. Don't say anything about it at +present. Won't she live to find out the difference, and to know +what she has done! I can tell her of one who won't pity her.' + + + +CHAPTER 17 + +GOOD-BYE. + +Arthur Fletcher received his brother's teaching as true, and took +his brother's advice in good part,--so that, before the morning +following, he had resolved that however the deep the wound might +be, he would so live before the world, that the world should not +see his wound. What people already knew they must know,--but +they should learn nothing further either by words or by signs +from him. He would, as he had said to his brother, 'have it out +with Emily'; and then, if she told him plainly that she loved the +man, he would bid her adieu, simply expressing regret that their +course for life should be divided. He was confident that she +would tell him the entire truth. She would be restrained neither +by false modesty, nor by any assumed unwillingness to discuss her +own affairs with a friend so true to her as he had been. He knew +her well enough to be sure that she recognized the value of his +love though she could not bring herself to accept it. There are +rejected lovers who, merely because they are lovers, become +subject to the scorn and even the disgust of the girls they love. +But again there are men who, even when they are rejected, are +almost loved, who are considered to be worthy of the reverence, +almost of worship;--and yet the worshippers will not love them. +Not analysing all this, but somewhat conscious of the light in +which this girl regarded him, he knew that what he might say +would be treated with deference. As to shaking her,--as to +talking her out of one purpose and into another,--that to him +did not for a moment seem to be practicable. There was no hope +of that. He hardly knew why he should endeavour to say a word to +her before he left Wharton. And yet he felt that it must be +said. Were he to allow her to be married to this man, without +any further previous word between them, it would appear that he +had resolved to quarrel with her for ever. But now, at this very +moment of time, as he lay in his bed, as he dressed himself in +the morning, as he sauntered about among the new hay-stacks with +his pipe in his mouth after breakfast, he came to some conclusion +in his mind very much averse to such quarrelling. + +He had loved her with all his heart. It had not been mere +drawing-room love begotten between a couple of waltzes, and +fostered by five minutes in a crush. He knew himself to be a man +of the world, and he did not wish to be other than he was. He +could talk among men as men talked, and act as men acted;--and +he could do the same with women. But there was one person who +had been to him above all, and round everything, and under +everything. There had been a private nook within him into which +there had been no entrance but for one image. There had been a +holy of holies, which he had guarded within himself, keeping it +free from all outer contamination for his own use. He had +cherished the idea of a clear fountain of ever-running water +which would at last be his, always ready for the comfort of his +own lips. Now all his hope was shattered, his trust was gone, +and his longing disappointed. But the person was the same +person, though she could not be his. The nook was there, though +she would not fill it. The holy of holies was not less holy, +though he himself might not dare to lift the curtain. The +fountain would still run,--still the clearest fountain of all,-- +though he might not put his lips to it. He would never allow +himself to think of it with lessened reverence, or with changed +ideas as to her nature. + +And then, as he stood leaning against a ladder which still kept +its place against one of the hay-stacks, and filled his second +pipe unconsciously, he had to realize to himself the probable +condition of his future life. Of course she would marry this man +with very little further delay. Her father had already declared +himself to be too weak to interfere much longer with her wishes. +Of course Mr Wharton would give way. And then,--what sort of +life would be her life? No one knew anything about the man. +There was an idea that he was rich,--but wealth such as his, +wealth that is subject to speculation, will fly away at a +moment's notice. He might be cruel, a mere adventurer, or a +thorough ruffian for all that was known of him. There should, +thought Arthur Fletcher to himself, be more stability in the +giving and taking of wives than could be reckoned upon here. He +became old in that half-hour, taking home to himself and +appreciating many saws of wisdom and finger-direction experience +which hitherto had been to him matters almost of ridicule. But +he could only come to this conclusion,--that as she was still to +be to him his holy of holies though he might not lay his hand +upon the altar, his fountain though he might not drink of it, the +one image which alone could have filled that nook, he would not +cease to regard her happiness when she should have become the +wife of this stranger. With the stranger himself he never could +be on friendly terms;--but for the stranger's wife there should +always be a friend, if the friend were needed. + +About an hour before lunch John Fletcher, who had been hanging +about the house all the morning in a manner very unusual to him, +caught Emily Wharton as she was passing through the hall, and +told her that Arthur Fletcher was in a certain part of the +grounds and wished to speak to her. 'Alone?' she asked. 'Yes, +certainly alone.' 'Ought I to go to him, John?' she asked again. +'Certainly I think you ought.' Then he had done his commission +and was able to apply himself to whatever business he had in +hand. + +Emily at once put on her hat, took her parasol, and left the +house. There was something distasteful to her in the idea of +this going out at lover's bidding, to meet him; but like all +Whartons and all Fletchers, she trusted John Fletcher. And then +she was aware that there were circumstances which might make a +meeting such as this serviceable. She knew nothing of what had +taken place during the last four-and-twenty hours. She had no +idea that in consequence of words spoken to him by her father and +his brother, Arthur Fletcher was about to abandon his suit. +There would have been no doubt about her going to meet him had +she thought of it. She supposed that she would have to hear +again the old story. If so, she would hear it, and would then +have an opportunity of telling him that her heart had been given +entirely to another. She knew all that she owed to him. After a +fashion she did love him. He was entitled to the kindest +consideration from her hands. But he should be told the truth. + +As she entered the shrubbery he came out to meet her, giving her +his hand with a frank, easy air and pleasant smile. His smile +was as bright as the ripple of the sea, and his eye would then +gleam, and the slightest sparkle of white teeth would be seen +between his lips, and the dimple of his chin would show itself +deeper than at other times. 'It is very good of you. I thought +you'd come. John asked you, I suppose.' + +'Yes;--he told me you were here, and he said I ought to come.' + +'I don't know about ought, but I think it better. Will you mind +walking on, as I've something that I want to say?' Then he +turned and she turned with him into the little wood. 'I'm not +going to bother you any more my darling,' he said. 'You are +still my darling, though I will not call you so after this.' Her +heart sank almost in her bosom as she heard this,--though it was +exactly what she would have wished to hear. But now there must +be some close understanding between them and some tenderness. +She knew how much she had owed him, how good he had been to her, +how true had been his love; and she felt that words would fail +her to say that which ought to be said. 'So you have given +yourself to--one Ferdinand Lopez!' + +'Yes,' she said, in a hard, dry voice. 'Yes, I have. I do not +know who told you; but I have.' + +'Your father told me. It was better,--was it not?--that I +should know. You are not sorry that I should know?' + +'It is better.' + +'I am not going to say a word against him.' + +'No;--do not do that.' + +'Nor against you. I am simply here now to let you know that--I +retire.' + +'You will not quarrel with me, Arthur?' + +'Quarrel with you! I could not quarrel with you, if I would. +No;--there shall be no quarrel. But I do not suppose we shall +see each other very often.' + +'I hope we may.' + +'Sometimes, perhaps. A man should not, I think, affect to be +friends with a successful rival. I dare say he is an excellent +fellow; but how is it possible that he and I should get on +together? But you will always have one,--one beside him,--who +will love you best in this world.' + +'No;--no;--no.' + +'It must be so. There will be nothing wrong in that. Everyone +has some dearest friend, and you will always be mine. If +anything of evil should ever happen to you,--which of course +there won't,--there would always be someone who would--. But I +don't want to talk buncombe; I only want you to believe me. +Good-bye, and God bless you.' Then he put out his right hand, +holding his hat under his left arm. + +'You are not going away?' + +'To-morrow perhaps. But I will say my real good-bye to you here, +now to-day. I hope you may be happy. I hope with all my heart. +Good-bye. God bless you!' + +'Oh, Arthur!' Then she put her hand in his. + +'Oh, I have loved you so dearly. It has been with my whole +heart. You have never quite understood me, but it has been as +true as heaven. I have thought sometimes that had I been a +little less earnest about it, I should have been a little less +stupid. A man shouldn't let it get the better of him, as I have +done. Say good-bye to me, Emily.' + +'Good-bye,' she said, still leaving her hand in his. + +'I suppose that's about all. Don't let them quarrel with you +here if you can help it. Of course at Longbarns they won't like +it for a time. Oh,--if it could have been different!' Then he +dropped her hand, and turning his back quickly upon her, went +away along the path. + +She had expected and had almost wished that he should kiss her. +A girl's cheek is never so holy to herself as it is to her lover, +--if he do love her. There would have been something of +reconciliation, something of a promise of future kindness in a +kiss, which even Ferdinand would not have grudged. It would, for +her, have robbed the parting of that bitterness of pain which his +words had given to it. As to all that he had made no +calculation; but the bitterness was there for him, and he could +have done nothing that would have expelled it. + +She wept bitterly as she returned to the house. There might have +been cause for joy. It was clear enough that her father, though +he had shown no sign of yielding, was nevertheless prepared to +yield. It was her father who had caused Arthur Fletcher to take +himself off, as a lover really dismissed. But, at this moment, +she could not bring herself to look at that aspect of the affair. +Her mind would revert to all those choicest moments in her early +years in which she had been happy with Arthur Fletcher, in which +she had first learned to love him, and had then taught herself to +understand by some confused and perplexed lesson that she did not +love him as men and women love. But why should she not so have +loved him? Would she not have done so could she then have +understood how true and firm he was? And then, independently of +herself, throwing herself aside for the time as she was bound to +do when thinking of one so good to her as Arthur Fletcher, she +found that no personal joy could drown the grief which she shared +with him. For a moment the idea of a comparison between the men +forced itself upon her,--but she drove it from her as she +hurried back into the house. + + + +CHAPTER 18 + +THE DUKE OF OMNIUM THINKS OF HIMSELF. + +The blaze made by the Duchess of Omnium during the three months +of the season up in London had been very great, but it was little +in comparison with the social incursion expected to be achieved +at Gatherum Castle,--little at least as far as public report +went, and the general opinion of the day. No doubt the house in +Carlton Gardens had been thrown open as the house of no Prime +Minister, perhaps of no duke, had been opened before in this +country; but it had been done by degrees, and had not been +accomplished by such a blowing of trumpets as was sounded with +reference to the entertainments at Gatherum. I would not have it +supposed that the trumpets were blown by the direct order of the +Duchess. The trumpets were blown by the customary trumpeters as +it became known that great things were to be done,--all +newspapers and very many tongues lending their assistance, till +the sounds of the instruments almost frightened the Duchess +herself. 'Isn't it odd,' she said to her friend Mrs Finn, 'that +one can't have a few friends down in the country without such a +fuss abut it as the people are making?' Mrs Finn did not think +it was odd, and so she said. Thousands of pounds were being +spent in a very conspicuous way. Invitations to the place even +for a couple of days,--for twenty-four hours,--had been begged +for abjectly. It was understood everywhere that the Prime +Minister was bidding for greatness and popularity. Of course the +trumpets were blown very loudly. 'If people don't take care,' +said the Duchess, 'I'll put everybody off and have the whole +place shut up. I'd do it for sixpence now.' + +Perhaps of all the persons, much or little concerned, the one who +heard the least of the trumpets,--or rather who was the last to +hear them,--was the Duke himself. He could not fail to see +something in the newspapers, but what he did see did not attract +him so frequently or so strongly as did the others. It was a +pity, he thought, that a man's social and private life should be +subject to so many remarks, but this misfortune was one of those +to which wealth and rank are liable. He had long recognized that +fact, and for a time endeavoured to believe that his intended +sojourn at Gatherum Castle was not more public than are the +autumn doings of other dukes and other prime ministers. But +gradually the trumpets did reach even his ears. Blind as he was +to many things himself, he always had near to him that other duke +who was never blind to anything. 'You are going to do great +things at Gatherum this year,' said the Duke. + +'Nothing particular, I hope,' said the Prime Minister, with an +inward trepidation,--for gradually there had crept upon him a +fear that his wife was making a mistake. + +'I thought it was going to be very particular.' + +'It's Glencora's doing.' + +'I don't doubt but that her Grace is right. Don't suppose that I +am criticizing your hospitality. We are to be at Gatherum +ourselves about the end of the month. It will be the first time +I shall have seen the place since your uncle's time.' + +The Prime Minister at this moment was sitting in his own +particular room at the Treasury Chambers, and before the entrance +of his friend had been conscientiously endeavouring to define for +himself not a future policy, but the past policy of the last +month or two. It had not been for him a very happy occupation. +He had become the Head of Government,--and had not failed, for +there he was, still the Head of Government, with a majority at +his back, and the six months' vacation before him. They who were +entitled to speak to him confidentially as to his position, were +almost vehement in declaring his success. Mr Rattler, about a +week ago, had not seen any reason why the Ministry should not +endure at least for the next four years. Mr Roby, from the other +side, was equally confident. But, on looking back at what he had +done, and indeed on looking forward into his future intentions, +he could not see why he, of all men, should be Prime Minister. +He had once been Chancellor of the Exchequer, filling that office +through two halcyon sessions, and he had known the reason why he +had held it. He had ventured to assure himself at the time that +he was the best man whom his party could then have found for that +office, and he had been satisfied. But he had none of that +satisfaction now. There were men under him who were really at +work. The Lord Chancellor had legal reforms on foot. Mr Monk +was busy, heart and soul, in regard to income taxes and brewers' +licences,--making our poor Prime Minister's mouth water. Lord +Drummond was active among the colonies. Phineas Finn had at any +rate his ideas about Ireland. But with the Prime Minister,--so +at least the Duke told himself,--it was all a blank. The policy +confided to him and expected at his hands was that of keeping +together a Coalition Ministry. That was a task that did not +satisfy him. And now, gradually,--very slowly indeed at first, +but still with a sure step,--there was creeping upon him the +idea that this power of cohesion was sought for, and perhaps +found not in his political capacity, but in his rank and wealth. +It might in fact, be the case that it was his wife the Duchess-- +that Lady Glencora of whose wild impulses and general +impracticability he had always been in dread,--that she with her +dinner parties and receptions, with her crowded saloons, her +music, her picnics, and social temptations, was Prime Minister +rather than he himself. It might be that this had been +understood by the coalesced parties,--by everybody, in fact, +except himself. It had, perhaps, been found that in the state of +things then existing, a ministry could be kept together, not by +parliamentary capacity, but by social arrangements, such as his +Duchess, and his Duchess alone, could carry out. She and she +only would have the spirit and the money and the sort of +cleverness required. In such a state of things he of course, as +her husband, must be the nominal Prime Minister. + +There was no anger in his bosom as he thought of this. It would +be hardly just to say that there was jealousy. His nature was +essentially free from jealousy. But there was shame,--and self- +accusation at having accepted so great an office with so little +fixed purpose as to great work. It might be his duty to +subordinate even his pride to the service of his country, and to +consent to be a faineant minister, a gilded Treasure log, because +by remaining in that position he would enable the Government to +be carried on. But how base the position, how mean, how +repugnant to that grand idea of public work which had hitherto +been the motive power of all his life! How would he continue to +live if this thing were to go on from year to year,--he +pretending to govern while others governed,--taking the highest +place at all tables, receiving mock reverence, and known to all +men as faineant First Lord of the Treasury? Now, as he had been +thinking of all this, the most trusted of his friends had come to +him, and had at once alluded to the very circumstances which had +been pressing so heavily on his mind. 'I was delighted,' +continued the elder Duke, 'when I heard that you had determined +to go to Gatherum this year.' + +'If a man has a big house I suppose he ought to live in it, +sometimes.' + +'Certainly. It was for such purposes as this now intended that +your uncle built it. He never became a public man, and +therefore, though he went there, every year I believe, he never +really used it.' + +'He hated it,--in his heart. And so do I. And so does +Glencora. I don't see why any man should have his private life +interrupted by being made to keep a huge caravansary open for +persons he doesn't care a straw about.' + +'You would not like to live alone.' + +'Alone,--with my wife and children,--I would certainly, during +a portion of the year at least.' + +'I doubt whether such a life, even for a month, even for a week, +is compatible with your duties. You would hardly find it +possible. Could you do without your private secretaries? Would +you know enough of what is going on, if you did not discuss +matters with others? A man cannot be both private and public at +the same time.' + +'And therefore one has to be chopped up, like a reed out of the +river, as the poet said, and yet not give sweet music +afterwards.' The Duke of St Bungay said nothing in answer to +this, as he did not understand the chopping of the reed. 'I'm +afraid I've been wrong about this collection of people down at +Gatherum,' continued the younger Duke. 'Glencora is impulsive, +and has overdone the thing. Just look at that.' And he handed a +letter to his friend. The old Duke put on his spectacles and +read the letter through,--which ran as follows. + +Private + + MY LORD DUKE, + I do not doubt but that your Grace is aware of my + position in regard to the public press of the country, + and I beg to assure your Grace that my present + proposition is made, not on account of the great honour + and pleasure which would be conferred upon myself should + your Grace accede to it, but because I feel assured that + I might so be best enabled to discharge an important duty + for the benefit of the public generally. + Your Grace is about to receive the whole fashionable + world of England and many distinguished foreign + ambassadors at your ancestral halls, not solely for + social delight,--for a man in your Grace's high position + is not able to think only of a pleasant life,--in order + that the prestige of your combined Ministry may be so + best maintained. That your Grace is thereby doing a duty + to your country no man who understands the country can + doubt. But it must be the case that the country at large + should interest itself in your festivities, and should + demand to have accounts of the gala doings of your ducal + palace. Your Grace will probably agree with me that + these records could be better given by one empowered by + yourself to give them, by one who had less present, and + who would write in your Grace's interest, than by some + interloper who would receive his tale only at second + hand. + It is my purport now to inform your Grace that should I + be honoured by an invitation to your Grace's party at + Gatherum, I should obey such a call with the greatest + alacrity, and would devote my pen and the public organ + which is at my disposal to your Grace's service with the + readiest good-will. +I have the honour to be, +My Lord Duke, +Your Grace's obedient +and very humble servant +QUINTUS SLIDE + +The old Duke, when he had read the letter, laughed heartily. +'Isn't that a terribly bad sign of the times?' said the younger. + +'Well;--hardly that, I think. The man is both a fool and a +blackguard; but I don't think we are therefore to suppose that +there are many fools and blackguards like him. I wonder what he +really has wanted.' + +'He has wanted me to ask him to Gatherum.' + +'He can hardly have expected that. I don't think he can have +been such a fool. He may have thought that there was a possible +off chance, and that he would not lose even that for want of +asking. Of course you won't have noticed it.' + +'I have asked Warburton to write to him, saying that he cannot be +received at my house. I have all letters answered unless they +seem to have come from insane persons. Would it not shock you if +your private arrangements were invaded in that way?' + +'He can't invade you.' + +'Yes he can. He does. That is an invasion. And whether he is +there or not, he can and will write about my house. And though +no one else will make himself such a fool as he has done by this +letter, nevertheless even that is a sign of what others are +doing. You yourself were saying just now that we were going to +do something,--something particular, you said.' + +'It was your word, and I echoed it. I suppose you are going to +have a great many people?' + +'I am afraid Glencora has overdone it. I don't know why I should +trouble you by saying so, but it makes me uneasy.' + +'I can't see why.' + +'I fear she has got some idea into her head of astounding the +world by display.' + +'I think she has got an idea of conquering the world by +graciousness and hospitality.' + +'It is as bad. It is, indeed, the same thing. Why should she +want to conquer what we call the world? She ought to want to +entertain my friends, because they are my friends; and if from +my public position I have more so-called friends than would +trouble me in a happier condition of private life, why, then, she +must entertain more people, as you call it, by feeding them, is +to me abominable. If it goes on it will drive me mad. I shall +have to give up everything, because I cannot bear the burden.' +This he said with more excitement, with stronger passion, than +his friend had ever seen in him before; so much so that the old +Duke was frightened. 'I ought never to have been where I am,' +said the Prime Minister, getting up from his chair and walking +about the room. + +'Allow me to assure you that in that you are decidedly mistaken,' +said his Grace of St Bungay. + +'I cannot make even you see the inside of my heart in such a +matter as this,' said his Grace of Omnium. + +'I think I do. It may be that in saying so I claim for myself +greater power than I possess, but I think I do. But let your +heart say what it may on the subject. I am sure of this,--that +when the Sovereign, by the advice of two outgoing Ministers, and +with the unequivocally expressed assent of the House of Commons, +calls on a man to serve her and the country, that man cannot be +justified in refusing, merely by doubts about his own fitness. +If your health is failing you, you may know it, and say so. Or +it may be that your honour,--your faith in others,--should +forbid you to accept the position. But of your own general +fitness you must take the verdict given by such general consent. +They have seen clearer than you have done what is required, and +know better than you can know that which is wanted is to be +secured.' + +'If I am to be here and do nothing, am I to remain?' + +'A man cannot keep together the Government of a country and do +nothing. Do not trouble yourself about this crowd at Gatherum. +The Duchess, easily, almost without exertion, will do that which +to you, or to me either, would be impossible. Let her have her +way, and take no notice of the Quintus Slides.' The Prime +Minister smiled, as though this repeated allusion to Mr Slide's +letter had brought back his good humour, and said nothing further +then as to his difficulties. There were a few words to be spoken +as to some future Cabinet meeting, something perhaps to be +settled as to some man's work or position, a hint to be given, +and a lesson to be learned,--for of these inner Cabinet Councils +between these two statesmen there was frequent use; and then the +Duke of St Bungay took his leave. + +Our Duke, as soon as his friend had left him, rang for his +private secretary, and went to work diligently, as though nothing +had disturbed him. I do not know that his labours on that +occasion were of a very high order. Unless there be some special +effort of law-making before the country, some reform bill to be +passed, some attempt at education to be made, some fetters to be +forged or to be relaxed, a Prime Minister is not driven hard by +the work of his portfolio,--as are his colleagues. But many men +were in want of many things, and contrived by many means to make +their wants known to the Prime Minister. A dean would fain to be +a bishop, or a judge a chief justice, or a commissioner a +chairman, or a secretary a commissioner. Knights would fain be +baronets, baronets barons, and barons earls. In one guise or +another the wants of gentlemen were made known, and there was +work to be done. A ribbon cannot be given away without breaking +the hearts of, perhaps, three gentlemen and of their wives and +daughters. And then he went down to the House of Lords,--for +the last time this Session as far as work was concerned. On the +morrow legislative work would be over, and the gentlemen of +Parliament would be sent to their country houses, and to their +pleasant country joys. + +It had been arranged that on the day after the prorogation of +Parliament the Duchess of Omnium should go down to Gatherum to +prepare for the coming of the people, which was to commence about +three days later, taking her ministers, Mrs Finn and Locock, with +her, and that her husband with his private secretaries and +dispatch boxes was to go for those three days to Matching, a +smaller place than Gatherum, but one to which they were much +better accustomed. If, as the Duchess thought to be not +unlikely, the Duke should prolong his stay for a few days at +Matching, she felt confident that she would be able to bear the +burden of the Castle on her own shoulders. She had thought it to +be very probable that he would prolong his stay at Matching, and +if the absence were not too long, this might be well explained to +the assembled company. In the Duchess's estimation a Prime +Minister would lose nothing by pleading the nature of his +business as an excuse for such absence,--or by having such a +plea made for him. Of course he must appear at last. But as to +that she had no fear. His timidity, and his conscience also, +would both be too potent to allow him to shirk the nuisance of +Gatherum altogether. He would come, she was sure; but she did +not much care how long he deferred his coming. She was, +therefore, not a little surprised when he announced to her an +alteration in his plans. This he did not many hours after the +Duke of St Bungay had left him at the Treasury Chambers. 'I +think I shall go down with you at once to Gatherum,' he said. + +'What is the meaning of that?' The Duchess was not skilled in +hiding her feelings, at any rate from him, and declared to him at +once by her voice and eye that the proposed change was not +gratifying to her. + +'It will be better. I had thought that I would get a quiet day +or two at Matching. But as the thing has to be done, it may as +well be done at first. A man ought to receive his own guests. I +can't say that I look forward to any great pleasure in doing so +on this occasion;--but I shall do it.' It was very easy to +understand also the tone of his voice. There was in it something +of offended dignity, something of future marital tensions,-- +something also of the weakness of distress. + +She did not want him to come at once to Gatherum. A great deal +of money was being spent, and the absolute spending was not yet +quite perfected. There might still be possibility of +interference. The tents were not all pitched. The lamps were +not as yet all hung in the conservatories. Waggons would still +be coming in and workmen still be going out. He would think less +of what had been done if he could be kept from seeing it while it +was being done. And the greater crowd which would be gathered +there by the end of the first week would carry off the vastness +of the preparations. As to money, he had given her almost carte +blanche, having at one vacillatory period of his Prime +Ministership been talked by her into some agreement with her own +plans. And in regard to money he would say to himself that he +ought not to interfere with any whim of hers on that score, +unless he thought it right to crush the whim on some other score. +Half what he possessed had been hers, and even if during this +year he were to spend more than his income,--if he were to +double or even treble the expenditure of past years,--he could +not consume the additions to his wealth which had accrued and +heaped themselves since his marriage. He had therefore written a +line to his banker, and a line to his lawyer, and he had himself +seen Locock, and his wife's hands had been loosened. 'I didn't +think, your Grace,' said Locock, 'that his Grace would be so +very,--very,--very--' 'Very what, Locock?' 'So very free, your +Grace.' The Duchess, as he thought of it, declared to herself +that her husband was the truest nobleman in all England. She +revered, admired, and almost loved him. She knew him to be +infinitely better than herself. But she could hardly sympathize +with him, and was quite sure that he did not sympathize with her. +He was so good about the money! But yet it was necessary that he +should be kept in the dark as the spending of a good deal of it. +Now he was going to upset a portion of her plans by coming to +Gatherum before he was wanted. She knew him to be obstinate; but +it might be possible to turn him back to his old purpose by +clever manipulation. + +'Of course it would be much nicer for me,' she said. + +'That alone would be sufficient.' + +'Thanks, dear. But we had arranged for people to come at first +whom I thought you would not specially care to meet. Sir Orlando +and Mr Rattler will be there with their wives.' + +'I have become quite used to Sir Orlando and Mr Rattler.' + +'No doubt, and therefore I wanted to spare you something of their +company. The Duke, whom you really do like, isn't coming yet. I +thought, too, you would have your work to finish off.' + +'I fear it is of a kind that won't bear finishing off. However, +I have made up my mind, and have already told Locock to send word +to the people at Matching to say I shall not be there yet. How +long will all this last at Gatherum?' + +'Who can say?' + +'I should have thought you could. People are not coming, I +suppose, for an indefinite time.' + +'As one set leaves, one asks others.' + +'Haven't you asked enough as yet? I should like to know when we +may expect to get away from the place.' + +'You needn't stay to the end, you know.' + +'But you must.' + +'Certainly.' + +'And I should wish you to go with me when we do go to Matching.' + +'Oh, Plantagenet,' said the wife, 'what a Darby and Joan kind of +thing you like to have it!' + +'Yes I do. The Darby and Joan kind of thing is what I like.' + +'Only Darby is to be in an office all day, and in Parliament all +night,--and Joan is to stay at home.' + +'Would you wish me not to be in an office, and not to be in +Parliament? But don't let us misunderstand each other. You are +doing the best you can to further what you think are my +interests.' + +'I am,' said the Duchess. + +'I love you the better for it, day by day.' This so surprised +her that, as she took him by the arm, her eyes were filled with +tears. 'I know that you are working for me quite as hard as I +work myself, and that you are doing so with the pure ambition of +seeing your husband a great man.' + +'And myself as a great man's wife.' + +'It is the same thing. But I would not have you overdo your +work. I would not have you make yourself conspicuous by anything +like display. There are ill-natured people who will say things +that you do not expect, and to which I should be more sensitive +than I ought to be. Spare me such pain as this if you can.' He +still held her hand as he spoke, and she answered him only by +nodding her head. 'I will go down with you to Gatherum on +Friday.' Then he left her. + + + +CHAPTER 19 + +VULGARITY. + +The Duke and Duchess with their children and personal servants +reached Gatherum Castle the day before the first crowd of +visitors was expected. It was on a lovely autumn afternoon, and +the Duke, who had endeavoured to make himself pleasant during the +journey, had suggested that as soon as the heat would allow them +they would saunter around the grounds and see what was being +done. They could dine late, at half-past eight or nine, so that +they might be walking from seven to eight. But the Duchess when +she reached the Castle declined to fall in with this arrangement. +The journey had been hot and dusty, and she was a little cross. +They reached the place about five, and then she declared that she +would have a cup of tea and lie down; she was too tired to walk; +and the sun, she said, was still scorchingly hot. He then asked +that the children might go with him, but the two little girls +were very weary and travel-worn, and the two boys, the elder of +whom was home from Eton and the younger from some minor Eton, +were already about the place after their own pleasures. So the +Duke started for his walk alone. + +The Duchess certainly did not wish to have to inspect the works +in conjunction with her husband. She knew how much there was +that she ought still to do herself, how many things that she +herself ought to see. But she could neither do anything nor see +anything to any purpose under his wing. As to lying down, that +she knew to be quite out of the question. She had already found +out that the life which she had adopted was one of incessant +work. But she was neither weak nor idle. She was quite prepared +to work,--if only she might work after her own fashion and with +companions chosen by herself. Had not her husband been so +perverse, she would have travelled down with Mrs Finn, whose +coming was now postponed for two days, and Locock would have been +with her. The Duke had given directions, which made it necessary +that Locock's coming should be postponed for a day, and this was +another grievance. She was put out a good deal, and began to +speculate whether her husband was doing this on purpose to +torment her. Nevertheless, as soon as she knew that he was out +of the way, she went to her work. She could not go out among the +tents and lawns and conservatories, as she would probably meet +him. But she gave orders as to bedchambers, saw to the +adornments of the reception-rooms, had an eye to the banners and +martial trophies suspended in the vast hall, and the busts and +statues which adorned the corners, looked in on the plate which +was being prepared for the great dining-room, and superintended +the moving about of chairs, sofas, and tables generally. 'You +may take it as certain, Mrs Pritchard,' she said to the +housekeeper, 'that their will never be less than forty for the +next two months.' + +'Forty to sleep, my lady?' To Pritchard the Duchess had for many +years been Lady Glencora, and she perhaps understood that her +mistress liked the old appellation. + +'Yes, forty to sleep, and forty to eat, and forty to drink. But +that's nothing. Forty to push through twenty-four hours every +day! Do you think you've got everything you want?' + +'It depends, my lady, how long each of 'em stays.' + +'One night! No--say two nights on an average.' + +'That makes shifting the beds very often; doesn't it, my lady?' + +'Send up Puddick's for sheets tomorrow. Why wasn't that thought +of before?' + +'It was, my lady,--and I think we shall do. We've got the +steam-washery put up.' + +'Towels!' suggested the Duchess. + +'Oh, yes, my lady. Puddick's did send a great many things;--a +whole waggon load there was come from the station. But the +tablecloths ain't none of 'em long enough for the big table.' +The Duchess's face fell. 'Of course there must be two. On them +very long tables, my lady, there always is two.' + +'Why didn't you tell me, so that I could have had them made? +It's impossible,--impossible that one brain should think of it +all. Are you sure you've enough hands in the kitchen?' + +'Well, my lady;--we couldn't do with more; and they ain't an +atom of use,--only just in the way,--if you don't know +something about 'em. I suppose Mr Millepois will be down soon.' +This name, which Mrs Pritchard called Milleypoise, indicated a +French cook who was at yet unknown at the Castle. + +'He'll be here tonight.' + +'I wish he could have been here a day or two sooner, my lady, so +as just to see about him.' + +'And how should we have got our dinner in town? He won't make +any difficulties. The confectioner did come?' + +'Yes, my lady; and to tell the truth out at once, he was that +drunk last night that--; oh, dear, we didn't know what to do with +him.' + +'I don't mind that before the affair begins. I don't suppose +he'll get tipsy while he has to work for all these people. +You've plenty of eggs?' + +These questions went on so rapidly that in addition to the asking +of them the Duchess was able to go through all the rooms before +she dressed for dinner, and in every room she saw something to +speak of, noting either perfection or imperfection. In the +meantime the Duke had gone out alone. It was still hot, but he +had made up his mind that he would enjoy his first holiday out of +town by walking about his own grounds, and he would not allow the +heat to interrupt him. He went out through the vast hall, and +the huge front door, which was so huge and so grand that it was +very seldom used. But it was now open by chance, owing to some +incident of this festival time, and he passed through it and +stood upon the grand terrace, with the well-known and much-lauded +portico overhead. Up to the terrace, though it was very high, +there ran a road, constructed upon arches, so grand that guests +could drive almost up to the house. The Duke, who was never +grand himself, as he stood there looking at the far-stretching +view before him, could not remember that he had ever but once +before placed himself on that spot. Of what use had been the +portico, the marbles, and the huge pile of stone,--of what use +the enormous hall just behind him, cutting the house in two, +declaring aloud by its own aspect and the proportions that it had +been built altogether for show and in no degree for use or +comfort? And now as he stood there he could already see that men +were at work about the place, that ground had been moved here, +and grass laid down there, and a new gravel road constructed in +another place. Was it not possible that his friends should be +entertained without all these changes to the gardens? Then he +perceived the tents, and descending from the terrace and turning +left towards the end of the house he came upon a new +conservatory. The exotics with which it was to be filled were at +this moment being brought in on great barrows. He stood for a +moment and looked, but said not a word to the men. They gazed at +him but evidently did not know him. How should they know him,-- +him, who was seldom there, and who when there never showed +himself about the place? Then he went farther afield from the +house and came across more and more men. A great ha-ha fence had +been made, enclosing on three sides and open at one end to the +gardens, containing, as he thought, about an acre. 'What are you +doing this for?' he said to one of the labourers. The man stared +at him, and at first seemed hardly inclined to make him an +answer. 'It be for the quality to shoot their bows and harrows,' +he said at last, as he continued the easy task of patting with +his spade the completed work. He evidently regarded this +stranger as an intruder who was not entitled to ask questions, +even if he was permitted to wander about the grounds. + +From one place he went on to another, and found changes, and new +erections, and some device for throwing away money everywhere. +It angered him to think that there was so little of simplicity +left in the world that a man could not entertain his friends +without such a fuss as this. His mind applied itself frequently +to the consideration of the money, not that he grudged the loss +of it, but the spending of it in such a cause. And then perhaps +there occurred to him an idea that all this should not have been +done without a word of consent from himself. Had she come to him +with some scheme for changing everything about the place, making +him think that the alterations were a matter of taste or of mere +personal pleasure, he would probably given his consent at once, +thinking nothing of the money. But all this was utter display. +Then he walked up and saw the flag waving over the Castle, +indicating that he, the Lord Lieutenant of the County, was +present there on his own soil. That was right. That was as it +should be, because the flag was waving in compliance with an +acknowledged ordinance. Of all that properly belonged to his +rank and station he could be very proud, and would allow no +diminution of that outward respect to which they were entitled. +Were they to be trenched on by his fault in his person, the +rights of others to their enjoyment would be endangered, and the +benefits accruing to his country from established marks of +reverence would be imperilled. But here was an assumed and +preposterous grandeur that was as much within the reach of some +rich swindler or some prosperous haberdasher as of himself,-- +having, too, a look of raw newness about it which was very +distasteful to him. And then, too, he knew that nothing of this +would have been done unless he had become Prime Minister. Why, +on earth, should a man's grounds be knocked about because he +becomes Prime Minister? He walked on arguing this within his own +bosom, till he had worked himself almost up to anger. It was +clear that he must henceforth take things more into his own +hands, or would be made to be absurd before the world. +Indifference he knew he could bear. Harsh criticism he thought +he could endure. But to ridicule he was aware that he was +pervious. Suppose the papers were to say of him that he built a +new conservatory and made an archery ground for the sake of +maintaining the Coalition! + +When he got back to the house he found his wife alone in the +small room in which they intended to dine. After all her labours +she was now reclining for the few minutes her husband's absence +might allow her, knowing that after dinner there were a score of +letters for her to write. 'I don't think,' said she, 'I was ever +so tired in my life.' + +'It isn't such a very long journey after all.' + +'But it's a very big house, and I've been, I think, into every +room since I have been here, and I've moved most of the furniture +in the drawing-rooms with my own hand, and I've counted the +pounds of butter, and inspected the sheets and the tablecloths.' + +'Was it necessary, Glencora?' + +'If I had gone to bed instead, the world, I suppose, would have +gone on, and Sir Orlando Drought would still have led the House +of Commons;--but things should be looked after, I suppose.' + +'There are many people to do it. You are like Martha, troubling +yourself with many things.' + +'I always felt that Martha was very ill-used. If there were no +Martha there would never be anything fit to eat. But it's odd +how sure a wife is to be scolded. If I did nothing at all, that +wouldn't please a busy, hard-working man like you.' + +'I don't know that I have scolded,--not as yet.' + +'Are you going to begin?' + +'Not to scold, my dear. Looking back, can you remember that I +ever scolded you?' + +'I can remember a great many times when you ought.' + +'But to tell you the truth, I don't like all that you have done +here. I cannot see that it was necessary.' + +'People make changes in their gardens without necessity +sometimes.' + +'But these changes are made because of your guests. Had they been +made to gratify your own taste, I would have said nothing,-- +although even in that case I think you might have told me what +you proposed to do.' + +'What;--when you are so burdened with work that you do not know +how to turn?' + +'I am never so burdened that I cannot turn to you. But, as you +know, that is not what I complain of. If it were done for +yourself, though it were the wildest vagary, I would learn to +like it, but it distresses me to think what might have been good +enough for our friends before should be thought insufficient +because of the office I hold. There is a--a--a--I was almost +going to say vulgarity about it which distresses me.' + +'Vulgarity!' she exclaimed, jumping up from the sofa. + +'I retract the word. I would not for the world say anything that +should annoy you;--but pray, pray do not go on with it.' Then +again he left her. + +Vulgarity! There was no other word in the language so hard to +bear as that. He had, indeed, been careful to say that he did +not accuse her of vulgarity;--but nevertheless the accusation +had been made. Could you call your friend a liar more plainly +than by saying to him that you would not say that he lied? They +dined together, the two boys, also, dining with them, but very +little was said at dinner. The horrid word was clinging to the +lady's ears, and the remembrance of having uttered the word was +heavy on the man's conscience. He had told himself very plainly +that the thing was vulgar, but he had not meant to use the word. +But it had been uttered; and, let what apology there may be made, +a word uttered cannot be retracted. As he looked across the +table at his wife, he saw that the word had been taken in deep +dudgeon. + +She escaped, to the writing of her letters she said, almost +before the meal was done. 'Vulgarity!' She uttered the word +aloud to herself as she sat herself down in the little room +upstairs which she had assigned to herself for her own use. But +though she was very angry with him, she did not, even in her own +mind, contradict him. Perhaps it was vulgar. But why shouldn't +she be vulgar, if she could most surely get what she wanted by +vulgarity? Of course she was prepared to do things,--was daily +doing things,--which would have been odious to her had not her +husband been a public man. She submitted, without unwillingness, +to constant contact with disagreeable people. She lavished her +smiles,--so she now said to herself,--on butchers and tinkers. +What she said, what she read, what she wrote, what she did, +whither she went, to whom she was kind and to whom unkind,--was +it not all said and done and arranged with reference to his and +her own popularity? When a man wants to be Prime Minister he has +to submit to vulgarity, and must give up his ambition if the task +be too disagreeable to him. The Duchess thought that that had +been understood, at any rate ever since the days of Coriolanus. +'The old Duke kept out of it,' she said to herself, 'and chose to +live in the other way. He had his choice. He wants it to be +done. And when I do it for him because he can't do it for +himself, he calls it by an ugly name!' Then it occurred to her +that the world tells lies every day,--telling on the whole much +more lies than truth,--but that the world has wisely agreed that +the world shall not be accused of lying. One doesn't venture to +express open disbelief even of one's wife; and with the world at +large a word spoken, whether lie or not, is presumed to be true, +of course,--because spoken. Jones has said it, and therefore +Smith,--who has known the lie to be a lie,--has asserted his +assured belief, lying again. But in this way the world is able +to live pleasantly. How was she to live pleasantly if her +husband accused her of vulgarity? Of course it was all vulgar, +but why should he tell her so? She did not do it from any +pleasure that she got from it. + +The letters remained long unwritten, and then there came a moment +in which she resolved that they should not be written. The work +was very hard, and what good would come of it? Why should she +make her hands dirty, so that even her husband accused her of +vulgarity? Would it not be better to give it all up, and be a +great woman, une grande dame, of another kind,--difficult of +access, sparing of her favour, aristocratic to the back-bone,--a +very Duchess of duchesses. The role would be one very easy to +play. It required rank, money, and a little manner,--and these +she possessed. The old Duke had done it with ease, without the +slightest trouble to himself, and had been treated almost like a +god because he had secluded himself. She could make the change +even yet,--and as her husband told her that she was vulgar, she +thought she would make it. + +But at last, before she had abandoned her desk and paper, there +had come another thought. Nothing to her was so distasteful as +failure. She had known that there would be difficulties, and had +assured herself that she would be firm and brave in overcoming +them. Was not this accusation of vulgarity simply one of the +difficulties which she had to overcome? Was her courage already +gone from her? Was she so weak that a single word should knock +her over,--and a word evidently repented of as soon as it was +uttered? Vulgar! Well,--let her be vulgar as long as she +gained her object. There had been no penalty of everlasting +punishment against vulgarity. And then a higher idea touched +her, not without effect,--an idea which she could not analyse, +but which was hardly on that account the less effective. She did +believe thoroughly in her husband, to the extent of thinking him +the fittest man in all the country to be its Prime Minister. His +fame was dear to her. Her nature was loyal; and though she might +perhaps, in her younger days have been able to lean upon him with +a more loving heart had he been other than he was, brighter, more +gay, given to pleasures, and fond of trifles, still, she could +recognize merits with which her sympathy was imperfect. It was +good that he should be England's Prime Minister, and therefore +she would do all she could to keep him in that place. The +vulgarity was a necessity essential. He might not acknowledge +this,--might even, if the choice were left to him, refuse to be +Prime Minister on such terms. But she need not, therefore, give +way. Having in this way thought it all out, she took up her pen +and completed the batch of letters before she allowed herself to +go to bed. + + + +CHAPTER 20 + +SIR ORLANDO'S POLICY. + +When the guests began to arrive our friend the Duchess had +apparently got through her little difficulties, for she received +them with that open, genial hospitality which is so delightful as +coming evidently from the heart. There had not been another word +between her and her husband as to the manner in which the thing +was to be done, and she had determined that the offensive word +should pass altogether out of her memory. The first comer was +Mrs Finn,--who came indeed rather as an assistant hostess than +as a mere guest, and to her the Duchess uttered a few playful +hints as to her troubles. 'Considering the time, haven't we done +marvels? Because it does look nice,--doesn't it?' There are no +dirt heaps about, and it's all as green as though it had been +there since the conquest. He doesn't like it because it looks +new. And we've got forty-five bedrooms made up. The servants +are all turned out over the stables somewhere,--quite +comfortable, I assure you. Indeed they like it. And by knocking +down the ends of two passages we've brought everything together. +And the rooms are all numbered, just like an inn. It was the +only way. And I keep one book myself, and Locock has another. I +have everybody's room, and where it is, and how long the tenant +is to be allowed to occupy it. And here's the way everybody is +to take everybody down to dinner for the next fortnight. Of +course that must be altered, but it is easier when we have a sort +of settled basis. And I have some private notes as to who should +flirt with whom.' + +'You'd better not let that lie about.' + +'Nobody could understand a word of it if they had it. A. B. +always means X.Y.Z. And this is the code of the Gatherum Archery +Ground. I never drew a bow in my life,--not a real bow in the +flesh, that is, my dear,--and yet I've made 'em all out, and had +them printed. The way to make a thing go down is to give it some +special importance. And I've gone through the bill of fare for +the first week with Millepois, who is a perfect gentleman,-- +perfect.' Then she gave a little sigh as she remembered that +word from her husband, which had wounded her. 'I used to think +that Plantagenet worked hard when he was doing his decimal +coinage; but I don't think he ever stuck to it as I have done.' + +'What does the Duke say to it all?' + +'Ah; well, upon the whole he behaves like an angel. He behaves +so well that half my time I think I'll shut it all up and have +done with it,--for his sake. And then, the other half, I'm +determined to go on with it,--again for his sake.' + +'He has not been displeased?' + +'Ask no questions, my dear, and you'll hear no stories. You +haven't been married twice without knowing that women can't have +everything smooth. He only said one word. It was rather hard to +bear, but it has passed away.' + +That afternoon there was quite a crowd. Among the first comers +were Mr and Mrs Roby, and Mr and Mrs Rattler. And there were Sir +Orlando and Lady Drought, Lord Ramsden and Sir Timothy Beeswax. +These gentlemen with their wives represented, for the time, the +ministry of which the Duke was the head, and had been asked in +order that their fealty and submission might be thus rivetted. +There were also there Mr and Mrs Boffin, with Lord Thrift and his +daughter Angelica, who had belonged to former ministries,--one +on the Liberal and one on the Conservative side,--and who were +now among the Duke's guests, in order that they and others might +see how wide the Duke wished to open his hands. And there was +our friend Ferdinand Lopez, who had certainly made the best use +of his opportunities in securing for himself so great a social +advantage as an invitation to Gatherum Castle. How could any +father, who was simply a barrister, refuse to receive as his son- +in-law a man who had been a guest of the Duke of Omnium's country +house? And then there were certain people from the +neighbourhood;--Frank Gresham of Greshambury, with his wife and +daughter, the master of the hounds in those parts, a rich squire +of old blood, and head of the family to which one of the aspirant +Prime Ministers of the day belonged. And Lord Chiltern, another +master of fox hounds, two counties off;--and also an old friend +of ours,--had been asked to meet him, and had brought his wife. +And there Lady Rosina de Courcy, an old maid, the sister of the +present Earl de Courcy, who lived not far off, and had been +accustomed to come to Gatherum Castle on state occasions for the +last thirty years,--the only relic in those parts of a family +which had lived there for many years in great pride of place, for +the elder brother, the Earl, was a ruined man, and her younger +brothers were living with their wives abroad, and her sisters had +married, rather lowly in the world, and her mother now was dead, +and Lady Rosina lived alone in a little cottage outside the old +park palings, and still held fast within her bosom all the old +pride of the De Courcys. And then there were Captain Gunner and +Major Pountney, two middle-aged young men, presumably belonging +to the army, whom the Duchess had lately enlisted among her +followers as being useful in their way. They could eat their +dinners without being shy, dance on occasions, though very +unwillingly, talk a little, and run on messages;--and they knew +the peerage by heart, and could tell the details of every +unfortunate marriage for the last twenty years. Each thought +himself, especially since this last promotion, to be +indispensably necessary to the formation of London society, and +was comfortable in a conviction that he had thoroughly succeeded +in life by acquiring the privilege of sitting down to dinner +three times a week with peers and peeresses. + +The list of guests has by no means been made as complete here as +it was to be found in the county newspapers, and in the "Morning +Post" of the time, but enough of names has been given to show of +what nature was the party. 'The Duchess has got rather a rough +lot to begin with,' said the Major to the Captain. + +'Oh, yes. I knew that. She wanted me to be useful, so of course +I came. I shall stay here this week, and then be back in +September.' Up to that moment Captain Gunner had not received +any invitation for September, but then there was no reason why he +should not do so. + +'I've been getting up the archery code with her,' said Pountney, +'and I was pledged to come down and set it going. That little +Gresham girl isn't a bad-looking thing.' + +'Rather flabby,' said Captain Gunner. + +'Very nice colour. She'll have a lot of money, you know.' + +'There's a brother,' said the Captain. + +'Oh, yes; there's a brother, who will have the Greshambury +property, but she's to have her mother's money. There's a very +odd story about all that, you know.' Then the Major told the +story, and told every particular of it wrongly. 'A man might do +worse than look there,' said the Major. A man might have done +worse, because Miss Gresham was a very nice girl; but of course +the Major was all wrong about the money. + +'Well;--now you've tried it, what do you think about it?' This +question was put by Sir Timothy to Sir Orlando as they sat in a +corner of the archery ground, under the shelter of a tent looking +on while Major Pountney taught Mrs Boffin how to fix an arrow on +to her bow string. It was quite understood that Sir Timothy was +inimical to the Coalition though he still belonged to it, and +that he would assist in breaking it up if only there was a fair +chance of his belonging to the party which would remain in power. +Sir Timothy had been badly treated, and did not forget it. Now +Sir Orlando had also of late shown some symptoms of a disturbed +ambition. He was the Leader of the House of Commons, and it had +become an almost recognized law of the Constitution that the +leader of the House of Commons should be the First Minister of +Crown. It was at least understood by many that such was Sir +Orlando's reading of the laws of the Constitution. + +'We've got along, you know,' said Sir Orlando. + +'Yes;--yes. We've got along. Can you imagine any possible +concatenation of circumstances in which we should not get along? +There's always too much good sense in the House for an absolute +collapse. But are you contented?' + +'I won't say I'm not,' said the cautious baronet. 'I didn't look +for very great things from a Coalition, and I didn't look for +very great things from the Duke.' + +'It seems to me that the one achievement to which we've all +looked has been the reaching the end of the Sessions in safety. +We've done that certainly.' + +'It is a great thing to do, Sir Timothy. Of course the main work +of Parliament is to raise supplies,--and, when that has been +done with ease, when all the money wanted has been voted without +a break-down, of course Ministers are very glad to get rid of the +Parliament. It is as much a matter of course that a Minister +should dislike Parliament now as that a Stuart King should have +done so two hundred and fifty years ago. To get a Session over +and done with is an achievement and a delight.' + +'No ministry can go on long on that far niente principle, and no +Minister who accedes to it will remain long in any ministry.' +Sir Timothy in saying this might be alluding to the Duke, or the +reference might be to Sir Orlando himself. 'Of course, I'm not +in the Cabinet, and am not entitled to say a word; but I think +that if I were in the Cabinet, and I were anxious,--which I +confess I'm not,--for a continuation of the present state of +things, I should endeavour to obtain from the Duke some idea of +his policy for the next Session.' Sir Orlando was a man of +certain parts. He could speak volubly,--and yet slowly,--so +that reporters and others could hear him. He was patient, both +in the House and in his office, and had the great gift of doing +what he was told by men who understood things better than he did +himself. He never went very far astray in his official business, +because he always obeyed the clerks and followed precedents. He +had been a useful man,--and would still have remained so had he +not been lifted a little too high. Had he been only one in the +ruck on the Treasury Bench he would have been useful to the end; +but special honour and special place had been assigned to him, +and therefore he desired still bigger things. The Duke's +mediocrity of talent and of energy and of general governing power +had been so often mentioned of late in Sir Orlando's hearing, +that Sir Orlando had gradually come to think that he was the +Duke's equal in the Cabinet, and perhaps it behoved him to lead +the Duke. At the commencement of their joint operations he had +held the Duke in some awe, and perhaps something of that feeling +in reference to the Duke personally still restrained him. The +Duke of Omnium had always been big people. But still it might be +his duty to say a word to the Duke. Sir Orlando assured himself +that if ever convinced of the propriety of doing so, he could say +a word even to the Duke of Omnium. 'I am confident that we +should not go on quite as we are at present,' said Sir Timothy as +he closed the conversation. + +'Where did they pick him up?' said the Major to the Captain, +pointing with his head to Ferdinand Lopez, who was shooting with +Angelica Thrift and Mr Boffin and one of the Duke's private +secretaries. + +'The Duchess found him somewhere. He's one of those fabulously +rich fellows out of the City who make a hundred thousand pounds +at a blow. They say his people were grandees of Spain.' + +'Does anybody know him?' asked the Major. + +'Everybody will soon know him,' answered the Captain. 'I think I +heard that he's going to stand for some place in the Duke's +interest. He don't look like the sort of fellow I like; but he's +got money and he comes, and he's good-looking,--and therefore +he'll be a success.' In answer to this the Major only grunted. +The Major was a year or two older than the Captain, and therefore +less willing even than his friend to admit the claims of new +comers to the social honours. + +Just at this moment the Duchess walked across the ground up to +the shooters, accompanied by Mrs Finn and Lady Chiltern. She had +not been seen in the gardens before that day, and of course a +little concourse was made around her. The Major and the Captain, +who had been driven away by the success of Ferdinand Lopez, +returned with their sweetest smiles. Mr Boffin put down his +treatise on the nature of Franchises, which he was studying in +order that he might lead an opposition against the Ministry next +Session, and even Sir Timothy Beeswax, who had done his work with +Sir Orlando, joined the throng. + +'Now I do hope,' said the Duchess, 'that you are all shooting by +the new code. That is, and is to be, the Gatherum Archery Code, +and I shall break my heart if anybody rebels.' + +'There are only two men,' said Major Pountney very gravely, 'who +won't take the trouble to understand it.' + +'Mr Lopez,' said the Duchess, pointing her finger at our friend, +'are you that rebel?' + +'I fear I did suggest--'began Mr Lopez. + +'I will have no suggestions,--nothing but obedience. Here are +Sir Timothy Beeswax and Mr Boffin, and Sir Orlando Drought is not +far off; and here is Mr Rattler, than whom no authority on such a +subject can be better. Ask them whether in other matters +suggestions are wanted.' + +'Of course not,' said Major Pountney. + +'Now, Mr Lopez, will you or will you not be guided by a strict +and close interpretation of the Gatherum Code. Because, if not, +I'm afraid we shall feel constrained to accept your resignation.' + +'I won't resign and I will obey,' said Lopez. + +'A good ministerial reply,' said the Duchess. + +'I don't doubt but that in time you'll ascend to high office and +become a pillar of the Gatherum constitution. How does he shoot, +Miss Thrift?' + +'He will shoot very well indeed, Duchess, if he goes on and +practises,' said Angelica, whose life for the past seven years +had been devoted to archery. Major Pountney retired far away +into the park, a full quarter of a mile off, and smoked a cigar +under a tree. Was it for that he had absolutely given up a month +to drawing out this code of rules, going backwards and forwards, +two or three times to the printers in his desire to carry out the +Duchess's wishes? 'Women are so d-d ungrateful!' This fellow +Lopez, had absolutely been allowed to make a good score off his +own intractable disobedience. + +The Duchess's little joke about Ministers generally, and the +advantages of submission on their part to their chief, was +thought by some who heard it not to have been made in good taste. +The joke was just a joke as the Duchess would be sure to make,-- +meaning very little, but still not altogether pointless. It was +levelled rather at her husband than at her husband's colleagues +who were present, and was so understood by those who really knew +her,--as did Mrs Finn and Mr Warburton, the private secretary. +But Sir Orlando and Sir Timothy and Mr Rattler, who were all +within hearing, thought that the Duchess had intended to allude +to the servile nature of their position; and Mr Boffin, who hear +it, rejoiced within himself, comforting himself with the +reflection that his withers were unwrung, and thinking with what +pleasure he might carry the anecdote into the farthest corners of +the clubs. Poor Duchess! It is pitiful to think that after such +Herculean labours she should injure the cause by one slight +unconsidered word, more, perhaps, than she had advanced in all +her energy. + +During this time the Duke was at the Castle; but he showed +himself seldom to his guests,--so acting, as the reader will I +hope understand, from no sense of importance of his own personal +presence, but influenced by a conviction that a public man should +not waste his time. He breakfasted in his own room, because he +could thus eat his breakfast in ten minutes. He read all the +papers in solitude, because he was thus enabled to give his mind +to their contents. Life had always been too serious to him to be +wasted. Every afternoon he walked for the sake of exercise, and +would have accepted any companion if any companion had especially +offered himself. But he went off by some side-door, finding the +side-door to be convenient, and therefore when seen by others was +supposed to desire to remain unseen. 'I had no idea there was so +much pride about the Duke,' Mr Boffin said to his old colleague, +Sir Orlando. 'Is it pride?' asked Sir Orlando. 'It may be +shyness,' said the wise Boffin. 'The two things are so alike you +can never tell the difference. But the man who is cursed by +either should hardly be a Prime Minister.' + +It was on the day after this, that Sir Orlando thought that the +moment had come in which it was his duty to say that salutary +word to the Duke, which it was clearly necessary that some +colleague should say, and which no colleague could have so good a +right to say as he was who was Leader of the House of Commons. +He understood clearly that though they were gathered together +then at Gatherum Castle for festive purposes, yet that no time +was unfit for the discussion of State matters. Does not all the +world know that when in autumn the Bismarcks of the world, or +they who are bigger than Bismarcks, meet at this or that +delicious haunt of salubrity, the affairs of the world are then +settled in little conclaves, with greater ease, rapidity, and +certainty than in large parliaments or the dull chambers of +public offices? Emperor meets Emperor, and King meets King, and +as they wander among rural glades in fraternal intimacy, wars are +arranged, and swelling territories are enjoyed in anticipation. +Sir Orlando hitherto had known all this, but hardly as yet +enjoyed it. He had been long in office, but these sweet +confidences can of their very nature belong only to a very few. +But now the time had manifestly come. + +It was Sunday afternoon, and Sir Orlando caught the Duke in the +very act of leaving the house for his walk. There was no +archery, and many of the inmates of the Castle were asleep. +There had been a question as to the propriety of Sabbath archery, +in discussing which reference had been made to Laud's book of +sports, and the growing idea that the National Gallery should be +opened on the Lord's-day. But the Duchess would not have the +archery. 'We are just the people who shouldn't prejudge the +question,' said the Duchess. The Duchess with various ladies, +with the Pountneys and Gunners, and other obedient male +followers, had been to church. None of the Ministers had of +course been able to leave the swollen pouches which are always +sent out from London on Saturday night,--probably, we cannot but +think,--as arranged excuses for such defalcation, and had passed +their mornings comfortably dozing over new novels. The Duke, +always right in his purpose but generally wrong in his practice, +had stayed at home working all the morning, thereby scandalizing +the strict, and had gone to church in the afternoon, thereby +offending the social. The church was close to the house, and he +had gone back to change his coat and hat, and to get his stick. +But as he was stealing our of the little side-gate, Sir Orlando +was down upon him. 'If your Grace is going for a walk, and will +admit of company, I shall be delighted to attend you,' said Sir +Orlando. The Duke professed himself to be well-pleased. He +would be glad to increase his personal intimacy with his +colleague if it might be done pleasantly. + +They had gone nearly a mile across the park, watching the stately +movements of the herds of deer, and talking of this and that +trifle, before Sir Orlando could bring about an opportunity for +uttering his word. At last, he did it somewhat abruptly. 'I +think upon the whole we did pretty well this Session,' he said, +standing still under an old oak-tree. + +'Pretty well,' re-echoed the Duke. + +'And I suppose we have not much to afraid of next Session?' + +'I am afraid of nothing,' said the Duke. + +'But--;' then Sir Orlando hesitated. The Duke, however, said not +a word to help him on. Sir Orlando thought that the Duke looked +more ducal than he had ever seen him look before. Sir Orlando +remembered the old Duke, and suddenly found that the uncle and +nephew were very like each other. But it does not become the +leader of the House of Commons to be afraid of anyone. 'Don't +you think,' continued Sir Orlando, 'we should try and arrange +among ourselves something of a policy? I am not quite sure that +a ministry without a distinct course of action before it can long +enjoy the confidence of the country. Take the last half century. +There have been various policies, commanding more or less of +general assent; free trade--.' Here Sir Orlando gave a kindly +wave of his hand, showing that on behalf of a companion he was +willing to place at the head of the list a policy which had not +always commanded his own assent;--'continued reform in +Parliament, to which I have, with my whole heart, given my poor +assistance.' The Duke remembered how the bathers' clothes were +stolen, and that Sir Orlando had been one of the most nimble- +fingered of thieves. 'No popery, Irish grievances, the ballot, +retrenchment, efficiency of the public service, all have had +their time.' + +'Things to be done offer themselves, I suppose, because they are +in themselves desirable; not because it is desirable to have +something to do.' + +'Just so;--no doubt. But still, if you will think of it, no +ministry can endure without a policy. During the latter part of +the last Session, it was understood that we had to get ourselves +in harness together, and nothing more was expected from us; but I +think we should be prepared with a distinct policy for the coming +year. I fear that nothing can be done in Ireland.' + +'Mr Finn has ideas--' + +'Ah, yes,--well, your Grace. Mr Finn is a very clever young man +certainly; but I don't think we can support ourselves by his plan +of Irish reform.' Sir Orlando had been a little carried away by +his own eloquence and the Duke's tameness, and had interrupted +the Duke. The Duke again looked ducal, but on this occasion Sir +Orlando did not observe his countenance. 'For myself, I think, I +am in favour of increased armaments. I have been applying my +mind to the subject, and I think I see that the people of this +country do not object to a slightly rising scale of estimates in +that direction. Of course there is the county suffrage--' + +'I will think of what you have been saying,' said the Duke. + +'As to the county suffrage--' + +'I will think it over,' said the Duke. 'You see the oak. That +is the largest tree we have here at Gatherum; and I doubt whether +there be a larger one in this part of England.' The Duke's voice +and words were not uncourteous, but there was something in them +which hindered Sir Orlando from referring again on that occasion +to county suffrages or increased armaments. + + + + + +VOLUME II + + + +CHAPTER 21 + +THE DUCHESS'S NEW SWAN. + +When the party had been about a week collected at Gatherum +Castle, Ferdinand Lopez had manifestly become the favourite of +the Duchess for the time, and had, at her instance, promised to +remain there for some further days. He had hardly spoken to the +Duke since he had been in the house,--but then but few of that +motley assembly did talk much with the Duke. Gunner and Pountney +had gone away,--the Captain having declared his dislike of the +upstart Portuguese to be so strong that he could not stay in the +same house with him any longer, and the Major, who was of a +stronger mind, having resolved that he would put the intruder +down. 'It is horrible to think what power money has in these +days,' said the Captain. The Captain had shaken the dust of +Gatherum altogether from his feet, but the Major had so arranged +that a bed was to be found for him in October,--for another +happy week; but he was not to return till bidden by the Duchess. +'You won't forget;--now will you, Duchess?' he said, imploring +her to remember him as he took his leave. 'I did take a deal of +trouble about the code;--didn't I?' 'They don't seem to me to +care for the code,' said the Duchess, 'but, nevertheless, 'I'll +remember.' + +'Who, in the name of all that's wonderful, was that I saw you +with in the garden?' the Duchess said to her husband one +afternoon. + +'It was Lady Rosina De Courcy, I suppose!' + +'Heaven and earth!--what a companion for you to choose.' + +'Why not?--why shouldn't I talk to Lady Rosina De Courcy?' + +'I'm not jealous a bit, if you mean that I don't think Lady +Rosina will steal your heart from me. But why you should pick +her out of all the people here, when there are so many would think +their fortunes made if you would only take a turn with them, I +cannot imagine.' + +'But I don't want to make anyone's fortune,' said the Duke: 'and +certainly not in that way.' + +'What could you be saying to her?' + +'She was talking about her family. I rather like Lady Rosina. +She is living all alone, it seems and almost in poverty. Perhaps +there is nothing so sad in the world as the female scions of a +noble but impoverished stock.' + +'Nothing so dull, certainly.' + +'People are not dull to me, if they are real. I pity that poor +lady. She is proud of her blood and yet not ashamed of her +poverty.' + +'Whatever might come of her blood she has been all her life +willing enough to get rid of her poverty. It isn't above three +years since she was trying her best to marry that brewer at +Silverbridge. I wish you could give your time a little to some +of the other people.' + +'To go and shoot arrows?' + +'No;--I don't want you to shoot arrows. You might act the part +of host without shooting. Can't you walk about with anybody +except Lady Rosina De Courcy?' + +'I was walking about with Sir Orlando Drought last Sunday, and I +very much prefer Lady Rosina.' + +'There has been no quarrel?' asked the Duchess sharply. + +'Oh dear no.' + +'Of course he's an empty-headed idiot. Everybody has always +known that. And he's put above his place in the House. But it +wouldn't do to quarrel with him now.' + +'I don't think I am a quarrelsome man, Cora. I don't remember at +this moment that I have ever quarrelled with anybody to your +knowledge. But I may perhaps be permitted to--' + +'Snub a man, you mean. Well I wouldn't ever snub Sir Orlando +very much, if I were you; though I can understand that it might +be both pleasant and easy.' + +'I wish you wouldn't put slang phrases into my mouth, Cora. If I +think that a man intrudes upon me, I am of course bound to let +know my opinion.' + +'Sir Orlando has--intruded!' + +'By no means. He is in a position which justifies his saying +many things to me which another might not say. But then, again, +he is a man whose opinion does not go far with me, and I have not +the knack of seeming to agree with a man while I let his words +pass idly by me.' + +'That is quite true, Plantagenet.' + +'And, therefore, I was uncomfortable with Sir Orlando, while I +was able to sympathize with Lady Rosina.' + +'What do you think of Ferdinand Lopez?' asked the Duchess, with +studied abruptness. + +'Think of Mr Lopez! I haven't thoughy of him at all. Why should +I think of him?' + +'I want you to think of him. I think he's a very pleasant +fellow, and I'm sure he's a rising man.' + +'You might think the latter, and perhaps feel sure of the former.' + +'Very well. Then, to oblige you, I'll think the latter and feel +sure of the former. I suppose it's true that Mr Grey is going on +this mission to Persia?' Mr Grey was the Duke's intimate friend, +and was at this time member for the neighbouring borough of +Silverbridge. + +'I think he will go. I've no doubt about it. He is to go after +Christmas.' + +'And will give up his seat?' + +The Duke did not answer her immediately. It had only just been +decided,--decided by his friend and himself,--that the seat +should be given up when the journey to Persia was undertaken. Mr +Grey, somewhat in opposition to the Duke's advice, had resolved +that he could not be in Persia and do his duty in the House of +Commons at the same time. But this resolution had only now been +made known to the Duke, and he was rather puzzled to think how +the Duchess had been able to be so quick upon him. He had, +indeed, kept the matter back from the Duchess, feeling that she +would have something to say about it, which might possibly be +unpleasant, as soon as the tidings should reach her. 'Yes,' he +said, 'I think he will give up his seat. That is his purpose, +though I think it is unnecessary.' + +'Let Mr Lopez have it.' + +'Mr Lopez!' + +'Yes,--he is a clever man, a rising man, a man who is sure to do +well, and who will be of use to you. Just take the trouble to +talk to him. It is assistance of that kind that you want. You +Ministers go on shuffling the old cards till they are so worn out +and dirty that one can hardly tell the pips on them.' + +'I am one of the dirty old cards myself,' said the Duke. + +'That's nonsense, you know. A man who is at the head of affairs +as you are can't be included among the pack I am speaking of. +What you want is new blood, or new wood, or new metal, or +whatever you may choose to call it. Take my advice and try this +man. He isn't a pauper. It isn't money that he wants.' + +'Cora, your geese are all swans.' + +'That's not fair. I have never brought to you a goose yet. My +swans have been swans. Who was it brought you and your pet swan +of all, Mr Grey, together? I won't name any names, but it is +your swans have been geese.' + +'It is not for me to return a member for Silverbridge.' When he +said this, she gave him a look which almost upset even his +gravity, a look which was almost the same as asking him whether +he would not--"tell it to the marines." 'You don't quite +understand these things, Cora,' he continued. 'The influence +which owners of property may have in boroughs is decreasing every +day, and there arises the question whether a conscientious man +will any longer use such influence.' + +'I don't think you'd like to see a man from Silverbridge opposing +you in the House.' + +'I may have to bear worse even than that.' + +'Well;--there it is. The man is here and you have the +opportunity of knowing him. Of course I have not hinted at the +matter to him. If there were any Palliser wanted the borough I +wouldn't say a word. What more patriotic thing can a patron do +with his borough than to select a man who is unknown to him, not +related to him, a perfect stranger, merely for his worth?' + +'But I do not know what may be the worth of Mr Lopez.' + +'I will guarantee that,' said the Duchess. Whereupon the Duke +laughed, and then left her. + +The Duchess had spoken with absolute truth when she told her +husband that she had not said a word to Mr Lopez about +Silverbridge, but it was not long before she did say a word. On +that same day she found herself alone with him in the garden,-- +or so much alone as to be able to speak with him privately. He +had certainly made the best use of his time since he had been at +the Castle, having secured the good-will of many of the ladies, +and the displeasure of most of the men. 'You have never been in +Parliament, I think,' said the Duchess. + +'I have never even tried to get there.' + +'Perhaps you dislike the idea of that kind of life.' + +'No, indeed,' he said. 'So far from it, that I regard it as the +highest kind of life there is in England. A seat in Parliament +gives a man a status in this country which it has never done +elsewhere.' + +'Then why don't you try it?' + +'Because I've got into another groove. I've become essentially a +City man,--one of those men who take up the trade of making +money generally.' + +'And does that content you?' + +'No, Duchess;--certainly not. Instead of contenting me, it +disgusts me. Not but that I like the money,--only it is so +insufficient a use of one's life. I suppose I shall try to get +into Parliament some day. Seats in Parliament don't grow like +blackberries on bushes.' + +'Pretty nearly,' said the Duchess. + +'Not in my part of the country. These good things seem to be +appointed to fall in the way of some men, and not of others. If +there were a general election going on to-morrow, I should not +know how to look for a seat.' + +'They are to be found sometimes even without a general election.' + +'Are you alluding to anything now?' + +'Well;--yes, I am. But I'm very discreet, and do not like to do +more than allude. I fancy that Mr Grey, the member for +Silverbridge, is going to Persia. Mr Grey is a Member of +Parliament. Members of Parliament ought to be in London and not +in Persia. It is generally supposed that no man in England is +more prone to do what he ought to do than Mr Grey. Therefore, Mr +Grey will cease to be Member for Silverbridge. That's logic, +isn't it?' + +'Has your Grace any logic equally strong to prove that I can +follow him in the borough?' + +'No;--or if I have, the logic that I should use in that matter +must for the present be kept to myself.' She certainly had a +little syllogism in her head as to the Duke ruling the borough, +the Duke's wife ruling the Duke, and therefore the Duke's wife +ruling the borough; but she did not think it prudent to utter +this on the present occasion. 'I think it much better that men +in Parliament should be unmarried,' said the Duchess. + +'But I am going to be married,' said he. + +'Going to be married, are you?' + +'I have no right to say so, because the lady's father has +rejected me.' Then he told her the whole story, and so told it +as to secure her entire sympathy. In telling it he never said +that he was a rich man, he never boasted that that search after +wealth of which he had spoken, had been successful; but he gave +her to understand that there was no objection to him at all on +the score of money. 'You may have heard of the family,' he said. + +'I have heard of the Whartons of course, and know that there is a +baronet,--but I know nothing more of them. He is not a man of +large property, I think.' + +'My Miss Wharton, the one I would fain call mine,--is the +daughter of a London barrister. He, I believe, is rich.' + +'Then she will be an heiress.' + +'I suppose so;--but that consideration has had no weight with +me. I have always regarded myself as the architect of my own +fortune, and have no wish to owe my material comfort to a wife.' + +'Sheer love!' suggested the Duchess. + +'Yes, I think so. It's very ridiculous, is it not?' + +'And why does the rich barrister object?' + +'The rich barrister, Duchess, is an out and out old Tory, who +thinks that his daughter ought to marry no one but an English +Tory. I am not exactly that.' + +'A man does not hamper his daughter in these days by politics, +when she is falling in love.' + +'There are other cognate reasons. He does not like a foreigner. +Now I am an Englishman, but I have a foreign name. He does not +think a name so grandly Saxon as Wharton should be changed to one +so meanly Latin as Lopez.' + +'The lady does not object to the Latinity?' + +'I fancy not.' + +'Or to the bearer of it.' + +'Ah;--there I must not boast. But in simple truth there is only +the father's ill-will between us.' + +'With plenty of money on both sides?' asked the Duchess. Lopez +shrugged his shoulders. A shrug at such a time may mean +anything, but the Duchess took this shrug as signifying that that +question was so surely settled as to admit of no difficulty. +'Then,' said the Duchess, 'the old gentleman may as well give way +at once. Of course his daughter will be too many for him.' In +this way the Duchess of Omnium became the best friend of +Ferdinand Lopez. + + + +CHAPTER 22 + +ST JAMES'S PARK. + +Towards the end of September Everett Wharton and Ferdinand Lopez +were in town together, and as no one else was in town,--so at +least they professed to say,--they saw a good deal of each +other. Lopez, as we know, had spent a portion of the preceding +month at Gatherum Castle, and had made good use of his time, but +Everett Wharton had been less fortunate. He had been a little +cross with his father, and perhaps a little cross with all the +Whartons generally, who did not, he thought, make quite enough of +him. In the event of 'anything happening' to that ne'er-do-well +nephew, he himself would be the heir; and he reflected no +unfrequently that something very probably might happen to the +nephew. He did not often see this particular cousin, but he +always heard of him as being drunk, overwhelmed with debt and +difficulty, and altogether in that position in life in which it +is probable that something will 'happen'. There was always of +course the danger that the young man might marry and have a +child;--but in the meantime surely he, Everett Wharton, should +have been as much thought of on the banks of the Wye as Arthur +Fletcher. He had been asked down to Wharton Hall,--but he had +been asked in a way which he had no thought to be flattering and +declined to go. Then there had been a plan for joining Arthur +Fletcher in a certain shooting, but that had failed in +consequence of a few words between himself and Arthur respecting +Lopez. Arthur had wanted him to say that Lopez was an +unpardonable intruder,--but he had taken the part of Lopez, and +therefore, when the time came round, he had nothing to do with +the shooting. He had stayed in town till the middle of August, +and had then started by himself across the continent with some +keen intention of studying German politics; but he had found +perhaps that German politics do not manifest themselves in the +autumn, or that a foreign country cannot be well studied in +solitude,--and he had returned. + +Late in the summer, just before his father and sister had left +town, he had had some words with the old barrister. There had +been a few bills to be paid, and Everett's allowance had been +insufficient. It often was insufficient, and then ready money +for his German tour was absolutely necessary. Mr Wharton might +probably have said less about the money had not his son +accompanied his petition by a further allusion to Parliament. +'There are some fellows at last really getting themselves +together at the Progress, and of course it will be necessary to +know who will be ready to come forward at the next general +election.' + +'I think I know one who won't,' said the father, 'judging from +the manner in which he seems at present to manage his own money +affairs.' There was more severity in this than the old man had +intended, for he had often thought within his own bosom whether +it would not be well that he should encourage his son to stand +for some seat. And the money that he had now been asked to +advance had not been very much,--not more, in truth, than he +expected to be called upon to pay in addition to the modest sum +which he professed to allow his son. He was a rich man, who was +not in truth made unhappy by parting with his money. But there +had been, he thought, an impudence in the conjoint attack which +it was his duty to punish. Therefore he had given his son very +little encouragement. + +'Of course, sir, if you tell me that you are not inclined to pay +anything beyond the allowance you make me, there is an end of +it.' + +'I rather think that you just asked me to pay a considerable sum +beyond your allowance, and that I have consented.' Everett +argued the matter no further, but he permitted his mind to +entertain an idea that he was ill-used by his father. The time +would come when he would probably be heir not only to his +father's money, but also to the Wharton title and the Wharton +property,--when his position in the country would really be, as +he frequently told himself, quite considerable. Was it possible +that he should refrain from blaming his father for not allowing +him to obtain, early in life, that parliamentary education which +would fit him to be an ornament to the House of Commons, and a +safeguard to his country in future years? + +Now he and Lopez were at the Progress together, and they were +almost the only men in the club. Lopez was quite contented with +his own present sojourn in London, he had not only been at +Gatherum Castle but he was going there again. And then he had +brilliant hopes before him,--so brilliant that they began, he +thought, to assume the shape of certainties. He had corresponded +with the Duchess, and he had gathered from her somewhat dubious +words that the Duke would probably accede to her wishes in the +matter of Silverbridge. The vacancy had not yet been declared. +Mr Grey was deterred, no doubt by certain high State purposes, +from applying for the stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds, and +thereby releasing himself from his seat in Parliament, and +enabling himself to perform, with a clear conscience, duties in a +distant part of the world which he did not feel to be compatible +with that seat. The seekers after seats were, no doubt, already +on the track; but the Duchess had thought that as far as the +Duke's good word went, it might possibly be given in favour of Mr +Lopez. The happy aspirant had taken this to be almost as good as +a promise. There were also certain pecuniary speculations on +foot, which could not be kept quiet even in September, as to +which he did not like to trust entirely to the unaided energy of +Mr Sextus Parker, or to the boasted alliance of Mr Mills +Happerton. Sextus Parker's whole heart and soul were now in the +matter, but Mr Mills Happerton, an undoubted partner in Husky and +Sons, had blown a little coldly on the affair. But in spite of +this Ferdinand Lopez was happy. Was it probable that Mr Wharton +should continue his opposition to a marriage which would make his +daughter the wife of a member of Parliament and of a special +friend of the Duchess of Omnium? + +He had said a word about his own prospect in reference to the +marriage, but Everett had been at first far too full of his own +affairs to attend much to a matter which was comparatively so +trifling. + +'Upon my word,' he said, 'I am beginning to feel angry with the +governor, which is a kind of thing I don't like at all.' + +'I can understand that when he's angry with you, you shouldn't +like it.' + +'I don't mind that half so much. He'll come round. However +unjust he may be now, at the moment, he's the last man in the +world to do an injustice in his will. I have thorough confidence +in him. But I find myself driven into hostility to him by a +conviction that he won't let me take any real step in life, till +my life has been half frittered away.' + +'You're thinking of Parliament.' + +'Of course I am. I don't say to you ain't an Englishman, but you +are not quite enough of an Englishman to understand what +Parliament is to us.' + +'I hope to be;--some of these days,' said Lopez. + +'Perhaps you may. I won't say but what you may get yourself +educated to it when you've been married a dozen years to an +English wife, and have half-a-dozen English children of your own. +But, in the meantime, look at my position. I am twenty-eight +years old.' + +'I am four years your senior.' + +'It does not matter a straw to you,' continued Everett. 'But a +few years are everything with me. I have a right to suppose that +I may be able to represent the county,--say in twenty years. I +shall probably then be the head of the family and a rich man. +Consider what a parliamentary education would be to me! And then +it is just the life for which I have laid myself out, and in +which I could make myself useful. You don't sympathize with me, +but you might understand me.' + +'I do both. I think of going into the House myself.' + +'You!' + +'Yes, I do.' + +'You must have changed your ideas very much then within the last +month or two.' + +'I have changed my ideas. My one chief object in life is, as you +know, to marry your sister; and if I were a Member of Parliament +I think that some difficulties would be cleared away.' + +'But there won't be an election for the next three years at my +rate,' said Everett Wharton, staring at his friend. 'You don't +mean to keep Emily waiting for a dissolution?' + +'There are occasional vacancies,' said Lopez. + +'Is there a chance of anything of that kind falling in your way?' + +'I think there is. I can't quite tell you all the particulars +because other people are concerned, but I don't think it +improbable that I may be in the House before--; well, say in +three months' time.' + +'In three months' time!' exclaimed Everett, whose mouth was +watering at the prospects of a friend. 'That is what comes from +going to stay with a Prime Minister, I suppose,' Lopez shrugged +his shoulders. 'Upon my word I can't understand you,' continued +the other. 'It was only the other day you were arguing in this +very room as to the absurdity of a parliamentary career,-- +pitching into me, by George, like the very mischief, because I +had said something in its favour,--and now you are going in for +it yourself in some sort of mysterious way that a fellow can't +understand.' It was quite clear that Everett Wharton thought +himself ill-used by his friend's success. + +'There is no mystery;--only I can't tell people's names.' + +'What is the borough?' + +'I cannot tell you that at present.' + +'Are you sure there will be a vacancy?' + +'I think I am sure,' + +'And that you will be invited to stand?' + +'I am not sure of that.' + +'Of course anybody can stand whether invited or not.' + +'If I come forward for this place I shall do so on the very best +interest. Don't mention it. I tell you because I already regard +my connection with you as being so close as to call upon me to +tell you anything of that kind.' + +'And yet you do not tell me the details.' + +'I tell you all that I can in honour tell.' + +Everett Wharton certainly felt aggrieved by his friend's news, +and plainly showed that he did so. It was so hard that if a +stray seat in Parliament were going a-begging, it should be +thrown in the way of this man who didn't care for it, and +couldn't use it to any good purpose. Instead of in his own way! +Why should anyone want Ferdinand Lopez to be in Parliament? +Ferdinand Lopez had paid no attention to the great political +questions of the Commonwealth. He knew nothing of Labour and +Capital, of Unions, Strikes, and Lockouts. But because he was +rich, and, by being rich, had made his way among great people, he +was to have a seat in Parliament! As for the wealth, it might be +at his own command also,--if only his father could be got to see +the matter in a proper light. And as for the friendship of great +people,--Prime Ministers, Duchesses, and such like,--Everett +Wharton was quite confident that he was at any rate as well +qualified to shine among them as Ferdinand Lopez. He was of too +good a nature to be stirred to injustice against his friend by +the soreness of this feeling. He did not wish to rob his friend +of his wealth, of his Duchesses, or of his embryo seat in +Parliament. But for the moment there came upon him a doubt +whether Ferdinand was so very clever, or so peculiarly +gentlemanlike or in any way very remarkable, and almost a +conviction that he was very far from being good-looking. + +They dined together, and quite late in the evening they strolled +out into St James's Park. There was nobody in London, and there +was nothing for either of them to do, and therefore they agreed +to walk round the park, dark and gloomy as they knew the park +would be. Lopez had seen and had quite understood the bitterness +of spirit by which Everett had been oppressed, and with that +peculiarly imperturbable good humour which made part of his +character bore it all, even with tenderness. He was a man, as +are many of his race, who could bear contradictions, unjust +suspicions, and social ill-treatment without a shadow of +resentment, but who, if he had a purpose, could carry it without +a shadow of a scruple. Everett Wharton had on this occasion made +himself very unpleasant, and Lopez had borne with him as an angel +would hardly have done; but should Wharton ever stand in his +friend's way, his friend would sacrifice him without compunction. +As it was Lopez bore with him, simply noting in his own mind that +Everett Wharton was a greater ass than he had taken him to be. +It was Wharton's idea that they should walk around the park, and +Lopez for a time had discouraged the suggestion. 'It is a +wretchedly dark place at night, and you don't know whom you may +meet there.' + +'You don't mean to say that you are afraid to walk round St +James's Park with me because it's dark!' said Wharton. + +'I certainly should be afraid by myself, but I don't know that I +am afraid with you. But what's the good?' + +'It's better than sitting here doing nothing, without a soul to +speak to. I've already smoked half-a-dozen cigars, till I'm so +muddled I don't' know what I'm about. It's so hot one can't walk +in the day, and this is just the time for the exercise.' Lopez +yielded, being willing to yield in almost anything at present to +the brother of Emily Wharton; and though the thing seemed to him +to be very foolish, they entered the park by St James's Palace, +and started to walk round it, turning to the right and going in +front of Buckingham Palace. As they went on Wharton still +continued his accusation against his father, and said also some +sharp things against Lopez himself, till his companion began to +think that the wine he had drunk had been as bad as the cigars. +'I can't understand your wanting to go into Parliament,' he said. +'What do you know about it?' + +'If I get there, I can learn like anybody else, I suppose.' + +'Half of those who go there don't learn. They are, as it were, +born to it, and they do very well to support this party or that.' + +'And why shouldn't I support this party,--or that?' + +'I don't suppose you know which party you would support,--except +that you'd vote for the Duke, if, as I suppose, you are to get in +under the Duke's influence. If I went into the House I should go +with a fixed and settled purpose of my own.' + +'I'm not there yet,' said Lopez, willing to drop the subject. + +'It will be a great expense to you, and will stand altogether in +the way of your profession. As far as Emily is concerned, I +should think my father would be dead against it.' + +'Then he would be unreasonable.' + +'Not at all, if he thought you would injure your professional +prospects. It is a d-d piece of folly; that's the long and the +short of it. + +This certainly was very uncivil, and it almost made Lopez angry. +But he had made up his mind that his friend was a little the +worse for the wine he had drunk, and therefore he did not resent +even this. 'Never mind politics and Parliament now,' he said, +'but let us get home. I am beginning to be sick of this. It's +so awfully dark, and whenever I do hear a step, I think somebody +is coming to rob us. Let us get on a bit.' + +'What the deuce are you afraid of?' said Everett. They had then +come up the greater part of the length of the Birdcage Walk, and +the lights on Storey's Gate were just visible, but the road on +which they were then walking was very dark. The trees were black +over their heads, and not a step was heard near them. At this +time it was just midnight. Now, certainly, among the faults +which might be justly attributed to Lopez, personal cowardice +could not be reckoned. On this evening he had twice spoken of +being afraid, but the fear had simply been that which ordinary +caution indicates; and his object had been that of hindering +Wharton in the first place from coming into the park, and then of +getting him out of it as quickly as possible. + +'Come along,' said Lopez. + +'By George, you are in a blue funk,' said the other. 'I can hear +your teeth chattering.' Lopez, who was beginning to be angry, +walked on and said nothing. It was too absurd, he thought, for +real anger, but he kept a little in front of Wharton, intending +to show that he was displeased. 'You had better run away at +once,' said Wharton. + +'Upon my word. I shall begin to think you're tipsy,' said Lopez. + +'Tipsy!' said the other. 'How dare you say such a thing to me? +You never in your life say me in the least altered by anything I +had drunk.' + +Lopez knew that at any rate this was untrue. 'I've seen you as +drunk as Cloe before now,' said he. + +'That's a lie,' said Wharton. + +'Come, Wharton,' said the other, 'do not disgrace yourself by +conduct such as that. Something has put you out, and you do not +know what you are saying. I can hardly imagine that you should +wish to insult me.' + +'It was you insulted me. You said I was drunk. When you said it +you knew it was untrue.' + +Lopez walked on a little way in silence, thinking over this most +absurd quarrel. Then he turned round and spoke. 'This is all +the greatest nonsense I have ever heard in the world. I'll go on +and go to bed, and to-morrow morning you'll think better of it. +But pray remember that under no circumstances should you call a +man a liar, unless on cool consideration you are determined to +quarrel with him for lying, and determined also to see the +quarrel out.' + +'I am quite ready to see this quarrel out.' + +'Good night,' said Lopez, starting off at a quick pace. They +were then close to the turn in the park, and Lopez went on till +he had nearly reached the park front of the new offices. As he +had walked he had listened to the footfall of his friend, and +after a while had perceived, or had thought that he perceived +that the sound was discontinued. It seemed to him that Wharton +had altogether lost his senses;--the insult to himself had been +so determined and so absolutely groundless! He had striven his +best to conquer the man's ill-humour by good-natured forbearance, +and had only suggested that Wharton was perhaps tipsy in order to +give him some excuse. But if his companion were really drunk, as +he now began to think, could it be right to leave him unprotected +in the park? The man's manner had been strange the whole +evening, but there had been no sign of the effect of wine till +after they had left the club. But Lopez had heard of men who had +been apparently sober, becoming drunk as soon as the got into the +air. It might have been so in this case, though Wharton's voice +and gait had not been those of a drunken man. At any rate, he +would turn back and look after him, and as he did turn back, he +resolved that whatever Wharton might say to him on this night he +would not notice. He was too wise to raise a further impediment +to his marriage by quarrelling with Emily's brother. + +As soon as he paused he was sure that he heard footsteps behind +him which were not those of Everett Wharton. Indeed, he was sure +that he heard the footsteps of more than one person. He stood +still for a moment to listen, and then he distinctly heard a rush +and a scuffle. He ran back to the spot at which he had left his +friend, and at first thought that he perceived a mob of people in +the dusk. But as he got nearer, he saw that there were a man and +two women. Wharton was on the ground on his back, and the man +was apparently kneeling on his neck and head while the women were +rifling his pockets. Lopez, hardly knowing how he was acting, +was upon them in a moment, flying in the first place at the man, +who had jumped up to meet him as he came. He received at once a +heavy blow on his head from some weapon, which, however, his hat +so far stopped as to save him from being felled or stunned, and +then he felt another blow from behind on the ear, which he +afterwards conceived to have been given him by one of the women. +But before he could well look about him, or well know how the +whole thing had happened, the man and the two women had taken to +their legs, and Wharton was standing on his feet leaning against +the iron railings. + +The whole thing had occupied a very short space of time, and yet +the effects were very grave. At the first moment Lopez looked +round and endeavoured to listen, hoping that some assistance +might be near,--some policeman, or, if not that, some wanderer +by night who might be honest enough to help him. But he could +near or see no one. In this condition of things it was not +possible for him to pursue the ruffians, as he could not leave +his friend leaning against the park rails. It was at once +manifest to him that Wharton had been much hurt, or at any rate +incapacitated for immediate exertion, by the blows he had +received;--and as he put his hand up to his own head, from which +in the scuffle his hat had fallen, he was not certain that he was +not severely hurt himself. Lopez could see that Wharton was very +pale, that his cravat had been almost wrenched from his neck by +pressure, that his waistcoat was torn open and the front of his +shirt soiled,--and he could see also that a fragment of the +watch-chain was hanging loose, showing that the watch had gone. +'Are you hurt much?' he said, coming close up and taking a tender +hold of his friend's arm. Wharton smiled and shook his head, but +spoke not a word. He was in truth more shaken, stunned, and +bewildered than actually injured. The ruffian's fist had been at +his throat, twisting his cravat, and for half a minute he had +felt that he was choked. As he had struggled while one woman +pulled at his watch and the other searched for his purse,-- +struggling alas unsuccessfully,--the man had endeavoured to +quiet him by kneeling on his chest, strangling him with his own +necktie, and pressing hard on his gullet. It is a treatment +which, after a few seconds of vigorous practice, is apt to leave +the patient for a while disconcerted and unwilling to speak. +'Say a word if you can,' whispered Lopez, looking into the other +man's face with anxious eyes. + +At the moment there came across Wharton's mind a remembrance that +he had behaved very badly to is friend, and some sort of vague +misty doubt whether all this evil had not befallen because of his +misconduct. But he knew at the same time the Lopez was not +responsible for the evil, and dismayed as he had been, still he +recalled enough of the nature of the struggle in which he had +been engaged, to be aware that Lopez had befriended him +gallantly. He could not even yet speak; but he saw the blood +trickling down his friend's temple and forehead, and lifting up +his hand, touched the spot with his fingers. Lopez also put his +had up, and drew it away covered with blood. 'Oh,' said he, +'that does not signify in the least. I got a knock, I know, and +I am afraid I have lost my hat, but I'm not hurt.' + +'Oh, dear!' The word was uttered with a low sigh. Then there +was a pause, during which Lopez supported the sufferer. 'I +thought that it was all over with me at one moment.' + +'You will be better now.' + +'Oh, yes. My watch is gone!' + +'I fear it is,' said Lopez. + +'And my purse,' said Wharton, collecting his strength together +sufficiently to search for his treasures. 'I had eight 5-pound +notes in it.' + +'Never mind your money or your watch if your bones are not +broken.' + +'It's a bore all the same to lose every shilling that one has.' +Then they walked very slowly away towards the steps at the Duke +of York's column. Wharton regaining his strength as he went, but +still able to progress by leisurely. Lopez had not found his +hat, and, being covered with blood, was, as far as appearances +went, in a worse plight than the other. At the foot of the steps +they met a policeman, to whom they told their story, and who, as +a matter of course, was filled with an immediate desire to arrest +them both. To the policeman's mind it was most distressing that +a bloody faced man without a hat, with a companion almost too +weak to walk, should not be conveyed to a police-station. But +after ten minutes' parley, during which Wharton sat on the bottom +step and Lopez explained all the circumstances, he consented to +get them a cab to take their address, and then to go alone to the +station and make his report. That the thieves had got off with +their plunder was only too manifest. Lopez took the injured man +home to the house in Manchester Square, and then returned in the +same cab, hatless, to his own lodgings. + +As he returned he applied his mind to think how he could turn the +events of the evening to his own use. He did not believe that +Everett Wharton was severely hurt. Indeed there might be a +question whether in the morning his own injury would not be the +most severe. But the immediate effect on the flustered and +despoiled unfortunate one had been great enough to justify Lopez +in taking strong steps if strong steps could in any way benefit +himself. Would it be best to publish this affair on the house- +tops, or to bury it in the shade, as nearly as it might be +buried? He had determined in his own mind that his friend had +been tipsy. In no other way could his conduct be understood. +And a row with a tipsy man at midnight in the park is not, at +first sight, creditable. But it could be made to have a better +appearance if told by himself, than if published from other +quarters. The old housekeeper at Manchester Square must know +something about it, and would, of course, tell what she knew, and +the loss of money and the watch must in all probability be made +known. Before he had reached his own door had had quite made up +his mind that he himself would tell the story after his own +fashion. + +And he told it, before he went to bed that night. He washed the +blood from his face and head, and cut away a part of the clotted +hair, and then wrote a letter to old Mr Wharton at Wharton Hall. +And between three and four o'clock in the morning he went out and +posted his letter in the nearest pillar, so that it might go down +by the day mail and certainly preceded by other written doings. +The letter which he sent was as follows: + + DEAR MR WHARTON + I regret to have to send to you an account of a rather + serious accident which has happened to Everett. I am + now writing at 3 am, having just taken him home, and it + occurred about midnight. You may be quite sure that + there is no danger, or I should have advertised you by + telegram. + There is nothing doing in town, and therefore, as the + night was fine, we, very foolishly, agreed to walk round + St James's Park late after dinner. It is a kind of thing + that nobody does;--but we did it. When we had nearly got + round I was in a hurry, whereas Everett was for + strolling slowly, and so I went before him. But I was + hardly two hundred yards in front of him before he was + attacked by three persons, a man and two women. The man + I presume came upon him from behind, but he has not + sufficiently collected his thoughts to remember exactly + what occurred. I heard the scuffle, and of course turned + back,--and was luckily in time to get up before he was + seriously hurt. I think the man would otherwise have + strangled him. I am sorry to say he lost both his watch and + his purse. + He undoubtedly been very much shaken, and altogether + 'knocked out of time,' as people say. Excuse the phrase, + because I think it will best explain what I want you to + understand. The man's hand at his throat must have + stopped his breathing for some seconds. He certainly has + received no permanent injury, but I should not wonder if + he should be unwell for some days. I tell you all + exactly as it occurred, as it strikes me that you may like + to run up to town for a day just to look at him. But you + need not do so on the score of any danger. Of course he + will see a doctor to-morrow. There did not seem to be + any necessity for calling up one to-night. We did give + notice to the police as we were coming home, but I fear + the ruffians had ample time for an escape. He was too + weak and I was too fully employed with him, to think of + pursuing them at the time. + Of course he is at Manchester Square +Most faithfully yours +FERDINAND LOPEZ + +He did not say a word about Emily, but he knew that Emily would +see the letter and would perceive that he had been the means of +preserving her brother; and, in regard to the old barrister +himself. Lopez thought that the old man could not but feel +grateful for his conduct. He had in truth behaved very well to +Everett. He had received a heavy blow on the head in young +Wharton's defence,--of which he was determined to make good use, +though he had thought it expedient to say nothing about the blow +in the letter. Surely it was all help. Surely the paternal mind +would be softened towards him when the father should be made to +understand how great had been the service to the son. That +Everett would make little of what had been done for him de did +not in the least fear. Everett Wharton was sometimes silly but +was never ungenerous. + +In spite of his night's work Lopez was in Manchester Square +before nine the following morning, and on the side of his brow he +bore a great patch of black plaster. 'My head is very thick,' he +said laughing, when Everett asked after his wound. 'But it would +have gone badly with me if the ruffian had struck an inch lower. +I suppose my hat saved me, though I remember very little. Yes, +old fellow, I have written to your father, and I think he will +come up. It was better that it should be so.' + +'There is nothing the matter with me,' said Everett. + +'One didn't quite know last night whether there was or no. At +any rate his coming won't hurt you. It's always well to have +your banker near you, when your funds are low.' + +Then after a pause Everett made his apology,--'I know I made a +great ass of myself last night.' + +'Don't think about it.' + +'I used a word I shouldn't have used, and I beg your pardon.' + +'Not another word, Everett. Between you and me things can't go +wrong. We love each other too well.' + + + +CHAPTER 23 + +SURRENDER. + +The letter given in the previous chapter was received at Wharton +Hall late in the evening of the day on which it was written, and +was discussed among all the Whartons that night. Of course there +was no doubt as to the father's going up to town on the morrow. +The letter was just such a letter as would surely make a man run +to his son's bedside. Had the son written himself it would have +been different; but the fact that the letter had come from +another man seemed to be evidence that the poor sufferer could +not write. Perhaps the urgency with which Lopez had sent off his +dispatch, getting his account of the fray ready for the very +early day mail, though the fray had not taken place till +midnight, did not impress them sufficiently when they accepted +this as evidence of Everett's dangerous condition. At this +conference at Wharton very little was said about Lopez, but there +was a general feeling that he had behaved well. 'It was very odd +that they should have parted in the park,' said Sir Alured. 'But +very lucky that they should not have parted sooner,' said John +Fletcher. If a grain of suspicion against Lopez might have been +set afloat in their minds by Sir Alured's suggestion, it was +altogether dissipated by John Fletcher's reply;--for everybody +there knew that John Fletcher carried common sense for the two +families. Of course they all hated Ferdinand Lopez, but nothing +could be extracted from the incident, as far as its details were +yet known to them, which could be turned to his injury. + +While they sat together discussing the matter in the drawing-room +Emily Wharton hardly said a word. She uttered a little shriek +when the account of the affair was first read to her, and then +listened with silent attention to what was said around her. When +there had seemed for a moment to be a doubt,--or rather a +question, for there had been no doubt,--whether her father +should go at once to London, she had spoken just a word. 'Of +course you will go, papa.' After that she said nothing till she +came to him in his own room. 'Of course I will go with you +tomorrow, papa.' + +'I don't think that will be necessary.' + +'Oh, yes. Think how wretched I should be.' + +'I would telegraph to you immediately.' + +'And I shouldn't believe the telegraph. Don't you know how it +always is? Besides we have been more than the usual time. We +were to go to town in ten days, and you would not think of +returning to fetch me. Of course I will go with you. I have +already begun to pack my things, and Jane is now at it.' Her +father, not knowing how to oppose her, yielded, and Emily before +she went to bed had made the ladies of the house aware that she +also intended to start the next morning at eight o'clock. + +During the first part of the journey very little was said between +Mr Wharton and Emily. There were other persons in the carriage, +and she, though she had determined in some vague way that she +would speak some words to her father before she reached their own +house, had still wanted time to resolve what those words should +be. But before she had reached Gloucester she had made up her +mind, and going on from Gloucester she found herself for a time +alone with her father. She was sitting opposite to him, and +after conversing for a while she touched his knee with her hand. +'Papa,' she said, 'I suppose I must now have to meet Mr Lopez in +Manchester Square?' + +'Why should you have to meet Mr Lopez?' + +'Of course he will come there to see Everett. After what has +occurred you can hardly forbid him the house. He has saved +Everett's life.' + +'I don't know that he has done anything of the kind,' said Mr +Wharton, who was vacillating between different opinions. He did +in his heart believe that the Portuguese whom he so hated had +saved his son from the thieves, and he also had almost come to +the conviction that he must give his daughter to the man,--but +at the same time he could not as yet bring himself to abandon his +opposition to the marriage. + +'Perhaps you think the story is not true.' + +'I don't doubt the story in the least. Of course one man sticks +to another in such an affair, and I have no doubt that Mr Lopez +behaved as any English gentleman would.' + +'Any English gentleman, papa, would have to come afterwards and +see the friend he had saved. Don't you think so?' + +'Oh yes,--he might call.' + +'And Mr Lopez will have an additional reason for calling,--and I +know he will come. Don't you think he will come?' + +'I don't want to think anything about it,' said the father. + +'But I want you to think about it, papa. Papa, I know you are +not indifferent to my happiness.' + +'I hope you know it.' + +'I do know it. I am quite sure of it. And therefore I don't +think you ought to be afraid to talk to me about what must +concern my happiness so greatly. As far as my own self and my +own will are concerned I consider myself as given away to Mr +Lopez already. Nothing but his marrying some other woman,--or +his death,--would make me think of myself as otherwise than as +belonging to him. I am not a bit ashamed of owning my love--to +you or to him, if the opportunity were allowed me. I don't think +there should be concealment about anything so important between +people who are so dear to each other. I have told you that I +will do whatever you bid me about him. If you say that I shall +not speak to him or see him I will not speak to him or see him-- +willingly. You certainly need not be afraid that I should marry +without your leave.' + +'I am not in the least afraid of it.' + +'But I think you should think over what you are doing. And I am +quite sure of this,--that you must tell me what I am to do in +regard to receiving Mr Lopez in Manchester Square.' Mr Wharton +listened attentively to what his daughter said to him, shaking +his head from time to time as though almost equally distracted by +her passive obedience and by her passionate protestations of +love; but he said nothing. When she had completed her +supplication he threw himself back in His seat and after a while +took his book. It may be doubted whether he read much, for the +question as to his girl's happiness was quite as near his heart +as she could wish it to be. + +It was late in the afternoon before they reached Manchester +Square, and they were both happy to find that they were not +troubled by Mr Lopez at the first moment. Everett was at home +and in bed, and had not indeed as yet recovered the effect of the +man's knuckles at his windpipe; but he was well enough to assure +his father and sister that they need not have disturbed +themselves or hurried their return from Hertfordshire on his +account. 'To tell the truth,' said he, 'Ferdinand Lopez was more +hurt than I was.' + +'He said nothing of being hurt himself,' said Mr Wharton. + +'How was he hurt?' asked Emily in the quietest, stillest voice. + +'The fact is,' said Everett, beginning to tell the whole story +after his own fashion, 'if he hadn't been at hand then, there +would have been an end of me. We had separated, you know--' + +'What could make two men separate from each other in the darkness +of St James's Park?' + +'Well,--to tell you the truth, we had quarrelled. I had made an +ass of myself. You need not go into that any further, except +that you should know that it was all my fault. Of course it +wasn't a real quarrel,'--when he said this Emily, who was +sitting close to his bed-head, pressed his arm under the clothes +with her hand,--'but I had said something rough, and he had gone +on just to put an end to it.' + +'It was uncommonly foolish,' said the old Wharton. 'It was very +foolish going round the park at that time of night.' + +'No doubt, sir,--but it was my doing. And if he had not gone +with me, I should have gone alone.' Here there was another +pressure. 'I was a little low in spirits, and wanted the walk.' + +'But how is he hurt?' asked the father. + +'The man who was kneeling on me and squeezing the life out of me +jumped up when he heard Lopez coming, and struck him over the +head with a bludgeon. I heard the blow, though I was pretty well +done for at the time myself. I don't think they hit me, but they +got something round my neck, and I was half strangled before I +knew what they were doing. Poor Lopez bled horribly, but he says +he is none the worse for it.' Here there was another little +pressure under the bed-clothes; for Emily felt that her brother +was pleading for her in every word that he said. + +About ten on the following morning Lopez came and asked for Mr +Wharton. He was shown into the study, where he found the old +man, and at once began to give his account of the whole concern +in an easy, unconcerned manner. He had the large black patch on +the side of the head, which had been so put on as almost to +become him. But it was so conspicuous as to force a question +concerning it from Mr Wharton. 'I am afraid you got rather a +sharp knock yourself, Mr Lopez?' + +'I did get a knock, certainly;--but the odd part of it is that I +knew nothing about it till I found the blood in my eyes after +they had decamped. But I lost my hat, and there is a rather long +cut just above the temple. It hasn't done me the slightest harm. +The worst of it was that the got off with Everett's watch and +money.' + +'Had he much money?' + +'Forty pounds!' And Lopez shook his head, thereby signifying +that forty pounds at the present moment was more than Everett +Wharton could afford to lose. Upon the whole he carried himself +very well, ingratiating himself with the father, raising no +question about the daughter, and saying as little as possible +about himself. He asked whether he could go up and see his +friend, and or course was allowed to do so. A minute before he +entered the room Emily left it. They did not see each other. At +any rate he did not see her. But there was a feeling with both +of them that the other was close,--and there was something +present to them, almost amounting to conviction, that the +accident of the park robbery would be good for them. + +'He certainly did save Everett's life,' Emily said to her father +the next day. + +'Whether he did or not, he did his best,' said Mr Wharton. + +'When one's dearest relation is concerned,' said Emily, 'and when +his life has been saved, one feels that one has to be grateful +even if it has been an accident. I hope he knows, at any rate, +that I am grateful.' + +The old man had not been a week in London before he knew that he +had absolutely lost the game. Mrs Roby came back to her house +round the corner, ostensibly with the object of assisting her +relatives in minding Everett,--a purpose for which she certainly +was not needed, but, as the matter progressed, Mr Wharton was not +without suspicion that her return had been arranged by Ferdinand +Lopez. She took upon herself, at any rate, to be loud in the +praise of the man who had saved the life of her 'darling nephew', +--and to see that others also should be loud in his praise. In a +little time all London had heard of the affair, and it had been +discussed out of London. Down at Gatherum Castle the matter had +been known,--but the telling of it had always been to the great +honour and glory of the hero. Major Pountney had almost broken +his heart over it, and Captain Gunner, writing to his friend from +the Curragh, had asserted his knowledge that it was all a 'got- +up' thing between the two men. The "Breakfast Table" and the +"Evening Pulpit" had been loud in praise of Lopez, but the +"People's Banner", under the management of Mr Quintus Slide, had +naturally thrown down much suspicion on the incident when it +became known to the Editor that Ferdinand Lopez had been +entertained by the Duke and Duchess of Omnium. 'We have always +felt some slight doubts as to the details of the affair said to +have happened about a fortnight ago, just at midnight, in St +James's Park. We should be glad to know whether the policemen +have succeeded in tracing any of the stolen property, or whether +any real attempt to trace it has been made.' This was one of the +paragraphs, and it was hinted still more plainly afterwards that +Everett Wharton, being short of money, had arranged the plan with +the view or opening his father's purse. But the general effect +was certainly serviceable to Lopez. Emily Wharton did believe +him to be a hero. Everett was beyond measure grateful to him,-- +not only for having saved him from the thieves, but also for +having told nothing of his previous folly. Mrs Roby always +alluded to the matter as if, for all coming ages, every Wharton +ought to acknowledge that gratitude to a Lopez was the very first +duty of life. The old man felt the absurdity of much of this, +but still it offended him. When Lopez came he could not be rough +to the man who had done a service to his son. And then he found +himself compelled to do something. He must either take his +daughter away, or he must yield. But his power of taking his +daughter away seemed to be less than it had been. There was an +air of quiet, unmerited suffering about her, which quelled him. +And so he yielded. + +It was after this fashion. Whether affected by the violence of +the attack made upon him, or from other cause, Everett had been +unwell after the affair, and had kept his room for a fortnight. +During this time Lopez came to see him daily, and daily Emily +Wharton had to take herself out of the man's way, and hide +herself from the man's sight. This she did with much tact, and +with lady-like quietness, but not without an air of martyrdom, +which cut her father to the quick. 'My dear,' he said to her one +evening, as she was preparing to leave the drawing-room on +hearing his knock, 'stop and see him if you like it.' + +'Papa!' + +'I don't want to make you wretched. If I could have died first, +and got out of the way, perhaps it would have been better.' + +'Papa, you will kill me if you speak in that way! If there is +anything to say to him, do you say it.' And then she escaped. + +Well! It was an added bitterness, but no doubt it was his duty. +If he did intend to consent to the marriage, it was certainly for +him to signify that consent to the man. It would not be +sufficient that he should get out of the way and leave his girl +to act for herself as though she had no friend in the world. The +surrender which he had made to his daughter had come from a +sudden impulse at the moment, but it could not now be withdrawn. +So he stood out on the staircase, and when Lopez came up on his +way to Everett's bedroom, he took him by the arm and led him into +the drawing-room. 'Mr Lopez,' he said, 'you know that I have not +been willing to welcome you into my house as a son-in-law. There +are reasons on my mind,--perhaps prejudices,--which are strong +against it. They are as strong now as ever. But she wishes it, +and I have the utmost reliance on her constancy.' + +'So have I,' said Lopez. + +'Stop a moment, if you please, sir. In such a position a +father's thought is only to his daughter's happiness and +prosperity. It is not his own that he should consider. I hear +you well spoken of in the outer world, and I do not know that I +have a right to demand of my daughter that she should tear you +from her affections, because--because you are not just such as I +would have her husband to be. You have my permission to see +her.' Then before Lopez could say a word, he left the room, and +took his hat and hurried away to his club. + +As he went he was aware that he had made no terms at all;--but +then he was inclined to think that no terms could be made. There +seemed to be a general understanding that Lopez was doing well in +the world,--in a profession of the working of which Mr Wharton +himself knew absolutely nothing. He had a large fortune at his +own bestowal,--intended for his daughter,--which would have +been forthcoming at the moment and paid down on the nail, had she +married Arthur Fletcher. The very way in which the money should +be invested and tied up and made to be safe and comfortable to +the Fletcher-cum-Wharton interests generally, had been fully +settled among them. But now this other man, this stranger, this +Portuguese had entered upon the inheritance. But the stranger, +the Portuguese, must wait. Mr Wharton knew himself to be an old +man. She was his child, and he would not wrong her. But she +should have her money closely settled upon herself on his death, +--and on her children, should she then have any. It should be +done by his will. He would say nothing about money to Lopez, and +if Lopez should, as was probable, ask after his daughter's +fortune, he would answer to this effect. Thus he almost resolved +that he would give his daughter to the man without any inquiry as +to the man's means. The thing had to be done, and he would take +no further trouble about it. The comfort of his life was gone. +His home would no longer be a home to him. His daughter could +not now be his companion. The sooner that death came to him the +better, but till death should come he must console himself as +well as he could by playing whist at the Eldon. It was after +this fashion that Mr Wharton thought of the coming marriage +between his daughter and her lover. + +'I have your father's consent to marry your sister,' said +Ferdinand immediately on entering Everett's room. + +'I knew it must come soon,' said the invalid. + +'I cannot say that it has been given in the most gracious manner, +--but it has been given very clearly. I have his express +permission to see her. Those were his last words.' + +Then there was a sending of notes between the sick-room and the +sick man's sister's room. Everett wrote and Ferdinand wrote, and +Emily wrote,--short lines each of them,--a few words scrawled. +The last from Emily was as follows:--'Let him go into the +drawing-room. EW.' And so Ferdinand went down to meet his love, +--to encounter her for the first time as her recognized future +husband and engaged lover. Passionate, declared, and thorough as +was her love for this man, the familiar intercourse between them +had hitherto been very limited. There had been little,--we may +perhaps say none,--of that dalliance between them which is so +delightful to the man and so wondrous to the girl till custom +staled the edge of it. He had never sat with her arm around her +waist. He had rarely held even her hand in his for a happy +recognized pause of a few seconds. He had never kissed even her +brow. And there she was now, standing before him, all his own, +absolutely given to him, with the fullest assurance of love on +her part, and with the declared consent of her father. Even he +had been a little confused as he opened the door,--even he, as +he paused to close it behind him, had to think how he would +address her, and perhaps had thought in vain. But he had not a +moment for any thought after entering the room. Whether it was +his doing or hers he hardly knew, but she was in his arms, and +her lips were pressed to his, and his arms was tight around her +waist, holding her close to his breast. It seemed as though all +that was wanting had been understood in a moment, and as though +they had lived together and loved for the last twelve months, +with the fullest mutual confidence. And she was the first to +speak-- + +'Ferdinand, I am so happy! Are you happy?' + +'My love, my darling!' + +'You have never doubted me, I know,--since you first knew it.' + +'Doubted you, my girl!' + +'That I would be firm! And now papa has been good to me, and how +quickly one's sorrow is over. I am yours, my love, for ever and +ever. You knew it before, but I like to tell you. I will be +true to you in everything! Oh, my love!' + +He had but little to say to her, but we know that for "lovers +lacking matter, the cleanliest shift is to kiss." In such +moments silence charms, and almost any words are unsuitable +except those soft, bird-like murmurings of love which, sweet as +they are to the ear, can hardly be so written as to be sweet to +the reader. + + + +CHAPTER 24 + +THE MARRIAGE. + +The engagement was made in October, and the marriage took place +in the latter part of November. When Lopez pressed for an early +day,--which he did very strongly,--Emily raised no difficulties +in the way of his wishes. The father, foolishly enough, would at +first have postponed it, and made himself so unpleasant to Lopez +by his manner of doing this, that the bride was driven to take +her lover's part. As the thing was to be done, what was to be +gained by the delay? It could not be made a joy to him; nor, +looking at the matter as he looked at it, could he make a joy +even of her presence during the few intervening weeks. Lopez +proposed to take his bride into Italy for the winter months, and +to stay there at any rate through December and January, alleging +that he must be back in town by the beginning of February;--and +this was taken as a fair plea for hastening the marriage. + +When the matter was settled, he went back to Gatherum Castle, as +he had arranged to do with the Duchess and managed to interest +her Grace in all his proceedings. She promised that she would +call on his bride in town, and even went so far as to send her a +costly wedding present. 'You are sure she has got money?' said +the Duchess. + +'I am not sure of anything,' said Lopez,--'except this, that I +do not mean to ask a single question about it. If he says +nothing to me about money, I certainly shall say nothing to him. +My feeling is this, Duchess, that I am not marrying Miss Wharton +for her money. The money, if there be any, has had nothing to do +with it. But of course it will be a pleasure added if it be +there.' The Duchess complimented him, and told him that this was +exactly as it should be. + +But there was some delay as to the seat of Silverbridge. Mr +Grey's departure for Persia had been postponed,--the Duchess +thought only for a month or six weeks. The Duke, however, was of +the opinion that Mr Grey should not vacate his seat till the day +of his going was at any rate fixed. The Duke, moreover, had not +made any promise of supporting his wife's favourite. 'Don't set +your heart upon it too much, Mr Lopez,' the Duchess had said; +'but you may be sure I will not forget you.' Then it had been +settled between them that the marriage should not be postponed, +or the promised trip to Italy abandoned, because of the probable +vacancy at Silverbridge. Should the vacancy occur during his +absence, and should the Duke consent, he could return at once. +All this occurred in the last week or two before his marriage. + +There were various little incidents which did not tend to make +the happiness of Emily Wharton complete. She wrote to her cousin +Mary Wharton, and also to Lady Wharton;--and her father wrote to +Sir Alured; but the folk at Wharton Hall did not give their +adherence. Old Mrs Fletcher was still there, but John Fletcher +had gone home to Longbarns. The obduracy of the Whartons might +probably be owing to these two accidents. Mrs Fletcher declared +aloud, as soon as the tidings reached her, that she never wished +to see or hear anything more of Emily Wharton. 'She must be a +girl,' said Mrs Fletcher, 'of an ingrained vulgar taste.' Sir +Alured, whose letter from Mr Wharton had been very short, replied +as shortly to his cousin. 'Dear Abel,--We all hope that Emily +will be happy, though of course we regret the marriage.' The +father, though he had not himself written triumphantly, or even +hopefully,--as fathers are wont to write when their daughters +are given away in marriage,--was wounded by the curtness and +unkindness of the baronet's reply, and at the moment declared to +himself that he would never go to Hertfordshire any more. But on +the following day there came a worse blow than Sir Alured's +single line. Emily, not in the least doubting but that her +request would be received with the usual ready assent, had asked +Mary Wharton to be one of the bridesmaids. It must be supposed +that the answer to this was written, if not under the dictation, +at any rate under the inspiration, of Mrs Fletcher. It was as +follows: + + DEAR EMILY, + Of course we all wish you to be very happy in your + marriage; but equally of course we are all disappointed. + We had taught ourselves to think you would have bound + yourself closer with us down here, instead of separating + yourself entirely from us. + Under all the circumstances mamma thinks it would not be + wise for me to go up to London as one of your + bridesmaids. +Your affectionate cousin +MARY WHARTON + +This letter made poor Emily very angry for a day or two. 'It is +as unreasonable as it is ill-natured,' she said to her brother. + +'What else could you expect from a stiff-necked, prejudiced set +of provincial ignoramuses?' + +'What Mary says is not true. She did not think I was going to +bind myself closer with them, as she calls it. I have been quite +open with her, and have always told her that I could not be +Arthur Fletcher's wife.' + +'Why on earth should you marry to please them?' + +'Because they don't know Ferdinand and are determined to insult +him. It is an insult never to mention even his name. And to +refuse to come to my marriage! The world is wide and there is +room for us and them; but it makes me unhappy,--very unhappy,-- +that I should have to break with them.' And then tears came into +her eyes. It was intended, no doubt, to be a complete breach, +for not a single wedding present was sent from Wharton Hall to +the bride. But from Longbarns,--from John Fletcher himself,-- +there did come an elaborate coffee-pot, which, in spite of its +inutility and ugliness, was very valuable to Emily. + +But there was one other of her old Hertfordshire friends who +received the tidings of her marriage without quarrelling with +her. She herself had written to her old lover. + + MY DEAR ARTHUR, + There has been so much true friendship and affection + between us that I do not like that you should hear from + anyone by myself the news that I am to be married to Mr + Lopez. We are to be married on the 28th November,--this + day month. +Yours affectionately, +EMILY WHARTON + +To this she received a very short reply. + + DEAR EMILY, + I am as I always have been. + Yours, + A.F. + +He sent her no present, nor did he say a word beyond this; but in +her anger against the Hertfordshire people she never included +Arthur Fletcher. She pored over the little note a score of +times, and wept over it, and treasured it up among her most +inmost treasures, and told herself that it was a thousand pities. +She could talk, and did talk, to Ferdinand about the Whartons, +and about old Mrs Fletcher, and described to him the arrogance +and the stiffness and the ignorance of the Hertfordshire +squirearchy generally; but she never spoke to him of Arthur +Fletcher,--except in that one narrative of her past life, in +which, girl-like, she told her lover of the one other lover who +had loved her. + +But these things of course gave a certain melancholy to the +occasion which perhaps was increased by the season of the year,-- +by the November fogs, and by the emptiness and general sadness of +the town. And added to this was the melancholy of old Mr Wharton +himself. After he had given his consent to the marriage he +admitted a certain amount of intimacy with his son-in-law, asking +him to dinner, and discussing with him matters of general +interest,--but never, in truth, opening his heart to him. +Indeed, how can any man open his heart to one whom he dislikes? +At best he can only pretend to open his heart, and even this Mr +Wharton would not do. And very soon after the engagement Lopez +left London and went to the Duke's place in the country. His +objects in doing this and his aspirations in regard to a seat in +Parliament were all made known to his future wife,--but he said +not a word on the subject to her father; and she, acting under +his instructions, was equally reticent. 'He will get to know me +in time,' he said to her, 'and his manner will be softened +towards me. But till that time shall come, I can hardly expect +him to take a real interest in my welfare.' + +When Lopez left London not a word had been said between him and +his father-in-law as to money. Mr Wharton was content with such +silence, not wishing to make any promise as to immediate income +from himself, pretending to look at the matter as though he +should say that, as his daughter had made herself her own bed, +she must lie on it, such as it might be. And this silence +certainly suited Ferdinand Lopez at the time. To tell the truth +of him--though he was not absolutely penniless, he was altogether +propertyless. He had been speculating in money without capital, +and though he had now and again been successful, he had also now +and again failed. He had contrived that his name should be +mentioned here and there with the names of well-known wealthy +commercial men, and had for the last twelve months made up a +somewhat intimate alliance with that very sound commercial man Mr +Mills Happerton. But his dealings with Mr Sextus Parker were in +truth much more confidential than those with Mr Mills Happerton, +and at the present moment poor Sexty Parker was alternately +between triumph and despair as things this way or that. + +It was not therefore surprising that Ferdinand Lopez should +volunteer no statements to the old lawyer about money, and that +he should make no inquiries. He was quite confident that Mr +Wharton had the wealth which was supposed to belong to him, and +was willing to trust his power of obtaining a fair portion of it +as soon as he should in truth be Mr Wharton's son-in-law. +Situated as he was, of course, he must run some risk. And then, +too, he had spoken of himself with a grain of truth when he had +told the Duchess that he was not marrying for money. Ferdinand +Lopez was not an honest man or a good man. He was a self- +seeking, intriguing adventurer, who did not know honesty from +dishonesty when he saw them together. But he had at any rate +this good about him, that he did love the girl whom he was about +to marry. He was willing to cheat all the world,--so that he +might succeed, and make a fortune, and become a big and rich man; +but he did not wish to cheat her. It was his ambition to carry +her up with him, and he thought how he might best teach her to +assist him in doing so,--how he might win her to help him in his +cheating, especially in regard to her own father. For to +himself, to his own thinking, that which we call cheating was not +dishonesty. To this thinking there was something bold, grand, +picturesque, and almost beautiful in the battle which such a one +as himself must wage with the world before he could make his way +up in it. He would not pick a pocket or turn a false card, or, +as he thought, forge a name. That which he did, and desired to +do, took with the name of speculation. When he persuaded poor +Sexty Parker to hazard his all, knowing well that he induced the +unfortunate man to believe what was false, and to trust what was +utterly untrustworthy, he did not himself think that he was going +beyond the limits of fair enterprise. Now, in his marriage, he +had in truth joined himself to real wealth. Could he only +command at once that which he thought ought to be his wife's +share of the lawyer's money, he did not doubt but that he could +make a rapid fortune. It would not do for him to seem to be +desirous of money a day before the time;--but, when the time +should come, would not his wife help him in his great career? +But before she could do so she must be made to understand +something of the nature of his career, and of the need of such +aid. + +Of course there arose the question where they should live. But +he was ready with an immediate answer to this question. He had +been to look at a flat,--a set of rooms,--in the Belgrave +Mansions, in Pimlico, or Belgravia you ought more probably to +call it. He proposed to take them furnished till they could look +about at their leisure and get a house that should suit them. +Would she like a flat? She would have liked a cellar with him, +and so she told him. Then they went to look at the flat, and old +Mr Wharton condescended to go with them. Though his heart was +not in the business, still he thought he was bound to look after +his daughter's comfort. 'They are very handsome rooms,' said Mr +Wharton, looking round upon the rather gorgeous furniture. + +'Oh, Ferdinand, are they too grand?' + +'Perhaps they are a little more than we quite want just at +present,' he said. 'But I'll tell you sir, just how it happened. +A man I know wanted to let them for one year, just as they are, +and offered them to me for 450 pounds,--if I could pay the money +in advance, at the moment. And so I paid it.' + +'You have taken them then?' said Mr Wharton. + +'Is it all settled?' said Emily, almost with disappointment. + +'I have paid the money, and I have so far taken them. But it is +by no means settled. You have only to say you don't like them, +and you shall never be asked to put your foot in them again.' + +'But I do like them,' she whispered to him. + +'The truth is, sir, that there is no slightest difficulty in +parting with them. So that when the chance came in my way I +thought it best to secure the thing. It had all to be done, so +to say, in an hour. My friend,--as far as he was a friend, for I +don't know much about him,--wanted the money and wanted to be +off. So here they are, and Emily can do as she likes.' Of +course the rooms were regarded from that moment as the home for +the next twelve months of Mr and Mrs Ferdinand Lopez. + +And then they were married. The marriage was by no means a gay +affair, the chief management of it falling into the hands of Mrs +Dick Roby. Mrs Dick indeed provided not only the breakfast,--or +saw rather that it was provided for, for of course Mr Wharton +paid the bill,--but the four bridesmaids also, and all the +company. They were married in the church in Vere Street, then +went back to the house in Manchester Square, and within a couple +of hours were on their road to Dover. Through it all not a word +was said about money. At the last moment,--when he was free +from fear as any questions about his own affairs,--Lopez had +hoped that the old man would say something. 'You will find so +many thousand pounds at your banker's,'--or, 'You may look to me +for so many hundreds a year.' But there was not a word. The +girl had come to him without the assurance of a single shilling. +In his great endeavour to get her he had been successful. As he +thought of this in the carriage, he pressed his arm close round +her waist. If the worst were to come to the worst, he would +fight the world for her. But if this old man should be stubborn, +close-fisted, and absolutely resolved to bestow all his money +upon his son because of the marriage,--ah!--how should he be +able to bear such a wrong as that? + +Half-a-dozen times during that journey to Dover, he resolved to +think nothing further about it, at any rate for a fortnight; and +yet, before he reached Dover, he had said a word to her. 'I +wonder what your father means to do about money? He never told +you?' + +'Does it matter, dear?' + +'Not in the least. But of course I have to talk about everything +to you;--and it is odd.' + + + +CHAPTER 25 + +THE BEGINNING OF THE HONEYMOON. + +On the morning of his marriage, before he went to the altar, +Lopez made one or two resolutions as to his future conduct. The +first was that he would give himself a fortnight from his +marriage day in which he would not even think of money. He had +made certain arrangements, in the course of which he had caused +Sextus Parker to stare with surprise and to sweat with dismay, +but which nevertheless were successfully concluded. Bills were +drawn to run over to February, and ready money to a moderate +extent was forthcoming, and fiscal tranquillity was insured for a +certain short period. The confidence which Sextus Parker had +once felt in his friend's own resources was somewhat on the +decline, but he still believed in his friend's skill and genius, +and, after due inquiry, he believed entirely in his friend's +father-in-law. Sextus Parker sill thought that things would come +round. Ferdinand,--he always now called his friend by his +Christian name,--Ferdinand was beautifully, seraphically +confident. And Sexty, who had been in a manner magnetized by +Ferdinand, was confident too,--at certain periods of the day. +He was very confident when he had had his two or three glasses of +sherry at luncheon, and he was often delightfully confident with +his cigar and brandy-and-water at night. But there were periods +in the morning in which he would shake with fear and sweat with +dismay. + +But Lopez himself, having with his friend's assistance, arranged +his affairs comfortably for a month or two, had, as a first +resolution, promised himself a fortnight's freedom from all +carking cares. His second resolution had been that at the end of +the fortnight he would commence his operations on Mr Wharton. Up +to the last moment he had hoped,--had almost expected,--that a +sum of money would have been paid to him. Even a couple of +thousand pounds for the time would have been of great use to him; +--but no tender of any kind had been made. Not a word had been +said. Things could not of course go on in that way. He was not +going to play the coward with his father-in-law. Then he +bethought himself how he would act if his father-in-law were +sternly to refuse to do anything for him, and he assured himself +that in such circumstances he would make himself very +disagreeable to his father-in-law. And then his third resolution +had reference to his wife. She must be instructed in his ways. +She must learn to look at the world in his eyes. She must be +taught the great importance of money,--not in a gripping, hard- +fisted, prosaic spirit; but that she might participate in that +feeling of his own which had in it so much that was grand, so +much that was delightful, so much that was picturesque. He would +never ask her to be parsimonious,--never even to be economical. +He would take a glory in seeing her well dressed and well +attended, with her own carriage, and her own jewels. But she +must learn that the enjoyment of these things must be built upon +a conviction that the most important pursuit in the world was the +acquiring of money. And she must be made to understand, first of +all, that she had a right to at any rate a half of her father's +fortune. He had perceived that she had much influence with her +father, and she must be taught to use this influence +unscrupulously on her husband's behalf. + +We have already seen that under the pressure of his thoughts he +did break his resolution within an hour or two of his marriage. +It is easy for a man to say that he will banish care, so that he +may enjoy to the full the delights of the moment. But this is a +power which none but a savage possesses,--or perhaps an +Irishman. We have learned the lesson from the divines, the +philosophers, and the poets. Post equitem sedes atra cura. Thus +was Ferdinand Lopez mounted high on his horse,--for he had +triumphed greatly in his marriage, and really felt that the world +could give him no delight so great as to have her beside him, and +her as his own. But the inky devil sat close upon his shoulders. +Where would he be at the end of three months if Mr Wharton would +do nothing for him,--and if a certain venture in guano, to which +he had tempted Sexty Parker, should not turn out the right way? +He believed in the guano and he believed in Mr Wharton, but it is +a terrible thing to have one's whole position in the world +hanging upon either an unwilling father-in-law or a probable rise +in the value of manure. And then how would he reconcile himself +to her if both father-in-law and guano should go against him, and +how should he endure her misery? + +The inky devil had forced him to ask the question even before +they had reached Dover. 'Does it matter,' she had asked. Then +for the time he had repudiated his solicitude, and had declared +that no question of money was of much consequence to him,-- +thereby making his future task with her so much the more +difficult. After that he said nothing to her on the subject on +that their wedding day,--but he could not prevent himself from +thinking of it. Had he gone to the depth of ruin without a wife, +what would it have mattered? For years past he had been at the +same kind of work,--but while he was unmarried there had been a +charm in the very danger. And as a single man he had succeeded, +being sometimes utterly impecunious, but still with the capacity +of living. Now he had laden himself with a burden of which the +very intensity of his love immensely increased the weight. As +for not thinking of it, that was impossible. Of course she must +help him. Of course she must be taught how imperative it was +that she should help him at once. 'Is there anything troubles +you,' she asked, as she sat leaning against him after their +dinner in the hotel at Dover. + +'What should trouble me on such a day as this?' + +'If there is anything, tell it me. I do not mean to say now, at +this moment,--unless you wish it. Whatever may be your +troubles, it shall be my present happiness, as it is my first +duty, to lessen them, if I can.' + +The promise was very well. It all went in the right direction. +It showed him that she was at any rate prepared to take a part in +the joint work of their life. But, nevertheless, she should be +spared for the moment. 'When there is trouble, you shall be told +everything,' he said, pressing his lips to her brow; 'but there +is nothing that need trouble you yet.' He smiled as he said +this, but there was something in the tone of his voice which told +her that there would be trouble. + +When he was in Paris he received a letter from Parker, to whom he +had been obliged to entrust a running address, but from whom he +had enforced a promise that there should be no letter-writing +unless under very pressing circumstances. The circumstances had +not been pressing. The letter contained only one paragraph of +any importance, and that was due to what Lopez tried to regard as +fidgety cowardice on the part of his ally. 'Please to bear in +mind that I can't and won't arrange for the bills for 1,500 +pounds due on 3rd of February.' That was the paragraph. Who had +asked him to arrange for these bills? And yet Lopez was well +aware that he intended poor Sexty should 'arrange' for them in +the event of his failure to make arrangements with Mr Wharton. + +At last he was quite unable to let the fortnight pass by without +beginning the lessons which his wife had to learn. As for the +first intention as to driving his cares out of his own mind for +that time, he had long since abandoned even the attempt. It was +necessary to him that a reasonable sum of money should be +extracted from the father-in-law, at any rate before the end of +January, and a week or even a day might be of importance. They +had hurried on southwards from Paris, and before the end of the +first week had passed over the Simplon, and were at a pleasant +inn on the shores of the Como. Everything in their travels had +been as yet delightful to Emily. This man, of whom she knew in +truth so little, had certain good gifts,--gifts of intellect, +gifts of temper, gifts of voice and manner and outward +appearance,--which had hitherto satisfied her. A husband who is +also an eager lover must be delightful to a young bride. And +hitherto no lover could have been more tender than Lopez. Every +word and every act, every look and every touch, had been loving. +Had she known the world better she might have felt, perhaps, that +something was expected where so much was given. Perhaps a +rougher manner, with some little touch of marital self-assertion, +might be a safer commencement of married life,--safer to the +wife as coming from her husband. Arthur Fletcher by this time +would have asked her to bring him his slippers, taking infinite +pride in having his little behests obeyed by so sweet a servitor. +That also would have been pleasant to her had her heart in the +first instance followed his image; but now also the idolatry of +Ferdinand Lopez had been very pleasant. + +But the moment for the first lesson had come. 'Your father has +not written to you since you started?' he said. + +'Not a line. He has not known our address. He is never very +good at letter-writing. I did write to him from Paris, and I +scribbled a few words to Everett yesterday.' + +'It is very odd that he should never have written to me.' + +'Did you expect him to write?' + +'To tell you the truth, I rather did. Not that I should have +dreamed of his corresponding with me had he spoken to me on a +certain subject. But as, on that subject, he never opened his +mouth to me, I almost thought he would write.' + +'Do you mean about money?' she asked in a very low voice. + +'Well;--yes; I do mean about money. Things hitherto have gone +so very strangely between us. Sit down, dear, till we have a +real domestic talk.' + +'Tell me everything,' she said as she nestled herself close to +his side. + +'You know how it was at first between him and me. He objected to +me violently,--I mean openly, to my face. But he based his +objection solely on my nationality,--nationality and blood. As +to my condition in the world, fortune, or income, he never asked +a word. That was strange.' + +'I suppose he thought he knew.' + +'He could not have thought he knew, dearest. But it was not for +me to force the subject upon him. You can see that.' + +'I am sure whatever you did was right, Ferdinand.' + +'He is indisputably a rich man,--one who might be supposed to be +able and willing to give an only daughter a considerable fortune. +Now I certainly had never thought of marrying for money.' Here +she rubbed her face upon his arm. 'I felt that it was not for me +to speak of money. If he chose to be reticent, I could be so +equally. Had he asked me, I should have told him that I had no +fortune, but was making a large though precarious income. It +would then be for him to declare what he intended to do. That +would, I think, have been preferable. As it is we are all in +doubt. In my position a knowledge of what your father intends to +do would be most valuable to me.' + +'Should you not ask him?' + +'I believe there has always been a perfect confidence between you +and him?' + +'Certainly,--as to all our ways of living. But he never said a +word to me about money in his life.' + +'And yet, my darling, money is most important.' + +'Of course it is. I know that, Ferdinand.' + +'Would you mind asking?' She did not answer him at once, but sat +thinking. And he also paused before he went on with his lesson. +But, in order that the lesson should be efficacious, it would be +so well that he should tell her as much as he could even at this +first lecture. 'To tell you the truth, this is quite essential +to me at present,--very much more than I had thought it would be +when we fixed the day for our marriage.' Her mind within her +recoiled at this, though she was very careful that he should not +feel any such motion in her body. 'My business is precarious.' + +'What is your business, Ferdinand?' Poor girl! That she should +have been allowed to marry a man, and than have to ask him such a +question! + +'It is generally commercial. I buy and sell on speculation. The +world, which is shy of new words, has not yet given it a name. I +am a good deal at present in the South American trade.' She +listened, but received no glimmering of an idea from his words. +'When we were engaged everything was as bright as roses with me.' + +'Why did you not tell me this before,--so that we might have +been more prudent?' + +'Such prudence would have been horrid to me. But the fact is +that I should not now have spoken to you at all, but that since +we left England I have had letters from a sort of partner of +mine. In our business things will go astray sometimes. It would +be of great service to me if I could learn what are your father's +intentions.' + +'You want him to give you some money at once.' + +'It would not be unusual, dear,--when there is money to be +given. But I want you specially to ask him what he himself would +propose to do. He knows already that I have taken a home for you +and paid for it, and he knows,--But it does not signify going +into that.' + +'Tell me everything.' + +'He is aware that there are many expenses. Of course if he were +a poor man there would not be a word about it. I can with +absolute truth declare that had he been penniless, it would have +made no difference to my suit to you. But it would possibly have +made some difference as to our after plans. He is a thorough man +of the world, and he must know all that. I am sure he must feel +that something is due to you,--and to me as your husband. But +he is odd-tempered, and, as I have not spoken to him, he chooses +to be silent to me. Now, my darling, you and I cannot afford to +wait and see who can be silent the longest.' + +'What do you want me to do?' + +'To write to him.' + +'And ask him for money?' + +'Not exactly in that way. I think you should say that we should +be glad to know what he intends to do, also saying that a certain +sum of money would at present be of use to me.' + +'Would it not be better from you? I only ask, Ferdinand. I +never have even spoken to him about money, and of course he would +know that you have dictated what I said.' + +'No doubt he would. It is natural that I should do so. I hope +the time may come when I may write quite freely to your +father myself, but hitherto has hardly been courteous to me. I +would rather that you should write,--if you do not mind it. +Write your own letter, and show it me. If there is anything too +much or anything too little I will tell you.' + +And so the first lesson was taught. The poor young wife did not +at all like the lesson. Even within her own bosom she found no +fault with her husband. But she began to understand that the +life before her was not to be a life of roses. The first word +spoken to her in the train, before it reached Dover, had +explained something of this to her. She had felt at once that +there would be trouble about money. And now, though she did not +at all understand what might be the nature of those troubles, +though she had derived no information whatever from her husband's +hints about the South American trade, though she was ignorant as +ever of his affairs, yet she felt that the troubles would come +soon. But never for a moment did it seem to her that he had been +unjust in bringing her into troubled waters. They had loved each +other, and therefore, whatever might be the troubles, it was +right that they should marry each other. There was not a spark +of anger against her in her bosom;--but she was unhappy. + +He demanded from her the writing of the letter almost immediately +after the conversation which has been given above, and of course +the letter was written,--written and recopied, for the paragraph +about money was, of course, at last of his wording. And she +could not make the remainder of the letter pleasant. The feeling +that she was making a demand for money on her father ran through +it all. But the reader need only see the passage in which +Ferdinand Lopez made his demand,--through her hand. + +'Ferdinand has been speaking to me about my fortune.' It had +gone much against the grain with her to write these words, 'my +fortune'. 'But I have no fortune,' she said. He insisted +however, explaining to her that she was entitled to use these +words by her father's undoubted wealth. And so, with an aching +heart, she wrote them. 'Ferdinand has been speaking to me about +my fortune. Of course, I told him I knew nothing, and that as he +had never spoken to me about money before our marriage, I had +never asked about it. He says that it would be of great service +to him to know what are your intentions, and also that he hopes +that you may find it convenient to allow him to draw upon you for +some portion of it at present. He says that 3,000 pounds would +be of great use to him in his business.' That was the paragraph, +and the work of writing it was so distasteful to her that she +could hardly bring herself to form the letters. It seemed as +though she were seizing the advantage of the first moment of +freedom to take a violent liberty with her father. + +'It is altogether his own fault, my pet,' he said to her. 'I +have the greatest respect in the world for your father, but he +has allowed himself to fall into the habit of keeping all his +affairs secret from his children; and, of course, as they go into +the world, this secrecy must in some degree be invaded. There is +precisely the same going on between him and Everett; only Everett +is a great deal rougher to him than you are likely to be. He +never will let Everett know whether he is to regard himself as a +rich man or a poor man.' + +'He gives him an allowance.' + +'Because he cannot help himself. To you he does not do even as +much as that, because he can help himself. I have chosen to +leave it to him and he has done nothing. But this is not quite +fair, and he must be told so. I don't think he could be told in +more dutiful language.' + +Emily did not like the idea of telling her father anything which +he might not like to hear; but her husband's behests were to her +in these, her early married, days, quite imperative. + + + +CHAPTER 26 + +THE END OF THE HONEYMOON. + +Mrs Lopez had begged her father to address his reply to her at +Florence, where,--as she explained to him,--they expected to +find themselves within a fortnight from the date of her writing. +They had reached the lake about the end of November, when the +weather had still been fine, but they intended to pass the winter +months of December and January within the warmth of the cities. +That intervening fortnight was to her a period of painful +anticipation. She feared to see her father's handwriting, feeling +almost sure that he would be bitterly angry with her. During +that time her husband frequently spoke to her about the letter,-- +about her own letter and her father's reply. It was necessary +that she should learn her lesson, and she could only do so by +having the subject of money made familiar to her ears. It was +not part of his plan to tell her anything of the means by which +he hoped to make himself a wealthy man. The less she knew of +that the better. But the fact that her father absolutely owed to +him a large amount of money as her fortune could not be made too +clear to her. He was very desirous to do this in such a manner +as not to make her think he was accusing her,--or that he would +accuse her if the money was not forthcoming. But she must learn +the fact, and must be imbued with the conviction that her husband +would be the most ill-treated of men unless the money were +forthcoming. 'I am a little nervous about it too,' said he, +alluding to the expected letter;--'not so much as to the money +itself, though that is important; but as to his conduct. If he +chooses simply to ignore us after our marriage, he will be +behaving very badly.' She had no answer to make to this. She +could not defend her father, because by doing so she would offend +her husband. And yet her whole life-long trust in her father +could not allow her to think it possible that he should behave +ill to them. + +On their arrival at Florence he went at once to the post-office, +but there was at yet no letter. The fortnight, however, which +had been named had only just run itself out. They went from day +to day inspecting buildings, looking at pictures, making for +themselves a taste in marble and bronze, visiting the lovely +villages which cluster on the hills around the city,--doing +precisely in this respect as do all young married couples who +devote a part of their honeymoon to Florence;--but in all their +little journeyings and in all their work of pleasure the inky +devil sat not only behind him but behind her also. The heavy +care of life was already beginning to work furrows on her face. +She would already sit, knitting her brow, as she thought of +coming troubles. Would not her father certainly refuse? And +would not her husband then begin to be less loving and less +gracious to herself? + +Every day for a week he called at the post-office when he went +out with her, and still the letter did not come. 'It can hardly +be possible,' he said at last to her, 'that he should decline to +answer his own daughter's letter.' + +'Perhaps he is ill,' she replied. + +'If there were anything of that kind Everett would tell us.' + +'Perhaps he has gone back to Hertfordshire?' + +'Of course his letter would go after him. I own it is very +singular to me that he should not write. It looks as if he were +determined to cast you off from him altogether because you have +married against his wishes.' + +'Not that, Ferdinand;--do not say that!' + +'Well, we shall see.' + +And on the next day they did see. He went to the post-office +before breakfast, and on this day he returned with a letter in +his hand. She was sitting waiting for him with a book in her +lap, and saw the letter at once. 'Is it from papa?' she said. +He nodded his head as he handed it to her. 'Open it and read it, +Ferdinand. I have got to be so nervous about it, that I cannot +do it. It seems to be so important.' + +'Yes;--it is important,' he said with a grim smile, and then he +opened the letter. She watched his face closely as he read it, +and at first she could tell nothing from it. Then, in that +moment, it first occurred to her that he had a wonderful command +of his features. All this, however, lasted but half a minute. +Then he chucked the letter, lightly, in among the tea-cups, and +coming to her took her closely in her arms and almost hurt her by +the violence of his repeated kisses. + +'Has he written kindly?' she said, as soon as she could find her +breath to speak. + +'By George, he's a brick after all. I own I did not think it. +My darling, how much I owe you for all the troubles I have given +you.' + +'Oh Ferdinand! If he has been good to you, I shall be so happy.' + +'He has been awfully good. Ha, ha, ha!' And then he began +walking about the room as he laughed in an unnatural way. 'Upon +my word it is a pity we didn't say four thousand, or five. Think +of his taking me just at my word. It's a great deal better than +I expected; that's all that I can say. And at the present moment +it is of the most importance to me.' + +All this did not take above a minute or two, but during that +minute or two she had been so bewildered by his manner as almost +to fancy that the expressions of his delight had been ironical. +He had been so unlike himself as she had known him that she +almost doubted the reality of his joy. But when she took the +letter and read it, she found that his joy was true enough. The +letter was very short, and was as follows: + + MY DEAR EMILY, + What you have said under your husband's instruction about + money, I find upon consideration to be fair enough. I + think he should have spoken to me before his marriage; + but then again perhaps I ought to have spoken to him. As + it is, I am willing to give him the sum he requires, and + I will pay 3,000 pounds to his account, if he would tell + me where he would require to have it lodged. Then I shall + think I have done my duty by him. What I shall do with + the remainder of any money that I may have, I do not + think he is entitled to ask. + + Everett is well again, and as idle as ever. Your aunt + Roby is making a fool of herself at Harrowgate. I have + heard nothing from Hertfordshire. Everything is quiet + and lonely here. + + Your affectionate father + A. WHARTON + +As he had dined at the Eldon every day since his daughter had +left him, and had played on an average a dozen rubbers of whist +daily, he was not justified in complaining the loneliness of +London. + +The letter seemed to Emily herself to be very cold, and had not +her husband rejoiced over it so warmly she would have considered +it to be unsatisfactory. No doubt the 3,000 pounds would be +given; but that, as far as she could understand her father's +words, was to be the whole of her fortune. She had never known +anything of her father's affairs or his intentions, but she had +certainly supposed that her fortune would be very much more than +this. She had learned in some indirect way that a large sum of +money would have gone with her hand to Arthur Fletcher, could she +have brought herself to marry that suitor favoured by her family. +And now, having learned, as she had learned, that money was of +vital importance to her husband, she was dismayed at what seemed +to her to be parental parsimony. But he was overjoyed,--so much +so that for a while he lost that restraint over himself which was +habitual to him. He ate his breakfast in a state of exultation, +and talked,--not alluding specially to this 3,000 pounds,--as +though he had the command of almost unlimited means. He ordered +a carriage and drove her out, and bought presents for her,-- +things as to which they had both before decided that they should +not be bought because of the expense. 'Pray don't spend your +money for me,' she said to him. 'It's nice to have you giving me +things, but it would be nicer to me even than that to think that +I could save you expense.' + +But he was not in a mood to be denied. 'You don't understand,' +he said. 'I don't want to be saved from little extravagances of +this sort. Owing to circumstances, your father's money was at +this moment of importance to me,--but he has answered to the +whip and the money is there, and the trouble is over. We can +enjoy ourselves now. Other troubles will spring up, no doubt, +before long.' + +She did not quite like being told that her father 'had answered +to the whip',--but she was willing to believe that it was a +phrase common among men to which it would be prudish to make +objection. There was, also, something in her husband's elation +which was distasteful to her. Could it be that reverses of +fortune with reference to moderate sums of money, such as this +which was now coming into his hands, would always affect him in +the same way? Was it not almost unmanly, or at any rate was it +not undignified? And yet she tried to make the best of it, and +lent herself to his holiday mood as well as she was able. 'Shall +I write and thank papa?' she said that evening. + +'I have been thinking of that,' he said. 'You can write if you +like, and of course you will. But I shall also write, and had +better do so a post or two before you. As he has come round I +suppose I ought to show myself civil. What he says about the +rest of his money is of course absurd. I shall ask him nothing +about it, but no doubt after a bit he will make permanent +arrangements.' Everything in the business wounded her more or +less. She now perceived that he regarded this 3,000 pounds only +as the first instalment of what he might get, and that his joy +was due simply to this temporary success. And then he called her +father absurd to her face. For a moment she thought that she +would defend her father; but she could not as yet bring herself +to question her husband's words even on such a subject as that. + +He did write to Mr Wharton, but in doing so he altogether laid +aside that flighty manner which for a while had annoyed her. He +thoroughly understood that the wording of the letter might be +very important to him, and he took much trouble with it. It must +be now the great work of his life to ingratiate himself with this +old man, so that, at any rate at the old man's death, he might +possess at least half of the old man's money. He must take care +that there should be no division between his wife and her father +of such a nature as to make the father think that his son ought +to enjoy any special privilege of primogeniture or of male +inheritance. And if it could be so managed that the daughter +should before the old man's death, become his favourite child, +that also would be well. He was therefore very careful about the +letter, which was as follows: + + MY DEAR MR WHARTON + I cannot let your letter to Emily pass without thanking + you myself for the very liberal response made by you to + what was of course a request from myself. Let me in the + first place assure you that had you, before our marriage, + made any inquiry about my money affairs, I would have + told you everything with accuracy; but as you did not do + so I thought that I should seem to intrude upon you, if I + introduced the subject. It is too long for a letter, but + whenever you may like to allude to it, you will find that + I will be quite open with you. + + I am engaged in business which often requires the use of + considerable amount of capital. It has so happened that + ever since we were married the immediate use of sum of + money became essential to me to save me from sacrificing + a cargo of guano, which will be of greatly increased + value in three months' time, but which otherwise must + have gone for what it would now fetch. Your kindness + will see me through that difficulty. + + Of course there is something precarious in such a + business as mine,--but I am endeavouring to make it less + so from day to day, and hope very shortly to bring into + that humdrum groove which best befits a married man. + Should I ask further assistance from you in doing this, + perhaps you will not refuse it if I can succeed in making + the matter clear to you. As it is I thank you sincerely + for what you have done. I will ask you to pay the 3,000 + pounds you have so kindly promised to my account at + Messrs. Hunky and Sons, Lombard Street. They are not + regular bankers, but I have an account there. + + We are wandering about and enjoying ourselves mightily in + the properly romantic manner. Emily sometimes seems to + think that she would like to give up business, and + London, and all subsidiary troubles, in order that she + might settle herself for life under an Italian sky. But + the idea does not generally remain with her very long. + Already she is beginning to show symptoms of home + sickness in regard to Manchester Square. + + Yours always most faithfully, + FERDINAND LOPEZ + +To this letter Lopez received no reply;--nor did he expect one. +Between Emily and her father a few letters passed, not very long; +nor as regarded those from Mr Wharton, were they very +interesting. In none of them, however, was there any mention of +money. But early in January, Lopez received a more pressing,-- +we might almost say an agonising letter from his friend Parker. +The gist of the letter was to make Lopez understand that Parker +must at once sell certain interests in a coming cargo of guano,-- +at whatever sacrifice,--unless he could be certified as that +money which must be paid in February, and which he, Parker, must +pay, should Ferdinand Lopez be at that moment be unable to meet +his bond. The answer sent to Parker shall be given to the +reader. + + MY DEAR OLD AWFULLY SILLY, AND ABSURDLY, IMPATIENT FRIEND + You are always like a toad under a harrow, and that + without the slightest cause. I have money lying at + Hunky's more than double enough for those bills. Why + can't you trust a man? If you won't trust me in saying + so, you can go to Mills Happerton and ask him. But, + remember, I shall be very much annoyed if you do so,-- + and that such an inquiry cannot but be injurious to me. + If, however, you won't believe me, you can go and ask. At + any rate, don't meddle with the guano. We should lose + over 4,000 pounds each of us, if you were to do so. By + George, a man should neither marry, nor leave London for + a day, if he has to do with a fellow as nervous as you + are. As it is I think I shall be back in a week or two + before my time is properly up, lest you and one or two + others should think that I have levanted altogether. + + I have no hesitation in saying that more fortunes are + lost in business by trembling cowardice than by any + amount of imprudence or extravagance. My hair stands on + end when you talk of parting with guano in December + because there are bills which have to be met in February. + Pluck up your heart, man, and look around, and see what + is done by men with good courage. + + Yours always + FERDINAND LOPEZ + +These were the only communications between our married couple and +their friends at home with which I need trouble my readers. Nor +need I tell any further tales of their honeymoon. If the time +was not one of complete and unalloyed joy to Emily,--and we must +fear that it was not,--it is to be remembered that but very +little complete and unalloyed joy is allowed to sojourners in +that vale of tears, even though they have been but two months +married. In the first week in February they appeared in the +Belgrave mansion, and Emily Lopez took possession of her new home +with a heart as full of love for her husband as it had been when +she walked out of the church in Vere Street, though it may be +that some of her sweetest illusions had already been dispelled. + + + +CHAPTER 27 + +THE DUKE'S MISERY. + +We must go back for a while to Gatherum Castle and see the guests +whom the Duchess had collected there for her Christmas +festivities. The hospitality of the Duke's house had been +maintained almost throughout the autumn. Just at the end of +October they went to Matching, for what the Duchess called a +quiet month--which, however, at the Duke's urgent request, +became six weeks. But even here the house was full all the time, +though from deficiency of bedrooms the guests were very much less +numerous. But at Matching the Duchess had been uneasy and almost +cross. Mrs Finn had gone with her husband to Ireland, and she +had taught herself to fancy that she could not live without Mrs +Finn. And her husband had insisted upon having round him +politicians of his own sort, men who really preferred work to +archery, or even to hunting, and who discussed the evils of +direct taxation absolutely in the drawing-room. The Duchess was +assured that the country could not be governed by the support of +such men as these, and was very glad to get back to Gatherum,-- +whither also came Phineas Finn with his wife, and St Bungay +people, and Barrington Erle, and Mr Monk, the Chancellor of the +Exchequer, with Lord and Lady Cantrip, and Lord and Lady +Drummond,--Lord Drummond being the only representative of the +other or coalesced party. And Major Pountney was there, having +been urgent with the Duchess,--and having fully explained to his +friend Captain Gunner that he had acceded to the wishes of his +hostess only on the assurance of her Grace that the house would +not be again troubled with the presence of Ferdinand Lopez. Such +assurances were common between the two friends, but were +innocent, as, of course, neither believed the other. And Lady +Rosina was agin there,--with many others. The melancholy +poverty of Lady Rosina had captivated the Duke. 'She shall come +and live here, if you like,' the Duchess had said in answer to a +request from her husband on his new friend's behalf,--'I've no +doubt she will be willing.' The place was not crowded as it had +been before, but still about thirty guests sat down to dinner +daily, and Locock, Millepois, and Mrs Pritchard were all kept +hard at work. Nor was our Duchess idle. She was always making +up the party,--meaning the coalition,--doing something to +strengthen the buttresses, writing letters to little people, who, +little as they were, might become big by amalgamation. 'One +always has to be binding one's faggot,' she said to Mrs Finn, +having read her Aesop, not altogether in vain. 'Where should we +have been without you?' she had whispered to Sir Orlando Drought +when that gentleman was leaving Gatherum at the termination of +his second visit. She had particularly disliked Sir Orlando, and +was aware that her husband had been peculiarly shy of Sir Orlando +since the day on which they had walked together in the park,-- +and consequently, the Duchess had whispered to him. 'Don't bind +your faggot too conspicuously,' Mrs Finn had said to her. Then +the Duchess had fallen to a seat almost exhausted by labour, +mingled with regrets, and by the doubts which from time to time +pervaded even her audacious spirit. 'I'm not a god,' she said, +'or a Pitt, or an Italian with a long name beginning with M., +that I should be able to do these things without ever making a +mistake. And yet they must be done. And as for him,--he does +not help me in the least. He wanders about among the clouds of +the multiplication table, and thinks that a majority will drop +into his mouth because he does not shut it. Can you tie the +faggot any better?' 'I think I would leave it untied,' said Mrs +Finn. 'You would not do anything of the kind. You'd be just as +fussy as I am.' And thus the game was carried on at Gatherum +Castle from week to week. + +'But you won't leave him?' This was said to Phineas Finn by his +wife a day or two before Christmas, and the question was +introduced to ask whether Phineas Finn thought of giving up his +place. + +'Not if I can help it.' + +'You like the work.' + +'That has but little to do with the question, unfortunately. I +certainly like having something to do. I like earning money.' + +'I don't know why you like that especially,' said the wife +laughing. + +'I do at any rate,--and, in a certain sense, I like authority. +But in serving with the Duke I find a lack of that sympathy which +one should have with one's chief. He would never say a word to +me unless I spoke to him. And when I do speak, though he is +studiously civil,--much too courteous,--I know that he is +bored. He has nothing to say to me about the country. When he +has anything to communicated, he prefers to write a minute for +Warburton, who then writes to Morton,--and so it reaches me.' + +'Doesn't it do as well?' + +'It may do with me. There are reasons which bind me to him, +which will not bind other men. Men don't talk to me about it, +because they know I am bound to him through you. But I am aware +of the feeling which exists. You can't be really loyal to a king +if you never see him,--if he be always locked up in some almost +divine recess.' + +'A king may make himself too common, Phineas.' + +'No doubt. A king has to know where to draw the line. But the +Duke draws no intentional line at all. He is not be nature +gregarious or communicative, and is therefore hardly fitted to be +the head of a ministry.' + +'It will break her heart if anything goes wrong.' + +'She ought to remember that Ministries seldom live very long,' +said Phineas. 'But she'll recover even if she does break her +heart. She is too full of vitality to be much repressed by +calamity. Have you heard what is to be done about Silverbridge?' + +'The Duchess wants to get it for this man, Ferdinand Lopez.' + +'But it has not been promised yet.' + +'The seat is not vacant,' said Mrs Finn, 'and I don't know when +it will be vacant. I think there is a hitch about it,--and I +think the Duchess is going to be made very angry.' + +Throughout the autumn the Duke had been an unhappy man. While +the absolute work of the Session had lasted he had found +something to console him; but now, though he was surrounded by +private secretaries, and though dispatch boxes went and came +twice a day, though there were dozens of letters as to which he +had to give some instruction,--yet, there was in truth nothing +for him to do. It seemed to him that all the real work of +Government had been filched from him by his colleagues, and that +he was stuck up in pretended authority,--a kind of wooden Prime +Minister, from whom no real ministration was demanded. His first +real fear had been that he was himself unfit;--but now he was +uneasy, fearing that others thought him to be unfit. There was +Mr Monk with his budget, and Lord Drummond with his three or four +dozen half-rebellious colonies, and Sir Orlando Drought with the +House to lead and a ship to build, and Phineas Finn with his +scheme of municipal Home Rule for Ireland, and Lord Ramsden with +a codified Statute Book,--all full of work, all with something +special to be done. But for him,--he had to arrange who should +attend the Queen, what ribbons should be given away, and what +middle-aged young man should move the address. He sighed as he +thought of those happy days in which he used to fear that his +mind and body would both give way under the pressure of decimal +coinage. + +But Phineas Finn had read the Duke's character right in saying +that he was neither gregarious nor communicative, and therefore +but little fitted to rule Englishmen. He had thought that it was +so himself, and now from day to day he was becoming more assured +of his own deficiency. He could not throw himself into cordial +relations with the Sir Orlando Droughts, or even the Mr Monks. +But, though he had never wished to be put into his present high +office, now that he was there he dreaded the sense of failure +which would follow his descent from it. It is this feeling +rather than genuine ambition, rather than the love of power or +patronage or pay, which induces men to cling to place. The +absence of real work, and the quantity of mock work, both alike +made the life wearisome to him; but he could not endure the idea +that it should be written in history that he had allowed himself +to be made a faineant Prime Minister, and than had failed even in +that. History would forget what he had done as a working +Minister in recording the feebleness of the Ministry which would +bear his name. + +The one man with whom he could talk freely, and from whom he +could take advice, was now with him, here at his Castle. He was +shy at first even with the Duke of St Bungay, but that shyness he +could generally overcome, after a few words. But though he was +always sure of his old friend's sympathy and of his friend's +wisdom, yet he doubted his old friend's capacity to understand +himself. The young Duke felt the old Duke to be thicker- +skinned than himself and therefore unable to appreciate the +thorns which so sorely worried his own flesh. 'They talk to me +about a policy,' said the host. They were closeted at this time +in the Prime Minister's own sanctum, and there yet remained an +hour before they need dress for dinner. + +'Who talks about a policy?' + +'Sir Orlando Drought especially.' For the Duke of Omnium had +never forgotten the arrogance of that advice given in the park. + +'Sir Orlando is of course entitled to speak, though I do not know +that he is likely to say anything very well worth of hearing. +What is his special policy?' + +'If he had any, of course, I would hear him. It is not that he +wants any special thing to be done, but he thinks that I should +get up some special thing in order that Parliament may be +satisfied.' + +'If you wanted to create a majority that might be true. Just +listen to him and have done with it.' + +'I cannot go on in that way. I cannot submit to what amounts to +complaint from the gentlemen who are acting with me. Nor would +they submit long to my silence. I am beginning to feel that I +have been wrong.' + +'I don't think you have been wrong at all.' + +'A man is wrong if he attempts to carry a weight too great for +his strength.' + +'A certain nervous sensitiveness, from which you should free +yourself as from a disease, is your only source of weakness. +Think about your business as a shoemaker thinks of his. Do your +best, and then let your customers judge for themselves. Caveat +emptor. A man should never endeavour to price himself, but +should accept the price which others put on him,--only being +careful that he should learn what that price is. Your policy +should be to keep your government together by a strong majority. +After all, the making of new laws is too often but an unfortunate +necessity laid on us by the impatience of the people. A +lengthened period of quiet and therefore good government with a +minimum of new laws would be the greatest benefit the country +could receive. When I recommended you to comply with the Queen's +behest I did so because I thought you might inaugurate such a +period more certainly than any other one man.' This old Duke was +quite content with the state of things such as he described. He +had been a Cabinet Minister for more than half his life. He +liked being a Cabinet Minister. He thought it well for the +country generally that his party should be in power,--and if not +his party in its entirety, then as much of his party as might be +possible. He did not expect to be written of as Pitt or a +Somers, but he thought that memoirs would speak of him as a +useful nobleman,--and he was contented. He was not only not +ambitious himself, but the effervescence and general turbulence +of ambition in other men was distasteful to him, and the power of +submitting to defeat without either shame or sorrow had become +perfect with him by long practice. He would have made his +brother Duke such as he was himself,--had not his brother Duke +been so lamentably thin-skinned. + +'I suppose we must try it for another Session?' said the Duke of +Omnium with a lachrymose voice. + +'Of course we must,--and for others after that, I both hope and +trust,' said the Duke of St Bungay, getting up. 'If I don't go +upstairs I shall be late, and then her Grace will look at me with +unforgiving eyes.' + +On the following day after lunch the Prime Minister took a walk +with Lady Rosina De Courcy. He had fallen into a habit of +walking with Lady Rosina almost every day of his life, till the +people in the Castle began to believe that Lady Rosina was the +mistress of some deep policy of her own. For there were many +there who did in truth think that statecraft could never be +absent from a minister's mind, day or night. But in truth Lady +Rosina chiefly made herself agreeable to the Prime Minister by +never making the most distant allusion to public affairs. It +might be doubted whether she even knew that the man who paid her +so much honour was the Head of the British Government as well as +the Duke of Omnium. She was a tall, thin, shrivelled-up old +woman,--not very old, fifty perhaps, but looking at least ten +years more,--very melancholy, and sometimes very cross. She had +been notably religious, but that was gradually wearing off as she +advanced in years. The rigid strictness of Sabbatarian practice +requires the full energy of middle life. She had been left +entirely alone in the world, with a very small income, and not +many friends who were in any way interested in her existence. +But she knew herself to be Lady Rosina De Courcy, and felt that +the possession of that name ought to be more to her than money or +friends, or even than brothers and sisters. 'The weather is not +frightening you,' said the Duke. Snow had fallen, and the paths, +even where they had been swept, were wet and sloppy. + +'Weather never frightens me, your Grace. I always have thick +boots,--I am very particular about that;--and cork soles.' + +'Cork soles are admirable.' + +'I think I owe my life to cork soles,' said Lady Rosina +enthusiastically. 'There is a man named Sprout in Silverbridge +who makes them. Did you Grace ever try him for boots?' + +'I don't think I ever did,' said the Prime Minister. + +'Then you had better. He's very good and very cheap too. Those +London tradesmen never think they can charge you enough. I find +I can wear Sprout's boots the whole winter through and then have +them resoled. I don't suppose you ever think of such things?' + +'I like to keep my feet dry.' + +'I have got to calculate what they cost.' They then passed Major +Pountney, who was coming and going between the stables and the +house, and who took off his hat and who saluted the host and his +companion with perhaps more flowing courtesy than was necessary. +'I never found out what that gentleman's name is yet,' said Lady +Rosina. + +'Pountney. I think, I believe they call him Major Pountney.' + +'Oh, Pountney! There are Pountneys in Leicestershire. Perhaps +he is one of them.' + +'I don't know where he comes from,' said the Duke,--'nor, to +tell the truth where he goes to.' Lady Rosina looked up at him +with an interested air. 'He seems to be one of those idle men +who get into people's houses heaven knows why, and never do +anything.' + +'I suppose you asked him?' said Lady Rosina. + +'The Duchess did, I dare say.' + +'How odd it must be if she were to suppose that you had asked +him.' + +'The Duchess, no doubt, knows all about it.' Then there was a +little pause. 'She is obliged to have all sorts of people,' said +the Duke apologetically. + +'I suppose so;--when you have so many coming and going. I am +sorry to say that my time is up to-morrow, so that I shall make +way for somebody else.' + +'I hope you won't think of going, Lady Rosina,--unless you are +engaged elsewhere. We are delighted to have you.' + +'The Duchess has been very kind, but--' + +'The Duchess, I fear, is almost to much engaged to see as much of +her guests individually as she ought to do. To me your being +here is a great pleasure.' + +'You are too good to me,--much too good. But I shall have +stayed out my time, and I think, Duke, I will go to-morrow. I am +very methodical, you know, and always act by rule. I have walked +my two miles now, and I will go in. If you do want boots with +cork soles mind you go to Sprout's. Dear me, there is that Major +Pountney again. That is four times he has been up and down that +path since we have been walking here.' + +Lady Rosina went in, and the Duke turned back, thinking of his +friend and perhaps thinking of the cork soles of which she had to +be so careful and which was so important to her comfort. It +could not be that he fancied Lady Rosina to be clever, nor can we +imagine that her conversation satisfied any of those wants to +which he and all of us are subject. But nevertheless he liked +Lady Rosina, and was never bored by her. She was natural, and +she wanted nothing from him. When she talked about cork soles +she meant cork soles. And then she did not tread on any of his +numerous corns. As he walked on he determined that he would +induce his wife to persuade Lady Rosina to stay a little longer +at the Castle. In meditating upon this he made another turn in +the grounds, and again came upon Major Pountney as that gentleman +was returning from the stables. 'A very cold afternoon,' he +said, feeling it to be ungracious to pass one of his own guests +in his own grounds without a word of salutation. + +'Very cold indeed, your Grace,--very cold.' The Duke had +intended to pass on, but the Major managed to stop him by +standing in the pathway. The Major did not in the least know his +man. He had heard the Duke was shy, and therefore thought that +he was timid. He had not hitherto been spoken to by the Duke,-- +a condition of things which he attributed to the Duke's shyness +and timidity. But, with much thought on the subject, he had +resolved that he would have a few words with his host, and had +therefore passed backwards and forwards between the house and the +stables rather frequently. 'Very cold indeed, but yet we've had +beautiful weather. I don't know when I have enjoyed myself so +much altogether as I have at Gatherum Castle.' The Duke bowed, +and made a little but a vain effort to get on. 'A splendid +pile!' said the Major, stretching his hand gracefully towards the +building. + +'It's a big house,' said the Duke. + +'A noble mansion;--perhaps the noblest mansion in the three +kingdoms,' said Major Pountney. 'I have seen a great many of the +best country residences in England, but nothing that at all +equals Gatherum.' Then the Duke made a little effort at +progression, but was still stopped by the daring Major. 'By-the- +by, your Grace, if your Grace has a few minutes to spare,--just +a half a minute,--I wish you would allow me to say something.' +The Duke assumed a look of disturbance, but he bowed and walked +on, allowing the Major to walk by his side. 'I have the greatest +possible desire, my Lord Duke, to enter public life.' + +'I thought you were already in the army,' said the Duke. + +'So I am,--was on Sir Bartholomew Bone's staff in Canada for two +years, and have seen as much of what I call home service as any +man going. One of my chief objects is to take up the army.' + +'I seems that you have taken it up.' + +'I mean in Parliament, your Grace. I am very fairly off as +regards private means, and would stand all the racket of the +expense of a contest myself,--if there were one. But the +difficulty is to get a seat, and, of course, if it can be +privately managed, it is very comfortable.' The Duke looked at +him again,--this time without bowing. But the Major, who was +not observant, rushed on to his destruction. 'We all know that +Silverbridge will soon be vacant. Let me assure your Grace that +if it might be consistent with your Grace's plans in other +respects to turn your kind countenance towards me, you would find +that you have a supporter than whom none would be more staunch, +and perhaps I may say one who in the House would not be the least +useful!' That portion of the Major's speech which referred to +the Duke's kind countenance had been learned by heart, and was +thrown trippingly off the tongue with a kind of twang. The Major +perceived that he had not been at once interrupted when he began +to open the budget of political aspirations, and had allowed +himself to indulge in pleasing auguries. 'Nothing ask and +nothing have,' had been adopted as the motto of his life, and +more than once he had expressed to Captain Gunner his conviction +that,--'By George, if you've only cheek enough, there is nothing +you cannot get.' On this emergency the Major certainly was not +deficient in cheek. 'If I might be allowed to consider myself as +your Grace's candidate, I should indeed be a happy man,' said the +Major. + +'I think, sir,' said the Duke, 'that your proposition is the most +unbecoming and the most impertinent that ever was addressed to +me.' The Major's mouth fell, and he stared with all his eyes as +he looked up into the Duke's face. 'Good afternoon,' said the +Duke, turning quickly round and walking away. The Major stood +for while transfixed to the place, and cold as was the weather, +was bathed in perspiration. A keen sense of having 'put his foot +in it' almost crushed him for a time. Then he assured himself +that, after all, the Duke 'could not eat him', and with that +consolatory reflection he crept back to the house and up to his +room. + +To put the man down had of course been an easy task to the Duke, +but he was not satisfied with that. To the Major it seemed that +the Duke had passed on with easy indifference,--but, in truth, +he was very far from being easy. The man's insolent request had +wounded him at many points. It was grievous to him that he +should have as a guest in his own house a man whom he had been +forced to insult. It was grievous to him that he himself should +not have been held in personal respect high enough to protect him +from such an insult. It was grievous to him that he should be +openly addressed,--addressed by an absolute stranger,--as a +boroughmongering lord, who would not scruple to give away a seat +in Parliament as seats were given away in former days. And it +was specially grievous to him that all these misfortunes should +have come upon him as part of the results of his wife's manner of +exercising his hospitality. If this was to be the Prime Minister +he certainly would not be Prime Minister much longer! Had any +aspirant to political life dared so to address Lord Brock, or +Lord de Terrier, or Mr Mildmay, the old Premiers whom he +remembered? He thought not. They had managed differently. They +had been able to defend themselves from such attacks by personal +dignity. And would it have been possible that any man should +have dared so to speak to his uncle, the late Duke? He thought +not. As he shut himself up in his own room he grieved inwardly +with a deep grief. After a while he walked off to his wife's +room, still perturbed in spirit. The perturbation had indeed +increased from minute to minute. He would rather give up +politics altogether and shut himself up in absolute seclusion +than find himself subject to the insolence of any Pountney that +might address him. With his wife he found Mrs Finn. Now for +this lady personally he entertained what for him was a warm +regard. In various matters of much importance he and she had +been brought together, and she had, to his thinking, invariably +behaved well. And an intimacy had been established which had +enabled him to be at ease with her,--so that her presence was +often a comfort to him. But at the present moment he had not +wished to find anyone with his wife, and felt that she was in his +way. 'Perhaps I am disturbing you,' he said in a tone of voice +that was solemn and almost funereal. + +'Not at all,' said the Duchess, who was in high spirits. 'I want +to get your promise about Silverbridge. Don't mind her. Of +course she knows everything.' To be told that anybody knew +everything was another shock to him. 'I have just got a letter +from Mr Lopez.' Could it be right that his wife should be +corresponding on such a subject with a person so little known as +this Mr Lopez? 'May I tell him that he shall have your interest +when the seat is vacant?' + +'Certainly not,' said the Duke, with a scowl that was terrible +even to his wife. 'I wish to speak to you, but I wish to speak +to you alone.' + +'I beg a thousand pardons,' said Mrs Finn, preparing to go. + +'Don't stir, Marie,' said the Duchess, 'he is going to be cross.' + +'If Mrs Finn will allow me, with every feeling of the most +perfect respect and sincerest regard, to ask her to leave me with +you for a few minutes, I shall be obliged. And if, with her +usual hearty kindness, she will pardon my abruptness--' Then he +could not go on, his emotions being too great; but he put out his +hand, and taking hers raised it to his lips and kissed it. The +moment had become too solemn for any further hesitation as to the +lady's going. The Duchess for a moment was struck dumb, and Mrs +Finn, of course, left the room. + +'Who is Major Pountney?' + +'Who is Major Pountney! How on earth should I know? He is-- +Major Pountney. He is about everywhere.' + +'Do not let him be asked into any house of mine again. But that +is a trifle.' + +'Anything about Major Pountney must, I should think, be a trifle. +Have tidings come that the heavens are going to fall? Nothing +short of that could make you so solemn.' + +'In the first place, Glencora, let me ask you not to speak to me +again about the seat for Silverbridge. I am not at present +prepared to argue the matter with you, but I have resolved that, +I will know nothing about the election. As soon as the seat is +vacant, if it should be vacated, I shall take care that my +determination be known in Silverbridge.' + +'Why should you abandon your privileges in that way? It is sheer +weakness.' + +'The interference of any peer is unconstitutional.' + +'There is Braxon,' said the Duchess energetically, 'where the +Marquis of Crumber returns the member regularly, in spirt of all +their Reform bills, and Bamford and Cobblesborough;--and look at +Lord Lumley with a whole county in his pocket, not to speak of +two boroughs! What nonsense, Plantagenet! Anything is +constitutional, or anything is unconstitutional, just as you +choose to look at it.' It was clear that the Duchess had really +studied the subject carefully. + +'Very well, my dear, let it be nonsense. I only beg to assure +you that it is my intention, and I request you to act +accordingly. And there is another thing I have to say to you. I +shall be sorry to interfere in any way with the pleasure which +you may derive from society, but as long as I am burdened with +the office which has been imposed upon me, I will not again +entertain any guests in my own house.' + +'Plantagenet!' + +'You cannot turn the people out who are here now; but I beg that +they may be allowed to go when the time comes, and that their +place may not be filled by further invitations.' + +'But further invitations have gone out ever so long ago, and have +been accepted. You must be ill, dear.' + +'Ill at ease,--yes. At any rate let none others be sent out. +Then he remembered a kindly purpose, which he had formed early in +the day, and fell back on that. 'I should, however, be glad if +you would ask Lady Rosina De Courcy to remain here.' The Duchess +stared at him, really thinking now that something was amiss with +him. 'The whole thing is a failure and I will have no more of +it. It is degrading me.' Then without allowing her a moment in +which to answer him, he marched back to his own room. + +But even here his spirit was not as yet at rest. That Major must +not go unpunished. Though he hated all fuss and noise he must do +something. So he wrote as follows to the Major: + + The Duke of Omnium trusts that Major Pountney will not + find it inconvenient to leave Gatherum Castle shortly. + Should Major Pountney wish to remain at the Castle over + the night, the Duke of Omnium hopes that he will not + object to be served with his dinner and with his + breakfast in his own room. A carriage with horses will + be ready for Major Pountney's use, to take him to + Silverbridge, as soon as Major Pountney may express to + the servants his wish to that effect. + + Gatherum Castle,--December, 18-- + +This note the Duke sent by the hands of his own servant, having +said enough to the man as to the carriage and the possible dinner +in the Major's bedroom, to make the man understand almost exactly +what had occurred. A note from the Major was brought to the Duke +while he was dressing. The Duke having glanced at the note threw +it into the fire; and the Major that evening ate his dinner at +the Palliser's Arms Inn at Silverbridge. + + + +CHAPTER 28 + +THE DUCHESS'S MIND IS TROUBLED. + +It is hardly possible that one man should turn another out of his +house without any people knowing it, and when the one person is a +Prime Minister and the other such as Major Pountney, the affair +is likely to be talked about very widely. The Duke of course +never opened his mouth on the subject, except in answer to +questions from the Duchess; but all the servants knew it. +'Pritchard tells me you have sent that wretched man out of the +house with a flea in his ear,' said the Duchess. + +'I sent him out of the house, certainly.' + +'He was hardly worth your anger.' + +'He is not at all worth my anger;--but I could not sit down to +dinner with a man who insulted me.' + +'What did he say, Plantagenet? I know it was something about +Silverbridge.' To this question the Duke gave no answer, but in +respect to Silverbridge he was stern as adamant. Two days after +the departure of the Major it was known in Silverbridge generally +that in the event of there being an election the Duke's agent +would not as usual suggest a nominee. There was a paragraph on +the subject in the County paper, and another in the London +"Evening Pulpit". The Duke of Omnium,--that he might show his +respect to the law, not only as to the letter of the law, but as +to the spirit also,--had made it known to his tenantry in and +round Silverbridge generally that he would in no way influence +their choice of candidate in the event of an election. But these +newspapers did not say a word about Major Pountney. + +The clubs of course knew all about it, and no man at any club +ever knew more than Captain Gunner. Soon after Christmas he met +his friend the Major on the steps of the new military club, The +Active Service, which was declared by many men in the army to +have left all the other military clubs 'absolutely nowhere'. +'Halloa, Punt!' he said, 'you seem to have made a mess of it at +last down at the Duchess's.' + +'I wonder what you know about it.' + +'You had to come away pretty quick, I take it.' + +'Of course I came away pretty quick.' So much as that the Major +was aware must be known. There were details which he could deny +safely, as it would be impossible that they should be supported +by evidence, but there were matters which must be admitted. +'I'll bet a fiver that beyond that you know nothing about it.' + +'The Duke ordered you off, I take it.' + +'After a fashion he did. There are circumstances in which a man +cannot help himself.' This was diplomatical because it left the +Captain to suppose that the Duke was the man who could not help +himself. + +'Of course I was not there,' said Gunner, 'and I can't absolutely +know, but I suppose you had been interfering with the Duchess +about Silverbridge. Glencora will bear a great deal,--but since +she has taken up politics, by George, you had better not touch +her there.' At last it came to be believed that the Major had +been turned out by the order of the Duchess because he had +ventured to put himself forward as an opponent to Ferdinand +Lopez, and the Major felt himself really grateful to his friend +the Captain for this arrangement of the story. And there came at +last to be mixed up with the story some half-understood innuendo +that the Major's jealousy against Lopez had been of a double +nature,--in reference both to the Duchess and the borough,--so +that he escaped from much of that disgrace which naturally +attracts itself to a man who has been kicked out of another man's +house. There was a mystery;--and when there is a mystery a man +should never be condemned. Where there is a woman in the case a +man cannot be expected to tell the truth. As for calling out or +in any punishing the Prime Minister, that of course was out of +the question. And so it went on till at last the Major was +almost proud of what he had done, and talked about it willingly +with mysterious hints, in which practice made him perfect. + +But with the Duchess the affair was very serious, so much so that +she was driven to call in for advice,--not only from her +constant friend, Mrs Finn, but afterwards from Barrington Erle, +from Phineas Finn, and lastly even from the Duke of St Bungay, to +whom she was hardly willing to subject herself, the Duke being +the special friend of her husband. But the matter became so +important to her that she was unable to trifle with it. At +Gatherum the expulsion of Major Pountney soon became a forgotten +affair. When the Duchess learned the truth she quite approved of +the expulsion, only hinting to Barrington Erle that the act of +kicking out should have been more absolutely practical. And the +loss of Silverbridge, though it hurt her sorely, could be +endured. She must write to her friend Ferdinand Lopez, when the +time should come, excusing herself as best she might, and must +lose the exquisite delight of making a Member of Parliament out +of her own hand. The newspapers, however, had taken that matter +up in the proper spirit, and political capital might to some +extent be made of it. The loss of Silverbridge, though it +bruised, broke no bones. But the Duke again expressed himself +with unusual sternness respecting her ducal hospitalities, and +had reiterated the declaration of his intention to live out the +remainder of his period of office in republican simplicity. 'We +have tried it and it has failed, and let there be an end of it,' +he said to her. Simple and direct disobedience to such an order +was as little in her way as simple or direct obedience. She knew +her husband well, and knew how he could be managed and how he +could not be managed. When he declared that there should be 'an +end of it',--meaning an end of the very system by which she +hoped to perpetuate his power,--she did not dare argue with him. +And yet he was so wrong! The trial had been no failure. The +thing had been done and well done, and had succeeded. Was +failure to be presumed because one impertinent puppy had found +his way into the house? And then to abandon the system at once, +whether it had failed or whether it had succeeded, would be to +call the attention of all the world to an acknowledged failure,-- +to a failure so disreputable that its acknowledgement must lead +to the loss of everything! It was known now,--so argued the +Duchess to herself,--that she had devoted herself to the work of +cementing and consolidating the Coalition by the graceful +hospitality which the wealth of herself and her husband enabled +her to dispense. She had made herself a Prime Ministress by the +manner in which she opened her saloons, her banqueting halls, and +her gardens. It had never been done before, and now it had been +well done. There had been no failure. And yet everything was to +be broken down because his nerves had received a shock! + +'Let it die out,' Mrs Finn had said. 'The people will come here +and will go away, and then, when you are up in London, you will +soon fall into your old ways.' But this did not suit the new +ambition of the Duchess. She had so fed her mind with daring +hopes that she could not bear that it 'should die out'. She had +arranged a course of things in her own mind by which she should +come to be known as the great Prime Minister's wife, and she had, +perhaps unconsciously, applied the epithet more to herself than +to her husband. She, too, wished to be written of in memoirs, +and to make a niche for herself in history. And now she was told +that she was to let it 'die out'. + +'I suppose he is a little bilious,' Barrington Erle had said. +'Don't you think he'll forget about it when he gets up to +London?' The Duchess was sure that her husband would not forget +anything. He never did forget anything. 'I want him to be +told,' said the Duchess, 'that everybody thinks he is doing very +well. I don't mean about politics exactly, but as to keeping the +party together. Don't you think that we have succeeded?' +Barrington Erle thought upon the whole they had succeeded; but +suggested at the same time that there were seeds of weakness. +'Sir Orlando and Sir Timothy Beeswax are not sound, you know,' +said Barrington Erle. 'He can't make them sounder by shutting +himself up like a hermit,' said the Duchess. Barrington Erle, +who had peculiar privileges of his own, promised that if he could +by any means make an occasion, he would let the Duke know that +their side of the Coalition was more than contented with the way +in which he did his work. + +'You don't think we've made a mess of it?' said the Duchess to +Phineas, asking him a question. 'I don't think that the Duke has +made a mess of it,--or you,' said Phineas, who had come to love +the Duchess because his wife loved her. 'But it won't go on for +ever, Duchess.' 'You know what I have done,' said the Duchess, +who took it for granted that Mr Finn knew all that his wife knew. +'Has it answered?' Phineas was silent for a moment. 'Of course +you will tell me the truth. You won't be so bad as to flatter me +now that I am much in earnest.' 'I almost think,' said Phineas, +'that the time has gone by for what one may call drawing-room +influences. They used to be very great. Old Lord Brock used +them extensively, though by no means as your Grace has done. But +the spirit of the world has changed since then.' 'The spirit of +the world never changes,' said the Duchess in her soreness. + +But her strongest dependence was on the old Duke. The party of +the Castle was almost broken up when she consulted him. She had +been so far true to her husband as not to ask another guest to +the house since his command;--but they who had been asked before +came and went as had been arranged. Then, when the place was +nearly empty, and when Locock and Millepois and Pritchard were +wondering among themselves at this general collapse, she asked +her husband's leave to invite their old friend again for a day or +two. 'I do so want to see him, and I think he'll come,' said the +Duchess. The Duke gave his permission with a ready smile,--not +because the proposed visitor was his own confidential friend, but +because it suited his spirit to grant such a request as to anyone +after the order that he had given. Had she named Major Pountney, +I think he would have smiled and acceded. + +The Duke came, and to him she poured out her whole soul. 'It has +been for him and for his honour that I have done it;--that men +and women might know how really gracious he is, and how good. Of +course, there has been money spent, but he can afford it without +hurting the children. It has been so necessary that with a +Coalition people should know each other! There was some absurd +little row here. A man who was a mere nobody, one of the +travelling butterfly men that fill up spaces and talk to girls, +got hold of him and was impertinent. He is so thin-skinned that +he could not shake the creature into the dust as you would have +done. It annoyed him,--that, and I think, seeing so many +strange faces,--so that he came to me and declared that as long +as he remained in office he would not have another person in the +house, either here or in London. He meant it literally, and he +meant me to understand it literally. I had to get special leave +before I could ask so dear an old friend as your Grace.' + +'I don't think he would object to me,' said the Duke, laughing. + +'Of course not. He was only too glad to think you would come. +But he took the request as being quite the proper thing. It will +kill me if this is to be carried out. After all that I have +done, I could show myself nowhere. And it will be so injurious +to him! Could you not tell him, Duke? No one else in the world +can tell him but you. Nothing unfair has been attempted. No job +has been done. I have endeavoured to make his house pleasant to +people, in order that they might look upon him with grace and +favour. Is that wrong? Is that unbecoming in a wife?' + +The old Duke patted her on the head as though she were a little +girl, and was more comforting to her than her other counsellors. +He would say nothing to her husband now;--but they must both be +up in London at the meeting of Parliament, and then he would tell +his friend that, in his opinion, no sudden change should be made. +'This husband of yours is a very peculiar man,' he said smiling. +'His honesty is not like the honesty of other men. It is more +downright;--more absolutely honest; less capable of bearing even +the shadow which the stain from another's dishonesty might throw +upon it. Give him credit for all that, and remember that you +cannot find everything combined in the same person. He is very +practical in some things, but the question is whether he is not +too scrupulous to be practical in all things.' At the close of +the interview the Duchess kissed him and promised to be guided by +him. The occurrences of the last few weeks had softened the +Duchess much. + + + + +CHAPTER 29 + +THE TWO CANDIDATES FOR SILVERBRIDGE. + +On his arrival in London Ferdinand Lopez found a letter waiting +for him from the Duchess. This came into his hand immediately on +his reaching the rooms at Belgrave Mansions and was of course the +first object of his care. 'That contains my fate,' he said to +his wife, putting his hand down upon the letter. He had talked +to her much of the chance that had come in his way, and had shown +himself to be very ambitious of the honour offered to him. She +of course had sympathized with him, and was willing to think all +good things both of the Duchess and the Duke, if they would +between them put her husband into Parliament. He paused a moment +still holding the letter under his hand. 'You would hardly think +that I should be such a coward that I don't like to open it,' he +said. + +'You've got to do it.' + +'Unless I make you do it for me,' he said, holding out the letter +to her. 'You will have to learn how weak I am. When I am really +anxious I become like a child.' + +'I do not think you are ever weak,' she said, caressing him. 'If +there were a thing to be done you would do it at once. But I'll +open it if you like.' Then he tore off the envelope with an air +of comic importance, and stood for a few minutes while he read +it. + +'What I first perceive is that there has been a row about it,' he +said. + +'A row about it! What sort of row?' + +'My dear friend the Duchess has not quite hit it off with my less +dear friend the Duke.' + +'She does not say so?' + +Oh dear no! My friend the Duchess is much too discreet for that; +--but I can see that it has been so.' + +'Are you to be the new member? If that is arranged I don't care +a bit about the Duke and Duchess.' + +'These things do not settle themselves quite so easily as that. +I am not to have the seat at any rate without fighting for it. +There's the letter.' + +The Duchess's letter to her new adherent shall be given, but it +must first be understood that many different ideas had passed +through the writer's mind between the writing of the letter and +the order given by the Prime Minister to his wife concerning the +borough. She of course became aware at once that Mr Lopez must +be informed that she could not do for him what she had suggested +that she would do. But there was no necessity of writing at the +instant. Mr Grey had not yet vacated the seat, and Mr Lopez was +away on his travels. The month of January was passed in +comparative quiet at the Castle, and during that time it became +known at Silverbridge that the election would be open. The Duke +would not even make a suggestion, and would neither express, nor +feel, resentment should a member be returned altogether hostile +to his Ministry. By degrees the Duchess accustomed herself to +this condition of affairs, and as the consternation caused by her +husband's very imperious conduct wore off, she began to ask +herself whether even yet she need not quite give up the game. +She could not make a Member of Parliament altogether out of her +own hand, as she had once fondly hoped she might do; but still +she might do something. She would in nothing disobey her +husband, but if Mr Lopez were to stand for Silverbridge, it could +not but be known in the borough that Mr Lopez was her friend. +Therefore she wrote the following letter: + +Gatherum,--January, 18-- + MY DEAR MR LOPEZ, + I remember that you said that you would be at home at + this time, and therefore I write to you about the + borough. Things are changed since you went away, and I + fear, not changed for your advantage. + + We understand that Mr Grey will apply for the Chiltern + Hundreds at the end of March, and that the election will + take place in April. No candidates will appear as + favoured from hence. We need to run a favourite, and our + favourite would sometimes win,--would sometimes even + have a walk over, but good times are gone. All the good + times are going, I think. There is no reason that I know + why you should not stand as well as anyone else. You can + be early in the field;--because it is only now known + that there will be no Gatherum interest. And I fancy it + has already leaked out that you would have been the + favourite had there been a favourite;--which might be + beneficial. + + I need hardly say that I do not wish my name to be + mentioned in the matter. + +Sincerely yours, +GLENCORA OMNIUM + + Sprugeon, the ironmonger, would I do not doubt, be proud + to nominate you. + +'I don't understand much about it,' said Emily. + +'I dare say not. It is not meant that any novice should +understand much about it. Of course you will not mention her +Grace's letter.' + +'Certainly not.' + +'She intends to do the very best she can for me. I have no doubt +that some understrapper from the Castle has had some +communication with Mr Sprugeon. The fact is that the Duke won't +be seen in it, but that the Duchess does not mean that the +borough shall quite slip through their fingers.' + +'Shall you try it?' + +'If I do I must send an agent down to see Mr Sprugeon on the sly, +and the sooner I do the better. I wonder what your father will +say about it.' + +'He is an old Conservative.' + +'But would he not like his son-in-law to be in Parliament?' + +'I don't know that he would care about it very much. He seems +always to laugh at people who want to get into Parliament. But +if you have set your heart upon it, Ferdinand--' + +'I have not set my heart on spending a great deal of money. When +I first thought of Silverbridge the expense would have been +almost nothing. It would have been a walk over, as the Duchess +calls it. But now there will certainly be a contest.' + +'Give it up if you cannot afford it.' + +'Nothing venture nothing have. You don't think your father would +help me doing it? It would add almost as much to your position +as to mine.' Emily shook her head. She had always heard her +father ridicule the folly of men who spent more than they could +afford in the vanity of writing two letters after their name, and +she now explained that it had always been so with him. 'You +would not mind asking him,' he said. + +'I will ask him if you wish it, certainly.' Ever since their +marriage he had been teaching her,--intentionally teaching her, +--that it would be the duty of both of them to get all they could +from her father. She had learned the lesson, but it had been +very distasteful to her. It had not induced her to think ill of +her husband. She was too much engrossed with him, too much in +love with him for that. But she was beginning to feel that the +world in general was hard and greedy and uncomfortable. If it +was proper that a father should give his daughter money when she +was married, why did not her father do so without being asked? +And yet, if he were unwilling to do so, would it not be better to +leave him to his pleasure in the matter? But now she began to +perceive that her father was to be regarded as a milch cow, and +that she was to be the dairy-maid. Her husband at times would +become terribly anxious on the subject. On receiving the promise +of 3,000 pounds he had been elated, but since that he had +continually talked of what more her father ought to do for them. + +'Perhaps I had better take the bull by the horns,' he said, 'and +do it myself. Then I shall find out whether he really has our +interest at heart, or whether he looks on you as a stranger +because you've gone away from him.' + +'I don't think he will look upon me as a stranger.' + +'We'll see,' said Lopez. + +It was not long before he made the experiment. He had called +himself a coward as to the opening of the Duchess's letter, but +he had in truth always courage for perils of this nature. On +the day of their arrival they dined with Mr Wharton in Manchester +Square, and certainly the old man had received his daughter with +great delight. He had been courteous to Lopez, and Emily, amidst +the pleasure of his welcome, had forgotten some of her troubles. +The three were alone together, and when Emily had asked after her +brother, Mr Wharton had laughed and said that Everett was an ass. +'You have quarrelled with him?' she said. He ridiculed the idea +of any quarrel, but again said Everett was an ass. + +After dinner Mr Wharton and Lopez were left together, as the old +man, whether alone or in company, always sat for half an hour +sipping port wine after the manner of his forefathers. Lopez had +already determined that he would not let the opportunity escape +him, and began his attack at once. 'I have been invited, sir,' +he said with his sweetest smile, 'to stand for Silverbridge.' + +'You too?' said Mr Wharton. But though there was a certain +amount of satire in the exclamation, it had been good-humoured +satire. + +'Yes sir. We all get bit sooner or later, I suppose.' + +'I never was bit.' + +'Your sagacity and philosophy have been the wonder of the world, +sir. There can be no doubt that in my profession a seat in the +House would be of the greatest possible advantage to me. It +enables a man to do a great many things which he could not touch +without it.' + +'It may be so. I don't know anything about it.' + +'And then it is a great honour.' + +'That depends on how you get it, and how you use it,--very much +also on whether you are fit for it.' + +'I shall get it honestly if I do get it. I hope I may use it +well. And as for my fitness, I must leave that to be ascertained +when I am there. I am sorry to say there will probably be a +contest.' + +'I suppose so. A seat in Parliament without a contest does not +drop into every young man's mouth.' + +'It very nearly dropped into mine.' Then he told his father-in- +law almost all the particulars of the offer which had been made +to him, and of the manner in which the seat was now suggested to +him. He somewhat hesitated in the use of the name of the +Duchess, leaving an impression on Mr Wharton that the offer had +in truth come from the Duke. 'Should there be a contest, would +you help me?' + +'In what way? I could not canvass at Silverbridge, if you mean +that.' + +'I was not thinking of giving you personal trouble.' + +'I don't know a soul in the place. I shouldn't know that there +was such a place except that it returns members of Parliament.' + +'I meant with money, sir.' + +'To pay the election bills! No, certainly not. Why should I?' + +'For Emily's sake.' + +'I don't think it would do Emily any good, or you either. It +would certainly do me none. It is a kind of luxury that a man +should not attempt unless he can afford it easily.' + +'A luxury!' + +'Yes, a luxury; just as much as a four-in-hand coach, or a yacht. +Men go into Parliament because it gives them fashion, position, +and power.' + +'I should go to serve my country.' + +'Success in your profession I thought you said was your object. +Of course you must go as you please. If you ask me my advice, I +advise you not to try it. But certainly I will not help you with +money. That ass Everett is quarrelling with me at this moment +because I won't give him money to go and stand somewhere.' + +'Not at Silverbridge?' + +'I'm sure I can't say. But don't let me do him an injury. To +give him his due, he is more reasonable than you, ,and only wants +a promise from me that I will pay his electioneering bills for +him at the next general election. I have refused him,--though +for reasons which I need not mention I think him better fitted +for Parliament than you. I must certainly also refuse you. I +cannot imagine any circumstances which would induce me to pay a +shilling towards getting you into Parliament. If you won't drink +any more wine, we'll join Emily upstairs.' + +This had been very plain speaking, and by no means comfortable to +Lopez. What of personal discourtesy there had been in the +lawyer's words,--and they had certainly not been flattering,-- +he could throw off from him as meaning nothing. As he could not +afford to quarrel with his father-in-law, he thought it probable +that he might have to bear a good deal of incivility from the old +man. He was quite prepared to bear it as long as he could see a +chance of a reward;--though, should there be no such chance, he +would be ready to avenge it. But there had been a decision in +the present refusal which made him quite sure that it would be +vain to repeat his request. 'I shall find out, sir,' he said, +'whether it may probably be a costly affair, and if so I shall +give up. You are rather hard upon me as to my motives.' + +'I only repeated what you told me yourself.' + +'I am quite sure of my own intentions, and know that I need not +be ashamed of them.' + +'Not if you have plenty of money. It all depends on that. If +you have plenty of money, and your fancy goes that way, it is all +very well. Come, we'll go upstairs.' + +The next day he saw Everett Wharton, who welcomed him back with +warm affection. 'He'll do nothing for me;--nothing at all. I +am almost beginning to doubt whether he'll ever speak to me +again.' + +'Nonsense.' + +'I tell you everything, you know,' said Everett. 'In January I +lost a little money at whist. They got plunging at the club, and +I was in it. I had to tell him, of course. He keeps me so short +that I can't stand any blow without going to him like a school- +boy.' + +'Was it much?' + +'No;--to him no more than half-a-crown to you. I had to ask him +for a hundred and fifty.' + +'He refused it!' + +'No;--he didn't do that. Had it been ten times as much, if I +owed the money, he would pay it. But he blew me up, and talked +about gambling,--and--and--' + +'I should have taken that as a matter of course.' + +'But I'm not a gambler. A man now and then may fall into a thing +of that kind, and if he's decently well off and don't do it +often, he can bear it.' + +'I thought your quarrel had been altogether about Parliament.' + +'Oh no! He has been always the same about that. He told me that +I was going head foremost to the dogs, and I couldn't stand that. +I shouldn't be surprised if he hasn't lost more at cards than I +have during the last two years.' Lopez made an offer to act as +go-between, to effect a reconciliation; but Everett declined the +offer. 'It would be making too much of an absurdity,' he said. +'When he wants to see me, I suppose he'll send for me.' + +Lopez did dispatch an agent down to Mr Sprugeon at Silverbridge, +and the agent found that Mr Sprugeon was a very discreet man. Mr +Sprugeon at first knew little or nothing,--seemed hardly to be +aware that there was a member of Parliament for Silverbridge, and +declared himself to be indifferent as to the parliamentary +character of the borough. But at last he melted a little, and by +degrees, over a glass of hot brandy-and-water with the agent at +the Palliser Arms, confessed to a shade of opinion that the +return of Mr Lopez for the borough would not be disagreeable to +some person or persons who did not live quite a hundred miles +away. The instructions given by Lopez to his agent were of the +most cautious kind. The agent was merely to feel the ground, +make a few inquiries, and do nothing. His client did not intend +to stand unless he could see the way to almost certain success +with very little outlay. But the agent, perhaps liking his job, +did a little outstep his employer's orders. Mr Sprugeon, when +the frost of his first modesty had been thawed, introduced the +agent to Mr Sprout, the maker of cork soles, and Mr Sprugeon and +Mr Sprout between them had soon decided that Mr Ferdinand Lopez +should be run for the borough as the 'Castle' candidate. 'The +Duke won't interfere,' said Sprugeon; 'and, of course, the Duke's +man of business can't do anything openly;--but the Duke's people +will know.' Then Mr Sprout told the agent that there was already +another candidate in the field, and in a whisper communicated the +gentleman's name. When the agent got back to London, he gave +Lopez to understand that he must certainly put himself forward. +The borough expected him. Sprugeon and Sprout considered +themselves pledged to bring him forward and support him,--on +behalf of the Castle. Sprugeon was quite sure that the Castle +influence was predominant. The Duke's name had never been +mentioned at Silverbridge,--hardly even that of the Duchess. +Since the Duke's declaration 'The Castle' had taken the part +which the old Duke used to play. The agent was quite sure that +no one would get in for Silverbridge without having the Castle on +His side. No doubt the Duke's declaration had the ill effect of +bringing in a competitor, and thus of causing expense. That +could not be helped. The agent was of the opinion that the Duke +had no alternative. The agent hinted that times were changing, +and that though dukes were still dukes, and could still exercise +ducal influences, they were driven by these changes to act in an +altered form. The proclamation had been especially necessary +because the Duke was Prime Minister. The agent did not think +that Mr Lopez should be in the least angry with the Duke. +Everything would be done that the Castle could do, and Lopez +would be no doubt returned,--though, unfortunately, not without +some expense. How would it cost? Any accurate answer to such a +question would be impossible, but probably about 600 pounds. It +might be 800 pounds;--could not possibly be above 1,000 pounds. +Lopez winced as he heard these sums named, but he did not decline +the contest. + +Then the name of the opposition candidate was whispered to Lopez. +It was Arthur Fletcher! Lopez started, and asked some question +as to Mr Fletcher's interest in the neighbourhood. The Fletchers +were connected with the De Courcys, and as soon as the +declaration of the Duke had been made known, the De Courcy +interest had aroused itself, and had invited that rising young +barrister, Arthur Fletcher, to stand for the borough on strictly +conservative views. Arthur Fletcher had acceded, and a printed +declaration of his purpose and political principles had been just +published. 'I have beaten him once,' said Lopez to himself, 'and +I think I can beat him again.' + + + +CHAPTER 30 + +'YES:--A LIE!' + +'So you went to Happerton after all,' said Lopez to his ally, Mr +Sextus Parker. 'You couldn't believe me when I told you the +money was all right! What a cur you are!' + +'That's right;--abuse me.' + +'Well, it was horrid. Didn't I tell you that it must necessarily +injure me with the house? How are two fellows to get on together +unless they can put some trust in each other? Even if I did run +you into a difficulty, do you really think I'm ruffian enough to +tell you that the money was there if it was untrue?' + +Sexty looked like a cur and felt like a cur, as he was being thus +abused. He was not angry with his friend for calling him bad +names, but only anxious to excuse himself. 'I was out of sorts,' +he said, 'and so d-d hippish. I didn't know what I was about.' + +'Brandy-and-soda,' suggested Lopez. + +'Perhaps a little of that;--though, by Jove, it isn't often I do +that kind of thing. I don't know a fellow who works harder for +his wife and children than I do. But when one sees such things +all round one,--a fellow utterly smashed here who had a string +of hunters yesterday, and another fellow buying a house in +Piccadilly and pulling it down because it isn't big enough, who +was contented with a little box in Hornsey last summer, one +doesn't quite know how to keep one's legs.' + +'If you want to learn a lesson look at the two men, and see where +the difference lies. He one has had some heart about him, and +the other has been a coward.' + +Parker scratched his head, balanced himself on the hind legs of +his stool, and tacitly acknowledged the truth of all that his +enterprising friend had said to him. 'Has old Wharton come down +well?' at last he asked. + +'I have never said a word to old Wharton about money,' Lopez +replied,--'except as the cost of this election I was telling you +of.' + +'And he wouldn't do anything in that?' + +'He doesn't approve of the thing itself. I don't doubt but that +the old gentleman and I shall understand each other before long.' + +'You've got the length of his foot.' + +'But I don't mean to drive him. I can get along without that. +He's an old man, and he can't take his money along with him when +he goes the great journey.' + +'There's a brother, Lopez,--isn't there?' + +'Yes,--there's a brother; but Wharton has enough for two, and if +he were to put either out of his will it wouldn't be my wife. +Old men don't like parting with their money, and he's like other +old men. If it were not so I shouldn't bother myself coming into +the city at all.' + +'Has he enough for that, Lopez?' + +'I suppose he's worth a quarter of a million.' + +'By Jove! And where did he get it?' + +'Perseverance, sir. Put by a shilling a day, and let it have its +natural increase, and see what it will come to at the end of +fifty years. I suppose old Wharton has been putting two or three +thousand out of his professional income, at any rate for the last +thirty years, and never for a moment forgetting its natural +increase. That's one way to make a fortune.' + +'It ain't rapid enough for you and me, Lopez.' + +'No. That is the old-fashioned way, and the most sure. But, as +you say, it is not rapid enough; and it robs a man of the power +of enjoying his money when he has made it. But it's a very good +thing to be closely connected with a man who has already done +that kind of thing. There's not doubt about the money when it is +there. It does not take to itself wings and fly away.' + +'But the man who has it sticks to it uncommon hard.' + +'Of course he does;--but he can't take it away with him.' + +'He can leave it to hospitals, Lopez. That's the devil.' + +'Sexty, my boy, I see you have taken an outlook into human life +which does you credit. Yes, he can leave it to hospitals. But +why does he leave it to hospitals?' + +'Something of being afraid about his soul, I suppose.' + +'No; I don't believe in that. Such a man as this, who has been +hard-fisted all his life, and who has had his eyes thoroughly +open, who has made his own money in the sharp intercourse of man +to man, and who keeps it to the last gasp,--he doesn't believe +that he'll do his soul any good by giving it to hospitals when he +can't keep it himself any longer. His mind has freed itself from +those cobwebs long since. He gives his money to hospitals +because the last pleasure of which he is capable is that of +spitting his relations. And it is a great pleasure to an old +man, when his relations have been disgusted with him for being +old and loving his money. I rather think I should do it myself.' + +'I'd give myself a chance of going to heaven, I think,' said +Parker. + +'Don't you know that men will rob and cheat on their death-beds, +and say their prayers all the time? Old Wharton won't leave his +money to hospitals if he's well handled by those about him.' + +'And you'll handle him well;--eh, Lopez?' + +'I won't quarrel with him, or tell him that he's a curmudgeon +because he doesn't do all that I want him. He's over seventy, +and he can't carry his money with him.' + +All this left so vivid an impression of the wisdom of his friend +on the mind of Sextus Parker, that in spite of the harrowing +fears by which he had been tormented on more than one occasion +already, he allowed himself to be persuaded into certain fiscal +arrangements, by which Lopez would find himself put at ease with +reference to money at any rate for the next four months. He had +at once told himself that this election would cost him 1,000 +pounds. When various sums were mentioned in reference to such an +affair, safety alone could be found in taking the outside sum;-- +perhaps might generally be more securely found by adding fifty +per cent to that. He knew that he was wrong about the election, +but he assured himself that he had had no alternative. The +misfortune had been that the Duke should have made his +proclamation about the borough immediately after the offer made +by the Duchess. He had been almost forced to send the agent down +to inquire;--and the agent, when making his inquiries, had +compromised him. He must go on with it now. Perhaps some idea +of the pleasantness of increased intimacy with the Duchess of +Omnium encouraged him in his way of thinking. The Duchess was up +in town in February, and Lopez left a card in Carlton Terrace. +On the very next day the card of the Duchess was left for Mrs +Lopez at the Belgrave Mansions. + +Lopez went into the city every day, leaving home at about eleven +o'clock, and not returning much before dinner. The young wife at +first found that she hardly knew what to do with her time. Her +aunt, Mrs Roby, was distasteful to her. She had already learned +from her husband that he had but little respect for Mrs Roby. +'You remember the sapphire brooch,' he said once. 'That was part +of the price I had to pay for being allowed to approach you.' He +was sitting at the time with his hand round her waist, looking +out on the beautiful scenery and talking of his old difficulties. +She could not find it in her heart to be angry with him, but the +idea brought to her mind was disagreeable to her. And she was +thoroughly angry with Mrs Roby. Of course in these days Mrs Roby. +came to see her, and of course when she was up in Manchester +Square, she went to the house round the corner,--but there was +no close intimacy between the aunt and the niece. And many of +her father's friends,--whom she regarded as the Hertfordshire +set,--were very cold to her. She had not made herself a glory +to Hertfordshire, and,--as all these people said,--had broken +the heart of the best Hertfordshire young man of the day. This +made a great falling-off in her acquaintance, which was the more +felt as she had never been, as a girl, devoted to a large circle +of dearest female friends. She whom she had loved best had been +Mary Wharton, and Mary Wharton had refused to be her bridesmaid +almost without an expression of regret. She saw her father +occasionally. Once he came and dined with them at their rooms, +on which occasion Lopez struggled hard to make up a well-sounding +party. There were Roby from the Admiralty, and the Happertons, +and Sir Timothy Beeswax, with whom Lopez had become acquainted at +Gatherum, and old Lord Mongrober. But the barrister, who had +dined out a good deal in his time, perceived the effort. Who, +that ever with difficulty scraped his dinner guests together, was +able afterwards to obliterate the signs of the struggle? It was, +however, a first attempt, and Lopez, whose courage was good, +thought that he might do better before long. If he could get +into the House and make his mark there people then would dine +with him fast enough. But while that was going on Emily's life +was rather dull. He had provided her with a brougham, and +everything around her was even luxurious, but there came upon her +gradually a feeling that by her marriage she had divided herself +from her own people. She did not for a moment allow this feeling +to interfere with her loyalty to him. Had she not known that +this division would surely take place? Had she not married him +because she loved him better than her own people? So she sat +herself down to read Dante,--for they had studied Italian +together during their honeymoon, and she found that he knew the +language well. And she was busy with her needle. And she +already began to anticipate the happiness which would come to her +when a child of his should be lying in her arms. + +She was of course much interested about the election. Nothing +could as yet be done, because as yet there was no vacancy; but +still the subject was discussed daily between them. 'Who do you +think is going to stand against me?' he said one day with a +smile. 'A very old friend of yours.' She knew at once who the +man was and the blood came to her face. 'I think he might as +well have left it alone, you know,' he said. + +'Did he know?' she asked in a whisper. + +'Know;--of course he knew. He is doing it on purpose. But I +beat him once, old girl, didn't I? And I'll beat him again.' +She liked him to call her old girl. She loved the perfect +intimacy with which he treated her. But there was something +which grated against her feelings in the allusion by him to the +other man who had loved her. Of course she had told him the whole +story. She had conceived it to be her duty to do so. But then +the thing should have been over. It was necessary, perhaps, that +he should tell her who was his opponent. It was impossible that +she should not know when the fight came. But she did not like to +hear that he had beaten Arthur Fletcher once, and that he would +beat him again. By doing so he likened the sweet fragrance of +her love to the dirty turmoil of an electioneering contest. + +He did not understand--how could he?--that though she had never +loved Arthur Fletcher, had never been able to bring herself to +love him when all her friends had wished it, her feelings to him +were nevertheless those of affectionate friendship;--that she +regarded him as being perfect in his way, a thorough gentleman, a +man who would not for worlds tell a lie, as most generous among +the generous, most noble among the noble. When the other +Whartons had thrown her off, he had not been cold to her. That +very day, as soon as her husband had left her, she looked again +at that little note. 'I am as I always have been!' And she +remembered that farewell down by the banks of the Wye. 'You will +always have one,--one besides him,--who will love you best in +the world.' They were dangerous words for her to remember; but +in recalling them to her memory she had often assured herself +that they should not be dangerous to her. She had loved the one +man and had not loved the other;--but yet, now when her husband +talked of beating him again, she could not but remember his +words. + +She did not think,--or rather had not thought,--that Arthur +Fletcher would willingly stand against her husband. It had +occurred to her at once that he must first have become a +candidate without knowing who would be his opponent. But +Ferdinand had assured her as a matter of fact that Fletcher had +known all about it. 'I suppose in politics men are different,' +she said to herself. Her husband had evidently supposed that +Arthur Fletcher had proposed himself as a candidate for +Silverbridge, with the express object of doing an injury to the +man who had carried off his love. And she repeated to herself +her husband's words, 'He's doing it on purpose.' She did not +like to differ from her husband, but she could hardly bring +herself to believe that revenge of this kind should have +recommended itself to Arthur Fletcher. + +Some little time after this, when she had settled in London, +above a month, a letter was brought to her, and she at once +recognized Arthur Fletcher's writing. She was alone at the time, +and it occurred to her at first that perhaps she ought not to +open any communication from him without showing it to her +husband. But then it seemed that such a hesitation would imply a +doubt of the man, and almost a doubt of herself. Why should she +fear what any man might write to her? So she opened the letter, +and read it,--with infinite pleasure. It was as follows: + + DEAR Mrs LOPEZ, + I think it best to make an explanation to you as to a + certain coincidence which might possibly be misunderstood + unless explained. I find that your husband and I are + opponents at Silverbridge. I wish to say that I had + pledged myself to the borough before I had heard his name + as connected with it. I have very old associations with + the neighbourhood, and was invited to stand by friends + who had known me all my life as soon as it was understood + that there would be an open contest. I cannot retire now + without breaking faith with my party, nor do I know that + there is a reason why I should do so. I should not, + however, have come forward had I known that Mr Lopez was + to stand. I think you had better tell him so, and tell + him also, with my compliments, that I hope we may fight + our political battle with mutual good-fellowship and good + feeling. +Yours very sincerely, +ARTHUR FLETCHER + +Emily was very much pleased by this letter, and yet she wept over +it. She felt that she understood accurately all the motives that +were at work within the man's breast when he was writing it. As +to its truth,--of course the letter was gospel to her. Oh,--if +the man could become her husband's friend how sweet it would be! +Of course she wished, thoroughly wished, that her husband should +succeed at Silverbridge. But she could understand that such a +contest as this might be carried out without personal animosity. +The letter was so like Arthur Fletcher,--so good, so noble, so +generous, so true! The moment her husband came in she showed it +to him with delight. 'I was sure,' she said as he was reading +the letter, 'that he had not known you were to stand.' + +'He knew it as well as I did,' he replied, and as he spoke there +came a dark scowl across his brow. 'His writing to you is a +piece of infernal impudence.' + +'Oh, Ferdinand!' + +'You don't understand, but I do. He deserves to be horsewhipped +for daring to write to you, and if I come across him he shall +have it.' + +'Oh;--for heaven's sake.' + +'A man who was your rejected lover,--who has been trying to +marry you for the last two years, presuming to commence a +correspondence with you without your husband's sanction!' + +'He meant you to see it. He says I'm to tell you.' + +'Psha! That is simple cowardice. He meant you not to tell me; +and then when you answered him without telling me, he would have +had the whip-hand of you.' + +'Oh, Ferdinand, what evil thoughts you have!' + +'You are a child, my dear, and must allow me to dictate to you +what you ought to think in such a matter as this. I tell you he +knew all about my candidature, and that what he has said here to +the contrary is a mere lie,--yes, a lie.' He repeated the word +because he saw that she shrank at hearing it; but he did not +understand why she shrank,--that the idea of such an accusation +against Arthur Fletcher was intolerable to her. 'I have never +heard of such a thing,' he continued. 'Do you suppose it is +common for men who have been thrown over to write to the ladies +who have rejected them immediately after their marriage?' + +'Do not the circumstances justify it?' + +'No;--they make it infinitely worse. He should have felt himself +to be debarred from writing to you, both as being my wife and as +being the wife of the man whom he intends to oppose at +Silverbridge.' + +This he said with so much anger that he frightened her. 'It is +not my fault,' she said. + +'No; it is not your fault. But you should regard it as a great +fault committed by him.' + +'What am I to do?' + +'Give me the letter. You, of course, can do nothing.' + +'You will not quarrel with him?' + +'Certainly I will. I have quarrelled with him already. Do you +think I will allow any man to insult my wife without quarrelling +with him? What I shall do I cannot as yet say, and whatever I +may do, you had better not know. I never thought much of these +Hertfordshire swells who believe themselves to be the very cream +of the earth, and now I think less of them than ever.' + +He was then silent, and slowly she took herself out of the room, +and went away to dress. All this was very terrible. He had +never been rough to her before, and she could not at all +understand why he had been so rough to her now. Surely it was +impossible that he should be jealous because her old lover had +written to her such a letter as that which she had shown him! +And then she was almost stunned by the opinions he had expressed +about Fletcher, opinions which she knew,--was sure that she +knew,--to be absolutely erroneous. A liar! Oh, heavens! And +then the letter itself was so ingenuous and so honest! Anxious +as she was to do all that her husband bade her, she could not be +guided by him in this matter. And then she remembered his words: +'You must allow me to dictate to you what you ought to think.' +Could it be that marriage meant as much as that,--that a husband +was to claim to dictate to his wife what opinions she was to form +about this and that person,--about a person she had known so +well, whom he had never known? Surely she could only think in +accordance with her own experience and her own intelligence! She +was certain that Arthur Fletcher was no liar. Not even her own +husband could make her think that. + + + +CHAPTER 31 + +'YES;--WITH A HORSEWHIP IN MY HAND.' + +Emily Lopez, when she crept out of her own room and joined her +husband just before dinner, was hardly able to speak to him so +thoroughly was she dismayed, and troubled, and horrified, by the +manner in which he had taken Arthur Fletcher's letter. While she +had been alone she had thought it all over, anxious if possible +to bring herself into sympathy with her husband; but the more she +thought of it the more evident did it become to her that he was +altogether wrong. He was so wrong that it seemed to her that she +would be a hypocrite if she pretended to agree with him. There +were half-a-dozen accusations conveyed against Mr Fletcher by her +husband's view of the matter. He was a liar, giving a false +account of his candidature;--and he was a coward; and an enemy +to her, who had laid a plot by which he had hoped to make her act +fraudulently towards her own husband, who had endeavoured to +creep into a correspondence with her, and so to compromise her! +All this, which her husband's mind so easily conceived, was not +only impossible to her, but so horrible that she could not +refrain from disgust at her husband's conception. The letter had +been left with him, but she remembered every word of it. She was +sure that it was an honest letter, meaning no more than had been +said,--simply intending to explain to her that he would not +willingly have stood in the way of a friend whom he had loved, by +interfering with her husband's prospects. And yet she was told +that she was to think as her husband bade her think! She could +not think so. She could not say that she thought so. If her +husband would not credit her judgement, let the matter be +referred to her father. Ferdinand would at any rate acknowledge +that her father could understand such a matter even if she could +not. + +During dinner he said nothing on the subject, nor did she. They +were attended by a page in buttons whom he had hired to wait upon +her, and the meal passed off almost in silence. She looked up at +him frequently and saw that his brow was still black. As soon as +they were alone she spoke to him, having studied during dinner +what words she would first say: 'Are you going down to the club +tonight!' He had told her that the matter of this election had +been taken up at the Progress, and that possibly he might have to +meet two or three persons there on this evening. There had been +a proposition that the club should bear a part of the +expenditure, and he was very solicitous that such an arrangement +should be made. + +'No,' said he, 'I shall not go out to-night. I am not +sufficiently light-hearted.' + +'What makes you heavy-hearted, Ferdinand?' + +'I should have thought you would have known.' + +'I suppose I do know,--but I don't know why it should. I don't +know why you should be displeased. At any rate, I have done +nothing wrong.' + +'No;--not as to the letter. But it astonishes me that you +should be so--so bound to this man that-' + +'Bound to him, Ferdinand!' + +'No;--you are bound to me. But that you have so much regard for +him as not to see that he has grossly insulted you.' + +'I have a regard for him.' + +'And you dare to tell me so?' + +'Dare! What should I be if I had any feeling which I did not +dare to tell you? There is no harm in regarding a man with +friendly feelings whom I have known since I was a child, and whom +all my family have loved.' + +'Your family wanted you to marry him!' + +'They did. But I have married you, because I loved you. But I +need not think badly of an old friend, because I did not love +him. Why should you be angry with him? What can you have to be +afraid of?' Then she came and sat on his knee and caressed him. + +'It is he that shall be afraid of me,' said Lopez. 'Let him give +the borough up if he means what he says.' + +'Who could ask him to do that?' + +'Not you,--certainly.' + +'Oh, no.' + +'I can ask him.' + +'Could you, Ferdinand?' + +'Yes;--with a horsewhip in my hand.' + +'Indeed, indeed you do not know him. Will you do this;--will +you tell my father everything, and leave it to him to say whether +Mr Fletcher has behaved badly to you?' + +'Certainly not. I will not have any interference from your +father between you and me. If I had listened to your father, you +would not have been here now. Your father is not as yet a friend +of mine. When he comes to know what I can do for myself, and +that I can rise higher than these Hertfordshire people, then +perhaps he may become my friend. But I will consult him in +nothing so peculiar to myself as my own wife. And you must +understand that in coming to me all obligation from you to him +become extinct. Of course he is your father; but in such a +matter as this he has no more say to you than any stranger.' +After that he hardly spoke to her; but sat for an hour with a +book in his hand, and then rose and said that he would go down to +the club. 'There is so much villainy about,' he said, 'that a +man if he means to do anything must keep himself on the watch.' + +When she was alone she at once burst into tears; but she soon +dried her eyes, and putting down her work, settled herself to +think of it all. What did it mean? Why was he thus changed to +her? Could it be that he was the same Ferdinand to whom she had +given herself, without a doubt as to his personal merit? Every +word that he had spoken since she had shown him the letter from +Arthur Fletcher had been injurious to her, and offensive. It +almost seemed as though he had determined to show himself to be a +tyrant to her, and had only put off playing the part till the +first convenient opportunity after their honeymoon. But through +all this, her ideas were loyal to him. She would obey him in all +things where obedience was possible, and would love him better +than all the world. Oh yes;--for was he not her husband? Were +he to prove himself the worst of men she would still love him. +It had been for better or for worse; and as she had repeated the +words to herself, she had sworn that if the worst should come, +she would still be true. + +But she could not bring herself to say that Arthur Fletcher had +behaved badly. She could not. She knew well that his conduct +had been noble and generous. Then unconsciously and +involuntarily,--or rather in opposition to her own will and +inward efforts,--her mind would draw comparisons between her +husband and Arthur Fletcher. There was some peculiar gift, or +grace, or acquirement belonging without dispute to the one, which +the other lacked. What was it? She had heard her father say +when talking of gentlemen,--of that race of gentlemen with whom +it had been his lot to live,--that you could not make a silk +purse out of a sow's ear. The use of the proverb had offended +her much, for she had known well whom he had then regarded as a +silk purse and whom a sow's ear. But now she perceived that +there had been truth in all this, though she was as anxious as +ever to think well of her husband, and to endow him with all +possible virtues. She had once ventured to form a doctrine for +herself, to preach to herself a sermon of her own, and to tell +herself that this gift of gentle blood and of gentle nurture, of +which her father thought so much, and to which something of +divinity was attributed down in Hertfordshire, was after all but +a weak, spiritless quality. It could exist without intellect, +without heart, and with very moderate culture. It was compatible +with many littlenesses and with many vices. As for that love of +honest, courageous truth which her father was wont to attribute +to it, she regarded his theory as based on legends, as in earlier +years was the theory of the courage, and constancy, and loyalty, +of the knights of those days. The beau ideal of a man which she +then pictured to herself was graced, first with intelligence, +then with affection, and lastly with ambition. She knew no +reason why such a hero as her fancy created should be born of +lords and ladies rather than of working mechanics, should be +English rather than Spanish or French. The man could not be her +hero without education, without attributes to be attained no +doubt more easily by the rich than the poor; but, with that +granted, with those attained, she did not see why she, or why the +world, should go beyond the man's own self. Such had been her +theories as to men and their attributes, and acting on that, she +had given herself and all her happiness into the keeping of +Ferdinand Lopez. Now, there was gradually coming upon her a +change in her convictions,--a change that was most unwelcome, +that she strove to reject,--one which she would not acknowledge +that she had adopted even while adopting it. But now,--ay, from +the very hour of her marriage,--she had commenced to learn what +it was that her father had meant when he spoke of the pleasure of +living with gentlemen. Arthur Fletcher certainly was a +gentleman. He would not have entertained the suspicion which her +husband had expressed. He could not have failed to believe such +assertions as had been made. He could never have suggested to +his own wife that another man had endeavoured to entrap her into +a secret correspondence. She seemed to hear the tones of Arthur +Fletcher's voice, as those of her husband still rang in her ear +when he bade her remember that she was now removed from her +father's control. Every now and then the tears would come to her +eyes, and she would sit pondering, listless, low in heart. Then +she would suddenly rouse herself with a shake, and take up her +book with a resolve that she would read steadily, would assure +herself as she did so that her husband should still be her hero. +The intelligence at any rate was there, and, in spite of his +roughness, the affection which she craved. And the ambition, +too, was there. But, alas, alas! why should such vile suspicions +have fouled his mind? + +He was late that night, but when he came he kissed her brow as +she lay in bed, and she knew that his temper was again smooth. +She feigned to be sleepy, though not asleep, as she just put her +hand up to his cheek. She did not wish to speak to him again +that night, but she was glad to know that in the morning he would +smile on her. 'Be early at breakfast,' he said to her as he left +her next morning, 'for I'm going down to Silverbridge today.' + +Then she started up. 'To-day!' + +'Yes,--by the 11.20. There is plenty of time, only don't be +unusually late.' + +Of course she was something more than usually early, and when she +came out she found him reading his paper. 'It's all settled +now,' he said. 'Grey has applied for the Hundreds, and Mr +Rattler is to move for the new writ to-morrow. It has come +rather sudden at last, as these things always do after long +delays. But they say the suddenness is rather in my favour.' + +'When will the election take place?' + +'I suppose in about a fortnight;--perhaps a little longer.' + +'And must you be at Silverbridge all that time?' + +'Oh dear no. I shall stay there to-night, and perhaps to-morrow +night. Of course I shall telegraph you directly I find how it is +to be. I shall see the principal inhabitants, and probably make +a speech or two.' + +'I do wish I could hear you.' + +'You'd find it awfully dull work, my girl. And I shall find it +awfully dull too. I do not imagine that Mr Sprugeon and Mr +Sprout will be pleasant companions. Well; I shall stay there a +day or two and settle when I am to go down for the absolute +canvass. I shall have to go with my hat in my hand to every +blessed inhabitant in that dirty little town, and ask them all to +be kind enough to drop in a paper for the most humble of their +servants, Ferdinand Lopez.' + +'I suppose all candidates have to do the same.' + +'Oh yes;--your friend, Master Fletcher, will have to do it.' She +winced at this. Arthur Fletcher was her friend, but at the +present moment he ought not so to have spoken of him. 'And from +all I hear, he is just the sort of fellow that will like the +doing of it. It is odious to me to ask a fellow that I despise +for anything.' + +'Why should you despise them?' + +'Low, ignorant, greasy cads, who have no idea of the real meaning +of political privileges;--men who would all sell their votes for +thirty shillings each, if that game had not been made a little +too hot!' + +'If they are like that I would not represent them.' + +'Oh yes, you would;--when you came to understand the world. +It's a fine thing to be in Parliament, and that is the way to get +in. However, on this visit I shall only see the great men of the +town,--the Sprouts and Sprugeons.' + +'Shall you go to Gatherum Castle?' + +'Oh, heavens no! I may go anywhere now rather than there. The +Duke is supposed to be in absolute ignorance of the very names of +the candidates, or whether there are candidates. I don't suppose +that the word Silverbridge will be even whispered in his ear till +the thing is over.' + +'But you are to get in by his friendship.' + +'Or by hers;--at least I hope so. I have no doubt that the +Sprouts and the Sprugeons have been given to understand by the +Lococks and the Pritchards what are the Duchess's wishes, and +that it has also been intimated in some subtle way that the Duke +is willing to oblige the Duchess. There are ever so many ways, +you know, of killing a cat.' + +'And the expense?' suggested Emily. + +'Oh,--ah; the expense. When you come to talk of the expense +things are not so pleasant. I never saw such a set of +meaningless asses in my life as those men at the club. They talk +and talk, but there is not one of them who knows how to do +anything. Now at the club over the way, they do arrange matters. +It's a common cause, and I don't see what right they have to +expect that one man should bear all the expense. I've a deuced +good mind to leave them in the lurch.' + +'Don't do it, Ferdinand, if you can't afford it.' + +'I shall go with it now. I can't help feeling that I've been a +little let in among them. When the Duchess first promised me it +was to be a simple walk over. Now that they've got their +candidate, they go back from that and open the thing to any +comer. I can't tell you what I think of Fletcher for taking +advantage of such a chance. And then the political committee of +the club coolly say that they've got no money. It isn't honest, +you know.' + +'I don't understand all that,' said Emily sadly. Every word that +he said about Fletcher cut her to the heart;--not because it +grieved her that Fletcher should be abused, but that her husband +should condescend to abuse him. She escaped from further +conflict at the moment by proclaiming her ignorance of the whole +matter; but she knew enough of it to be well aware that Arthur +Fletcher had as good a right to stand as her husband, and that +her husband lowered himself by personal animosity to the man. +Then Lopez took his departure. 'Oh, Ferdinand,' she said, 'I do +so hope you may be successful.' + +'I don't think he can have a chance. From what people say, he +must be a fool to try. That is, the Castle is true to me. I +shall know more about it when I come back.' + +That afternoon she dined with her father, and there met Mrs Roby. +It was of course known that Lopez had gone down to Silverbridge, +and Emily learned in Manchester Square that Everett had gone with +him. 'From all I hear, they're two fools for their pains,' said +the lawyer. + +'Why, papa?' + +'The Duke has given the thing up.' + +'But still his interest remains.' + +'No such thing! If there is an honest man in England it is the +Duke of Omnium, and when he says a thing he means it. Left to +themselves the people of a little town like Silverbridge are sure +to return a Conservative. They are half of them small farmers, +and of course will go that way if not made to go to the other. +If the club mean to pay the cost--' + +'The club will pay nothing, papa.' + +'Then I can only hope that Lopez is doing well in his business!' +After that nothing further was said about the election, but she +perceived that her father was altogether opposed to the idea of +her husband being in Parliament, and that his sympathies and even +his wishes were on the other side. When Mrs Roby suggested that +it would be a very nice thing for them all to have Ferdinand in +Parliament,--she always called him Ferdinand now,--Mr Wharton +railed at her. 'Why should it be a nice thing? I wonder whether +you have any idea of a meaning in your head when you say that. +Do you suppose that a man gets 1000 pounds a year by going into +Parliament?' + +'Laws, Mr Wharton; how uncivil you are! Of course I know that +members of Parliament aren't paid.' + +'Where's the niceness then? If a man has his time at his command +and has studied the art of legislation it be nice, because he +will be doing his duty;--or if he wants to get into the +government ruck like your brother-in-law, it may be nice;--or if +he be an idle man with a large fortune it may be nice to have +some place to go. But why should it be nice for Ferdinand Lopez. +I cannot understand. Everett has some idea in his head when he +talks about Parliament,--though I cannot say that I agree with +him.' It may easily be understood that after this Emily would +say nothing further in Manchester Square as to her husband's +prospects at Silverbridge. + +Lopez was at Silverbridge for a couple of days, and then +returned, as his wife thought, by no means confident of success. +He remained in town nearly a week, and during that time he +managed to see the Duchess. He had written to her saying that he +would do himself the honour of calling on her, and when he came +was admitted. But the account he gave to his wife of the visit +did not express much satisfaction. It was quite late in the +evening before he told her whither he had been. He had intended +to keep the matter to himself, and at last spoke of it,--guided +by the feeling which induces all men to tell their secrets to +their wives,--because it was a comfort to him to talk to someone +who would not openly contradict him. 'She's a sly creature after +all,' he said. + +'I had always thought that she was too open rather than sly,' +said his wife. + +'People always try to get a character just opposite to what they +deserve. When I hear that a man is always to be believed, I know +that he is the most dangerous liar going. She hummed and hawed +and would not say a word about the borough. She went so far as +to tell me that I wasn't to say a word about it to her.' + +'Wasn't that best if her husband wished her not to talk of it?' + +'It is all humbug and falsehood to the very bottom. She knows +that I am spending money about it, and she ought to be on the +square with me. She ought to tell me what she can do and what +she can't. When I asked her whether Sprugeon might be trusted, +she said that she really wished I wouldn't say anything more to +her about it. I call that dishonest and sly. I shouldn't at all +wonder but that Fletcher has been with the Duke. If I find that +out, won't I expose them both!' + + + +CHAPTER 32 + +'WHAT BUSINESS IS IT OF YOURS?' + +Things had not gone altogether smoothly with the Duchess herself +since the breaking up of the party at Gatherum Castle,--nor +perhaps quite smoothly with the Duke. It was now March. The +House was again sitting, and they were both in London,--but till +they came to town they had remained at the Castle, and that huge +mansion had not been found to be more comfortable by either of +them as it became empty. For a time the Duchess had been cowed +by her husband's stern decision; but as he again became gentle to +her,--almost seeming by his manner to apologize for his unwonted +roughness,--she plucked up her spirit and declared herself that +she would not give up the battle. All that she did,--was it not +for his sake? And why should she not have her ambition in life +as well as he have his? And had she not succeeded in all that +she had done? Could it be right that she should be asked to +abandon everything, to own herself to have been defeated, to be +shown to have failed before all the world, because such a one as +Major Pountney had made a fool of himself? She attributed it all +to Major Pountney;--very wrongly. When a man's mind is veering +towards some decision, some conclusion which he has been perhaps +slow in reaching, it is probably a little thing which at last +fixes his mind and clenches his thoughts. The Duke had been +gradually teaching himself to hate the crowd around him and to +reprobate his wife's strategy, before he had known that there was +a Major Pountney under his roof. Others had offended him, and +first and foremost among them his own colleague, Sir Orlando. +The Duchess hardly read his character aright, and certainly did +not understand his present motives, when she thought that all +might be forgotten as soon as the disagreeable savour of the +Major should have passed away. + +But in nothing, as she thought, had her husband been so silly as +in his abandonment of Silverbridge. When she heard that the day +was fixed for declaring the vacancy, she ventured to ask him a +question. His manner to her lately had been more than urbane, +more than affectionate,--it had almost been that of a lover. He +had petted her and caressed her when they met, and once even said +that nothing should really trouble him as long as he had her with +him. Such a speech as that never in his life had he made before +to her! So she plucked up her courage and asked her question,-- +not exactly on that occasion, but soon afterwards. 'May I not +say a word to Sprugeon about the election?' + +'Not a word!' And he looked at her as he had looked on that day +when he had told her of the Major's sins. She tossed her head +and pouted her lips and walked on without speaking. If it was to +be so, then indeed would she have failed. And, therefore, though +in his general manner he was loving to her, things were not going +smooth with her. + +And things were not going smooth with him because there had +reached him a most troublous dispatch from Sir Orlando Drought +only two days before the Cabinet meeting at which the points to +be made in the Queen's speech were to be decided. It had been +already agreed that a proposition should be made to Parliament by +the Government, for an extension of the country suffrage, with +some slight redistribution of seats. The towns with less than +20,000 inhabitants were to take in some increased portion of the +country parishes around. But there was not enough of a policy in +this to satisfy Sir Orlando, nor was the conduct of the bill +through the House to be placed in his hands. That was to be +entrusted to Mr Monk, and Mr Monk would be, if not nominally the +leader, yet the chief man of the Government of the House of +Commons. This was displeasing to Sir Orlando, and he had, +therefore, demanded from the Prime Minister more of a 'policy'. +Sir Orlando's present idea of a policy was the building of four +bigger ships of war than had ever been built before,--with +larger guns, and more men, and thicker iron plates, and, above +all, with a greater expenditure of money. He had even gone so +far as to say, though not in his semi-official letter to the +Prime Minister, that he thought that 'The Salvation of the +Empire' should be the cry of the Coalition party. 'After all,' +he said, 'what the people care about is the Salvation of the +Empire!' Sir Orlando was at the head of the Admiralty; and if +glory was to be achieved by the four ships, it would rest first +on the head of Sir Orlando. + +Now the Duke thought that the Empire was safe, and had been +throughout his political life averse to increasing the army and +the navy estimates. He regarded the four ships as altogether +unnecessary,--and when reminded that he might in this way +consolidate the Coalition, said that he would rather do without +the Coalition and the four ships than have to do with both of +them together,--an opinion which was thought by some to be +almost traitorous to the party as now organized. The secrets of +Cabinets are not to be disclosed lightly, but it came to be +understood,--as what is done at Cabinet meetings generally does +come to be understood,--that there was something like +disagreement. The Prime Minister, the Duke of St Bungay, and Mr +Monk were altogether against the four ships. Sir Orlando, who +was supported by Lord Drummond and another of his old friends. +At the advice of the elder Duke, a paragraph was hatched, in +which it was declared that her Majesty, 'having regard to the +safety of the nation and the possible, though happily not +probable, chances of war, thought that the present strength of +the navy should be considered'. 'It will give him scope for a +new gun-boat on an altered principle,' said the Duke of St +Bungay. But the Prime Minister, could he have his own way, would +have given Sir Orlando no scope whatever. He would have let the +Coalition have gone to the dogs and have fallen himself into +infinite political ruin, but that he did not dare that men should +thereafter say of him that this attempt at government had failed +because he was stubborn, imperious, and self-confident. He had +known when he took his present place he must yield to others; but +he had not known how terrible it would be to have to yield when a +principle is in question,--how great was the suffering when a +man finds himself compelled to do that which he thinks should not +be done! Therefore, though he had been strangely loving to his +wife, the time had not gone smoothly with him. + +In direct disobedience to her husband the Duchess did speak a +word to Mr Sprugeon. When at the Castle she was frequently +driven through Silverbridge, and on one occasion had her carriage +stopped at the ironmonger's door. Out came Mr Sprugeon, and +there were at first half-a-dozen standing by who could hear what +she said. Millepois the cook wanted to have some new kind of +iron plate erected in the kitchen. Of course she had provided +herself beforehand with her excuse. As a rule, when the cook +wanted anything done, he did not send word to the tradesman by +the Duchess. But on this occasion the Duchess was personally +most anxious. She wanted to see how the iron plate would work. +It was to be a particular kind of iron plate. Then, having +watched her opportunity, she said her word, 'I suppose we shall +be safe with Mr Lopez?' When Mr Sprugeon was about to reply, she +shook her head and went on about the iron plate. This would be +quite enough to let Mr Sprugeon understand that she was still +anxious about the borough. Mr Sprugeon was an intelligent man, +and possessed of discretion to a certain extent. As soon as he +saw the little frown and shake of the head, he understood it all. +He and the Duchess had a secret together. Would not everything +about the Castle in which a morsel of iron was employed want +renewing? And would not the Duchess take care that it should all +be renewed by Sprugeon? But then he must be active, and his +activity would be of no avail unless others helped him. So he +whispered a word to Sprout, and it soon became known that the +Castle interest was all alive. + +But unfortunately the Duke was also on the alert. The Duke had +been very much in earnest when he made up his mind that the old +custom should be abandoned at Silverbridge and had endeavoured to +impress that determination of his upon his wife. The Duke knew +more about his property and was better acquainted with its +details than his wife or others believed. He heard that in spite +of all his orders the Castle interest was being maintained, and a +word was said to him which seemed to imply that this was his +wife's doings. It was then about the middle of February, and +arrangements were in process for the removal of the family to +London. The Duke had already been up to London for the meeting +of Parliament, and had now come back to Gatherum, purporting to +return to London with his wife. Then it was that it was hinted +to him that her Grace was still anxious as to the election,--and +had manifested her anxiety. The rumour hurt him, though he did +not in the least believe it. It showed to him, as he thought, +not that his wife had been false to him,--as in truth she had +been,--but that even her name could not be kept free from +slander. And when he spoke to her on the subject, he did so +rather with the view of proving to her how necessary it was that +she should keep herself altogether aloof from such matters, than +with any wish to make further inquiry. But he elicited the whole +truth. 'It is so hard to kill an old-established evil,' he said. + +'What evil have you failed to kill now?' + +'Those people at Silverbridge still say I want to return a member +for them.' + +'Oh; that's the evil! You know I think instead of killing an +evil, you have murdered an excellent institution.' This at any +rate was very imprudent on the part of the Duchess. After that +disobedient word spoken to Mr Sprugeon, she should have been more +on her guard. + +'As to that, Glencora, I must judge for myself.' + +'Oh yes,--you have been jury, and judge, and executioner.' + +'I have done as I thought right to do. I am sorry that I should +fail to carry you with me in such a matter, but even failing in that +I must do my duty. You will at any rate agree with me that when +I say the thing should be done, it should be done.' + +'If you wanted to destroy the house, and cut down all the trees, +and turn the place into a wilderness, I suppose you would only +have to speak. Of course I know it would be wrong that I should +have an opinion. As "man" you are of course to have your own +way.' She was in one of her most aggravating moods. Though he +might compel her to obey, he could not compel her to hold her +tongue. + +'Glencora, I don't think you know how much you add to my +troubles, or you would not speak to me like that.' + +'What am I to say? It seems to me that any more suicidal thing +than throwing away the borough never was done. Who will thank +you? What additional support will you get? How will it increase +your power? It's like King Lear throwing off his clothes in the +storm because his daughters turned him out. And you didn't do it +because you thought it right.' + +'Yes, I did,' he said, scowling. + +'You did it because Major Pountney disgusted you. You kicked him +out. Why wouldn't that satisfy without sacrificing the borough? +It isn't what I think or say about it, but that everybody is +thinking and saying the same thing.' + +'I choose that it will be so.' + +'Very well.' + +'And I don't choose your name shall be mixed up in it. They say +at Silverbridge that you are canvassing for Mr Lopez.' + +'Who says so?' + +'I presume it's not true.' + +'Who says so, Plantagenet?' + +'It matters not who has said so. If it be untrue, I presume it +to be false.' + +'Of course it is false.' Then the Duchess remembered her word to +Mr Sprugeon, and the cowardice of the lie was heavy on her. I +doubt whether she would have been so shocked by the idea of +falsehood as to have been kept back from it had she before +resolved that it would save her; but she was not in her practice +a false woman, her courage being too high for falsehood. It now +seemed to her that by this lie she was owning herself to be +quelled and brought into absolute subjection by her husband. So +she burst forth the truth. 'Now I think of it, I did say a word +to Mr Sprugeon. I told him that, that I hoped Mr Lopez would be +returned. I don't know whether you call that canvassing.' + +'I desired you not to speak to Mr Sprugeon.' + +'That's all very well, Plantagenet, but if you desire me to hold +my tongue altogether, what am I to do?' + +'What business is this of yours?' + +'I suppose I may have my political sympathies as well as another. +Really you are becoming so autocratic that I shall have to go in +for women's rights.' + +'You mean me to understand then that you intend to put yourself +in opposition to me.' + +'What a fuss you make about it all!' she said. 'Nothing that one +can do is right! You make me wish that I was a milkmaid or a +farmer's wife.' So saying she bounced out of the room, leaving +the Duke sick at heart, low in spirit, and doubtful whether he +were right or wrong in his attempts to manage his wife. Surely +he must be right in feeling that in his high office a clearer +conduct and cleaner way of walking was expected from him than +from other men! Noblesse oblige! To his uncle the privilege of +returning a member to Parliament had been a thing of course; and +when the radical newspapers of the day abused his uncle, his +uncle took that abuse as a thing of course. The old Duke acted +after his kind, and did not care what others said of him. And he +himself, when he first came to his dukedom, was not as he was +now. Duties, though they were heavy enough, were lighter then. +Serious matters were less serious. There was this and that +matter of public policy on which he was intent, but, thinking +humbly of himself, he had not yet learned to conceive that he +must fit his public conduct in all things to a straight rule of +patriotic justice. Now it was different with him, and though the +change was painful, he felt it to be imperative. He would fain +have been as other men, but he could not. But in this change it +was so needful to him that should carry with him the full +sympathies of one person;--that she who was nearest to him of +all should act with him! And now she had not only disobeyed him, +but had told him, as some grocer's wife might tell her husband, +that he was 'making a fuss of it all'! + +And then, as he thought of the scene which has been described, he +could not quite approve of himself. He knew that he was too +self-conscious,--that he was thinking too much about his own +conduct and the conduct of others to him. The phrase had been +odious to him, but still he could not acquit himself of 'making a +fuss'. Of one thing only was he sure,--that a grievous calamity +had befallen him when circumstances compelled him to become the +Queen's Prime Minister. + +He said nothing further to his wife till they were in London +together, and then he was tempted to caress her again, to be +loving to her, and to show her that he had forgiven her. But +she was brusque to him, as though she did not wish to be +forgiven. 'Cora,' he said, 'do not separate yourself from me.' + +'Separate myself! What on earth do you mean? I have not dreamed +of such a thing.' The Duchess answered him as though he had +alluded to some actual separation. + +'I do not mean that. God forbid that a misfortune such as that +should ever happen! Do not disjoin yourself from me in all these +troubles.' + +'What am I to do when you scold me? You must know pretty well by +this time that I don't like being scolded. "I desired you not to +speak to Mr Sprugeon!"' As she repeated his words she imitated +his manner and voice closely. 'I shouldn't dream of addressing +the children with such magnificence of anger. "What business is +it of yours!" No woman likes that sort of thing, and I'm not +sure that I am acquainted with any woman who likes it much less +than--Glencora, Duchess of Omnium.' As she said these last +words in a low whisper, she curtsied down to the ground. + +'You know how anxious I am,' he began, 'that you should share +everything with me,--even in politics. But in all things there +must at last be one voice that shall be the ruling voice.' + +'And that is to be yours,--of course.' + +'In such a matter it must be.' + +'And, therefore, I like to do a little business of my own behind +your back. It's human nature, and you've got to put up with it. +I wish you had a better wife. I dare say there are many who +would be better. There is the Duchess of St Bungay who never +troubles her husband about politics, but only scolds him because +the wind blows from the east. It is just possible that there +might be worse.' + +'Oh, Glencora!' + +'You had better make the best you can of your bargain and not +expect too much from her. And don't ride over her with a very +high horse. And let her have her own way a little if you really +believe that she has your interest at heart.' + +After this he was quite aware that she had got the better of him +altogether. On that occasion he smiled and kissed her, and went +his way. But he was by no means satisfied. That he should be +thwarted by her, ate into his very heart,--and it was a wretched +thing to him that he could not make her understand his feeling in +that respect. If it were to go on he must throw up everything. +Ruat coelum fiat--proper subordination from his wife in regard +to public matters! No wife had a fuller allowance of privilege, +or more complete power in her hands, as to things fit for a +woman's management. But it was intolerable to him that she +should seek to interfere with him in matters of a public nature. +And she was constantly doing so. She had always this or that +aspirant for office on hand,--this or that job to be carried, +though the jobs were not perhaps much in themselves;--this or +that affair to be managed by her own political allies, such as +Barrington Erle and Phineas Finn. And in his heart he suspected +her of a design of managing the Government in her own way, with +her own particular friend, Mrs Finn, for her Prime Minister. If +he could in no other way put an end to such evils as these, he +must put an end to his own political life. Ruat coelum fiat +justitia. Now 'justitia' to him was not compatible with feminine +interference in his own special work. + +It may therefore be understood that things were not going very +smoothly with the Duke and Duchess; and it may also be understood +why the Duchess had very little to say to Mr Lopez about the +election. She was aware that she owed something to Mr Lopez, +whom she had certainly encouraged to stand for the borough, and +she had therefore sent her card to his wife and was prepared to +invite them both to her parties;--but just at present she was a +little tired of Ferdinand Lopez, and perhaps unjustly disposed to +couple him with the unfortunate wretch, Major Pountney. + + + + +CHAPTER 33 + +SHOWING THAT A MAN SHOULD NOT HOWL. + +Arthur Fletcher, in his letter to Mrs Lopez, had told her that +when he found out who was to be his antagonist at Silverbridge, +it was too late for him to give up the contest. He was, he said, +bound in faith to continue it by what had passed between himself +and others. But in truth he had not reached this conclusion +without some persuasion from others. He had been at Longbarns +with his brother when he first heard that Lopez intended to +stand, and he at once signified his desire to give way. The +information reached him from Mr Frank Gresham, of Greshambury, a +gentleman connected with the De Courcys who was now supposed to +represent the De Courcy interest in the county, and who had first +suggested to Arthur that he should come forward. It was held at +Longbarns that Arthur was bound in honour to Mr Gresham and to Mr +Gresham's friends, and to this opinion he had yielded. + +Since Emily Wharton's marriage her name had never been mentioned +at Longbarns in Arthur's presence. When he was away,--and of +course his life was chiefly passed in London,--old Mrs Fletcher +was free enough in her abuse of the silly creature who had +allowed herself to be taken out of her own rank by a Portuguese +Jew. But she had been made to understand by her elder son, the +lord of Longbarns, that not a word was to be said when Arthur was +there. 'I think he ought to be taught to forget her.' Mrs +Fletcher had said. But John in his own quiet but imperious way, +had declared that there were some men to whom such lessons could +not be taught, and that Arthur was one of them. 'Is he never to +get a wife, then?' Mrs Fletcher had asked. John wouldn't +pretend to answer the question, but was quite sure that his +brother would not be tempted into other matrimonial arrangements +by anything that could be said against Emily Lopez. When Mrs +Fletcher declared her extreme anger that Arthur was a fool for +his trouble, John did not contradict her, but declared that the +folly was of a nature to require tender treatment. + +Matters were in this condition at Longbarns when Arthur +communicated to his brother the contents of Mr Gresham's letter, +and expressed his own purpose of giving up Silverbridge. 'I +don't quite see that,' said John. + +'No;--and it is impossible that you should be expected to see +it. I don't quite know how to talk about it even to you, though +I think you are about the softest-hearted fellow out.' + +'I don't acknowledge the soft heart,--but go on.' + +'I don't want to interfere with that man. I have a sort of +feeling that as he has got her he might as well have the seat +too.' + +'The seat, as you call it, is not there for his gratification or +for yours. The seat is there in order that the people of +Silverbridge may be represented in Parliament.' + +'Let them get somebody else. I don't want to put myself in +opposition to him, and I certainly do not want to oppose her.' + +'They can't change their candidate in that way at a day's notice. +You would be throwing Gresham over, and, if you ask me, I think +that is a thing you have no right to do. This objection of yours +is sentimental, and there is nothing of which a man should be so +much in dread is sentimentalism. It is not your fault that you +oppose Mr Lopez. You were in the field first, and you must go on +with it.' John Fletcher, when he spoke in this way, was, at +Longbarns, always supposed to be right; and on the present +occasion he, as usual, prevailed. Then Arthur Fletcher wrote his +letter to the lady. He would not have liked to have had it known +that the composition and copying of that little note had cost him +an hour. He had wished that she should understand his feelings, +and yet it was necessary that he should address her in words that +should be perfectly free from affection or emotion. He must let +her know that, though he wrote to her, the letter was for her +husband as well as for herself, and he must do this in a manner +which would not imply any fear that his writing to her would be +taken amiss. The letter when completed was at any rate simple +and true; and yet, as we know, it was taken very much amiss. + +Arthur Fletcher had by no means recovered from the blow he had +received that day when Emily had told him everything down by the +river side; but then, it must be said of him, that he had no +intention of recovery. He was as a man who, having taken a +burden on his back, declares to himself that he will, for certain +reasons, carry it throughout his life. The man knows that with +the burden he cannot walk as men walk who are unencumbered, but +for those reasons of his he has chosen to lade himself, and +having done so he abandons regret and submits to his +circumstances. So had it been with him. He would make no +attempts to throw off the load. It was now far back in his life, +as much at least as three years, since he at first assured +himself of his desire to make Emily Wharton the companion of his +life. From that day she had been the pivot on which his whole +existence had moved. She had refused his offers more than once, +but had done so with so much tender kindness, that, though he had +found himself to be wounded and bruised, he had never abandoned +his object. Her father and all his own friends encouraged him. +He was continually told that her coldness was due to the simple +fact that she had not yet learned to give her heart away. And so +he had persevered, being ever thoroughly intent on his purpose, +till he was told by herself that her love was given to this other +man. + +Then he knew that it behoved him to set some altered course of +life before him. He could not shoot his rival or knock him over +the head, nor could he carry off his girl, as used to be done in +rougher times. There was nothing now for a man in such a +catastrophe as this but submission. But he might submit and +shake off his burden, or submit and carry it hopelessly. He told +himself that he would do the latter. She had been his goddess, +and he would not now worship at another shrine. And then ideas +came into his head,--hot hopes, or purposes, or a belief even in +any possibility,--but vague ideas, mere castles in the air, that +a time might come in which it might be in his power to serve her, +and to prove to her beyond doubting what had been the nature of +his love. Like others of his family, he thought ill of Lopez, +believing the man to be an adventurer, one who would too probably +fall into misfortune, however high he might now seem to hold his +head. He was certainly a man not standing on the solid basis of +land, or of the Three Per Cents,--those solidities to which such +as the Whartons and the Fletchers are wont to trust. No doubt, +should there be such fall, the man's wife would have other help +than that of her rejected lover. She had a father, brother, and +cousins, who would also be there to aid her. The idea was, +therefore, but a castle in the air. And yet it was dear to him. +At any rate he resolved that he would live for it, and that the +woman should still be his goddess, though she was the wife of +another man, and might now perhaps never even be seen by him. +Then came upon him, immediately almost after their marriage, the +necessity of writing to her. The task was one which, of course, +he did not perform lightly. + +He never said a word of this to anybody else;--but his brother +understood it all, and in a somewhat silent fashion fully +sympathized with him. John could not talk to him about love, or +mark passages of poetry for him to read, or deal with him at all +romantically; but he could take care that his brother had the +best horses to ride, and the warmest corner out shooting, and +that everything in the house could be done for his brother's +comfort. As the squire looked and spoke at Longbarns, others +looked and spoke,--so that everybody knew than Mr Arthur was to +be contradicted in nothing. Had he, just at this period, ordered +a tree in the park cut down, it would, I think, have been cut +down, without reference to the master! But, perhaps, John's +power was most felt in the way in which he repressed the +expressions of his mother's high indignation. 'Mean slut!,' she +once said, speaking of Emily in her elder son's hearing. For the +girl, to her thinking, had been mean and had been a slut. She +had not known,--so Mrs Fletcher thought,--what birth and blood +required of her. + +'Mother,' John Fletcher had said, 'you would break Arthur's heart +if he heard you speak of her in that way, and I am sure you would +drive him from Longbarns. Keep it to yourself.' The old woman +had shaken her head angrily, but she had endeavoured to do as she +had been bid. + +'Isn't your brother riding that horse a little rashly?' Reginald +Cosgrave said to John Fletcher in the hunting field one day. + +'I didn't observe,' said John; 'but whatever horse he's on he +always rides rashly.' Arthur was mounted on a long, raking +thorough-bred black animal, which he had bought himself about a +month ago, and which, having been run at steeplechase, rushed at +every fence as though he was going to swallow it. His brother +had begged him to put some rough-rider up till the horse could be +got to go quietly, but Arthur had persevered. And during the +whole of this day the squire had been in a tremor, lest there +should be some accident. + +'He used to have a little more judgement, I think,' said +Cosgrave. 'He went at that double just now as hard as the brute +could tear. If the horse hadn't done it all, where would he have +been?' + +'In the further ditch, I suppose. But you see the horse did it +all.' + +This was all very well as an answer to Reginald Cosgrave,--to +whom it was not necessary that Fletcher should explain the +circumstances. But the squire had known as well as Cosgrave that +his brother had been riding rashly, and he had understood the +reason why. 'I don't think a man ought to break his neck,' he +said, 'because he can't get everything that he wishes.' The two +brothers were standing then together before the fire in the +squire's own room, having just come in from hunting. + +'Who is going to break his neck?' + +'They tell me you tried to-day.' + +'Because I was riding a pulling horse. I'll back him to be the +biggest leaper and the quickest horse in Hertfordshire.' + +'I dare say,--though for the matter of that the chances are very +much against it. But a man shouldn't ride so as to have those +things said of him.' + +'What is a fellow to do if he can't ride a horse?' + +'Get off him.' + +'That's nonsense, John.' + +'No, it's not. You know what I mean very well. If I were to +lose half my property tomorrow, don't you think it would cut me +up a good deal?' + +'It would me, I know.' + +'But what would you think of me if I howled about it?' + +'Do I howl?'asked Arthur angrily. + +'Every man howls who is driven out of is ordinary course by any +trouble. A man howls if he goes about frowning always.' + +'Do I frown?' + +'Or laughing.' + +'Do I laugh?' + +'Or galloping over the country like a mad devil who wants to get +rid of his debts by breaking his neck. Aeqam mememto--You +remember all that, don't you?' + +'I remember it, but it isn't so easy to do, is it?' + +'Try. There are other things to be done in life except getting +married. You are going into Parliament.' + +'I don't know that.' + +'Gresham tells me there isn't a doubt about it. Think of that. +Fix your mind upon it. Don't take it only as an accident, but as +the thing you're to live for. If you'll do that,--if you'll +manage that there shall be something to be done in Parliament +which only you can do, you won't ride a runaway horse as you did +that brute to-day.' Arthur looked up into his brother's face +almost weeping. 'We expect much of you, you know. I'm not a man +to do anything except be a good steward for the family property, +and keep the old house from falling down. You're a clever +fellow,--so that between us, if we both do our duty, the +Fletchers may still thrive in the land. My house shall be your +house, and my wife your wife, and my children your children. And +then the honour you win shall be my honour. Hold up your head,-- +and sell the beast.' Arthur Fletcher squeezed his brother's hand +and went away to dress. + + + +CHAPTER 34 + +THE SILVERBRIDGE ELECTION. + +About a month after this affair with the runaway horse Arthur +Fletcher went to Greshambury, preparatory to his final sojourn at +Silverbridge for the week previous to the election. Greshambury, +the seat of Francis Gresham, Esq., who was a great man in these +parts, was about twenty miles from Silverbridge, and the tedious +work of canvassing the electors could not therefore be done from +thence;--but he spent a couple of pleasant days with his old +friend, and learned what was being said and what was being done +in and about the borough. Mr Gresham was a man, not as yet quite +forty years of age, very popular, with a large family, of great +wealth, and master of the county hounds. His father had been an +embarrassed man, with a large estate, but this Gresham had +married a lady with immense wealth, and had prospered in the +world. He was not an active politician. He did not himself care +for Parliament, or for the good things which political power can +give, and was on this account averse to the Coalition. He +thought that Sir Orlando Drought and the others were touching +pitch and had defiled themselves. But he was conscious that in +so thinking he was one of but a small minority. And, bad as the +world around him certainly was, terrible as had been the fall of +the glory of old England, he was nevertheless content to live +without loud grumbling as long as the farmers paid him their +wages, and the land when sold would fetch thirty years' purchase. +He had not therefore been careful to ascertain that Arthur +Fletcher would pledge himself to oppose the Coalition before he +proffered his assistance in this matter of the borough. It would +not be easy to find such a candidate, or perhaps possible to +bring him in when found. The Fletchers had always been good +Conservatives, and were proper people to be in Parliament. A +Conservative in Parliament is, of course, obliged to promote a +great many things which he does not really approve. Mr Gresham +quite understood that. You can't have tests and qualifications, +rotten boroughs and the divine right of kings, back again. But +as the glorious institutions of the country are made to perish, +one after the other, it is better that they should receive the +coup de grace tenderly from loving hands than be roughly +throttled by the Radicals. Mr Gresham would thank his stars that +he could still preserve foxes down in his own country, instead of +doing any of this dirty work,--for let the best be made of such +work, still it was dirty,--and was willing, now as always, to +give his assistance, and if necessary to spend a little money, to +put a Fletcher into Parliament and to keep a Lopez out. + +There was to be a third candidate. That was the first news that +Fletcher heard. 'It will do us all the good in the world,' said +Mr Gresham. 'The rads in the borough are not satisfied with Mr +Lopez. They say they don't know him. As long as a certain set +could make it be believed that he was the Duke's nominee they +were content to accept him--even though he was not proposed +directly by the Duke's people in the usual way. But the Duke has +made himself understood at last. You have seen the Duke's +letter?' Arthur had not seen the Duke's letter, which had only +been published in the "Silverbridge Gazette" of that week, and he +read it, sitting in Mr Gresham's magistrate's-room, as a certain +chamber in the house had been called since the days of the +present squire's great-grandfather. + +The Duke's letter was addressed to his recognized man of business +in those parts, and was as follows: + +Carlton Terrace,--March, 187- + + MY DEAR MR MORETON +(Mr Moreton was the successor of one Mr Fothergill, who had +reigned supreme in those parts under the old Duke.} + + I am afraid that my wishes with regard to the borough and + the forthcoming election there of a member of Parliament + are not yet clearly understood, although I endeavoured to + declare them when I was at Gatherum Castle. I trust that + no elector will vote for this or that gentleman with an + idea that the return of any special candidate will please + me. The ballot will of course prevent me or any other + man from knowing how an elector may vote;--but I beg to + assure the electors generally that should they think fit + to return a member pledged to oppose the Government of + which I form part, it would not in any way change my + cordial feelings towards the town. I may perhaps be + allowed to add that, in my opinion, no elector can do his + duty except by voting for the candidate whom he thinks + best qualified to serve the country. In regard to the + gentlemen who are now before the constituency, I have no + feeling for one rather than for the other; and had I any + such feeling I should not wish it to actuate the vote of + a single elector. I should be glad if this letter could + be published so as to be brought under the eyes of the + electors generally. +Yours faithfully, +OMNIUM + +When the Duke said that he feared that his wishes were not +understood, and spoke of the inefficacy of his former +declaration, he was alluding of course to the Duchess and to Mr +Sprugeon. Mr Sprugeon guessed that it might be so, and, still +wishing to have the Duchess for his good friend, was at once +assiduous in explaining to his friends in the borough that even +this letter did not mean anything. A Prime Minister was bound to +say that kind of thing! But the borough, if it wished to please +the Duke, must return Lopez in spite of the Duke's letter. Such +was Mr Sprugeon's doctrine. But he did not carry Mr Sprout with +him. Mr Sprout at once saw his opportunity, and suggested to Mr +Du Boung, the local brewer, that he should come forward. Du +Boung was a man rapidly growing into provincial eminence, and +jumped at the offer. Consequently there were three candidates. +Du Boung came forward as a Conservative prepared to give a +cautious, but very cautious, support to the Coalition. Mr Du +Boung in his printed address said very sweet things of the Duke +generally. The borough was blessed by the vicinity of the Duke. +But, looking at the present perhaps unprecedented crisis in +affairs, Mr Du Boung was prepared to give no more than a very +cautious support to the Duke's Government. Arthur Fletcher read +Mr Du Boung's address immediately after the Duke's letter. + +'The more the merrier,' said Arthur. + +'Just so. Du Boung will not rob you of a vote, but he will cut +the ground altogether from under the other man's feet. You see +that as far as the actual political programme goes there isn't +much to choose between any of you. You are all Government men.' + +'With a difference.' + +'One man in these days is so like another,' continued Gresham +sarcastically, 'that it requires eyes to meet the shades of the +colours.' + +'Then you had better support Du Boung,' said Arthur. + +'I think you've just a turn in your favour. Besides I couldn't +really carry a vote myself. As for Du Boung, I'd sooner have him +than a foreign cad like Lopez.' Then Arthur frowned and Mr +Gresham became confused, remembering the catastrophe about the +young lady whose story he had heard. 'Du Boung used to be plain +English as Bung before he got rich and made his name beautiful,' +continued Gresham, 'but I suppose Mr Lopez does come of foreign +extraction.' + +'I don't know what he comes from,' said Arthur moodily. 'They +tell me he's a gentleman. However, as we are to have a contest, +I hope he mayn't win.' + +'Of course you do. And he shan't win. Nor shall the great Du +Boung. You shall win, and become Prime Minister, and make me a +peer. Would you like papa to be Lord Greshambury?' he said to a +little girl, who then rushed into the room. + +'No, I wouldn't. I'd like my papa to give me the pony which the +man wants to sell out in the yard.' + +'She's quite right, Fletcher,' said the squire, 'I'm much more +likely to be able to buy them ponies as simple Frank Gresham than +I should be if I had a lord's coronet to pay for.' + +This was on a Saturday, and on the following Monday Mr Gresham +drove the candidate over to Silverbridge and started him on his +work of canvassing. Mr Du Boung had been busy ever since Mr +Sprout's brilliant suggestion had been made, and Lopez had been +in the field even before him. Each one of the candidates called +at the house of every elector in the borough,--and every man in +the borough was an elector. When they had been at work for four +or five days each candidate assured the borough that he had +already received promises of votes sufficient to insure his +success, and each candidate was as anxious as ever,--nay was +more rabidly anxious than ever,--to secure the promise of a +single vote. Hints were made by honest citizens of the pleasure +they would have in supporting this or that gentleman,--for the +honest citizens assured one gentleman after the other of the +satisfaction they had in seeing so all-sufficient a candidate in +the borough,--if the smallest pecuniary help were given them, +even a day's pay, so that their poor children might not be +injured by their going to the poll. But the candidates and their +agents were stern in their replies to such temptations. 'That's +a dodge of the rascal Sprout,' said Sprugeon to Mr Lopez. +'That's one of Sprout's men. If he could get half-a-crown from +you it would be all up with us.' But tough Sprugeon called +Sprout a rascal, he laid it in the same bait both for Du Boung +and for Fletcher;--but laid it in vain. Everybody said that it +was a very clean election. 'A brewer standing, and the devil a +glass of beer!' said one old elector who had remembered better +things when the borough never heard of a contest. + +On the third day of his canvass Arthur Fletcher with his gang of +agents and followers behind him met Lopez with his gang in the +street. It was probable that they would so meet, and Fletcher +had resolved what he would do when such a meeting took place. He +walked up to Lopez, and with a kindly smile offered his hand. +The two men, though they had never been intimate, had known each +other, and Fletcher was determined to show that he would not +quarrel with a man because that man had been his favoured rival. +In comparison with that other matter this affair of the +candidature was of course trivial. But Lopez who had, as the +reader may remember, made some threat about a horsewhip, had come +to a resolution of a very different nature. He put his arms +akimbo, resting his hands on his hips, and altogether declined to +proffered civility. 'You had better walk on,' he said, and then +stood, scowling, on the spot till the other should pass by. +Fletcher looked at him for a moment, then bowed and passed on. +At least a dozen men saw what had taken place, and were aware +that Mr Lopez had expressed his determination to quarrel +personally with Mr Fletcher, in opposition to Mr Fletcher's +expressed wish for amity. And before they had gone to bed that +night all the dozen knew the reason why. Of course there was +someone at Silverbridge clever enough to find out that Arthur +Fletcher had been in love with Miss Wharton, but that Miss +Wharton had lately been married to Mr Lopez. No doubt the +incident added a pleasurable emotion to the excitement caused by +the election at Silverbridge generally. A personal quarrel is +attractive everywhere. The expectation of such an occurrence +will bring together the whole House of Commons. And of course +this quarrel was very attractive at Silverbridge. There were +some Fletcherites and Lopezites in the quarrel; as there were +able Du Boungites, who maintained that when gentlemen could not +canvass without quarrelling in the streets they were manifestly +unfit to represent such a borough as Silverbridge in Parliament; +--and that therefore Mr Du Boung should be returned. + +Mr Gresham was in the town that day, though not till after the +occurrence, and Fletcher could not avoid speaking of it. 'The +man must be a cur,' said Gresham. + +'It would make no difference in the world to me,' said Arthur, +struggling hard to prevent signs of emotion from showing +themselves in his face, 'were it not that he has married a lady +whom I have long known and whom I greatly esteem.' He felt that +he could hardly avoid all mention of the marriage, and yet he was +determined that he would say no word that his brother would call +'howling'. + +'There has been no previous quarrel, or offence?' asked Gresham. + +'None in the least.' When Arthur so spoke he forgot altogether +the letter he had written; nor, had he then remembered it, would +he have thought it possible that that letter should have given +offence. He had been the sufferer, not Lopez. This man had +robbed him of his happiness; and, though it would have been +foolish in him to make a quarrel for a grievance such as that, +there might have been some excuse had he done so. It had taken +him some time to perceive that greatly as this man had injured +him, there had been no injustice done to him, and that therefore +there should be no complaint made by him. But that this other +man should complain was to him unintelligible. + +'He is not worth your notice,' said Mr Gresham. 'He is simply +not a gentleman, and does not know how to behave himself. I am +very sorry for the young lady;--that's all.' At this allusion +to Emily Arthur felt his face become red with rising blood; and +he felt also that his friend should not have spoken thus openly, +--this irreverently,--on so sacred a subject. But at the moment +he said nothing further. As far as his canvass was concerned it +had been successful, and he was beginning to feel sure that he +would be the new member. He endeavoured therefore to drown his +sorrow in this coming triumph. + +But Lopez had been by no means gratified with his canvass or with +the conduct of the borough generally. He had already begun to +feel that the Duchess and Mr Sprugeon and the borough had thrown +him over shamefully. Immediately on his arrival in Silverbridge +a local attorney had with the blandest possible smile asked him +for a cheque for 500 pounds. Of course there must be money spent +at once, and of course the money must come out of the candidate's +pocket. He had known all this beforehand, and yet the demand for +the money had come upon him as an injury. He gave the cheque, +but showed clearly by his manner that he resented the +application. This did not tend to bind him more closely to the +services of those who were present when the demand was made. And +then, as he began his canvass, he found that he could not conjure +at all with the name of the Duke, or even with that of the +Duchess; and was told on the second day by Mr Sprugeon himself +that he had better fight the battle 'on his own hook'. Now his +own hook in Silverbridge was certainly not a strong hook. Mr +Sprugeon was still of the opinion that a good deal might be done +by judicious manipulation, and went so far as to suggest that +another cheque for 500 pounds in the hands of Mr Wise, the +lawyer, would be effective. But Lopez did not give the other +cheque, and Sprugeon whispered to him that the Duke had been too +many for the Duchess. Still he had persevered, and a set of +understrappers around him, who would make nothing out of the +election without his candidature, assured him from time to time +that he would even as yet come out all right at the ballot. +But, on the morning of the day on which he met Fletcher in the +street, Mr Du Boung had called upon him accompanied by two of the +Du Boung agents and by Mr Sprugeon himself,--and had suggested +that he, Lopez, should withdraw from the contest, so that Du +Boung might be returned, and that the 'liberal interests' of the +borough might not be sacrificed. + +This was a heavy blow, and one which Ferdinand Lopez was not the +man to bear with equanimity. From the moment in which the +Duchess had mentioned the borough to him, he had regarded the +thing as certain. After a while he had understood that his return +must be accompanied by more trouble and greater expense than he +had at first anticipated;--but still he had thought that it was +all but sure. He had altogether misunderstood the nature of the +influence exercised by the Duchess, and the nature also of the +Duke's resolution. Mr Sprugeon had of course wished to have a +candidate, and had allured him. Perhaps he had in some degree +been ill-treated by the borough. But he was a man, whom the +feeling of injustice to himself would drive him almost to frenzy, +though he never measured the amount of his own injustice to +others. When the proposition was made to him, he scowled at them +all, and declared that he would fight the borough to the last. +'Then you'll let Mr Fletcher in to a certainty.'said Mr Sprout. +Now there was an idea in the borough that, although all the +candidates were ready to support the Duke's government, Mr Du +Boung and Mr Lopez were the two Liberals. Mr Du Boung was +sitting in the room when the appeal was made, and declared that +he feared that such would be the result. 'I'll tell you what +I'll do,' said Lopez. 'I'll toss up which of us retires.' Mr +Sprout, on behalf of Mr Du Boung, protested against that +proposition. Mr Du Boung, who was a gentleman of great local +influence, was in possession of four-fifths of the liberal +interests in the borough. Even were he to retire, Mr Lopez could +not get in. Mr Sprout declared that this was known to all the +borough at large. He, Sprout, was sorry that a gentleman like Mr +Lopez should have been brought down there under false ideas. He +had all through told Mr Sprugeon that the Duke had been in +earnest, but Mr Sprugeon had not comprehended the position. It +had been a pity. But anybody who understood the borough could +see with one eye that Mr Lopez had not a chance. If Mr Lopez +would retire Mr Du Boung would no doubt be returned. If Mr Lopez +went to the poll, Mr Fletcher would probably be the new member. +This was the picture as it was painted by Mr Sprout,--who had, +even then, heard something of the loves of the two candidates, and +who had thought that Lopez would be glad to injure Arthur +Fletcher's chances of success. So far he was not wrong;--but +the sense of injury done to himself oppressed Lopez so much that +he could not guide himself by reason. The idea of retiring was +very painful to him, and he did not believe these men. He +thought it to be quite possible that they were there to +facilitate the return of Arthur Fletcher. He had never even +heard of Du Boung till he had come to Silverbridge two or three +days ago. He still could not believe that Du Boung would be +returned. He thought over it all for a moment, and then he gave +his answer. 'I've been brought down here to fight, and I'll +fight it to the last,' he said. 'Then you'll hand over the +borough to Mr Fletcher,' said Sprout, getting up and ushering Mr +Du Boung out of the room. + +It was after that, but on the same day, that Lopez and Fletcher +met each other in the street. The affair did not take a minute, +and then they parted, each on his own way. In the course of the +evening Mr Sprugeon told his candidate that he, Sprugeon, could +not concern himself any further in that election. He was very +sorry for what had occurred,--very sorry indeed. It was no +doubt a pity that the Duke had been so firm. 'But,'--and Mr +Sprugeon shrugged his shoulders as he spoke,--'when a nobleman +like the Duke chooses to have a way of his own, he must have it.' +Mr Sprugeon went on to declare that any further candidature would +be a waste of money, waste of time, and waste of energy, and then +signified his intention of retiring, as far as the election went, +into private life. When asked, he acknowledged that they who had +been acting with him had come to the same resolve. Mr Lopez had +in fact come there as the Duke's nominee, and as the Duke had no +nominee, Mr Lopez was in fact 'nowhere'. + +'I don't' suppose that any man was ever so treated before, since +members were first returned to Parliament,' said Lopez. + +'Well, sir;--yes, sir; it is a little hard. But, you see, sir, +her Grace meant the best. Her Grace did mean the best, no doubt. +It may be, sir, there was a little misunderstanding;--a little +misunderstanding at the Castle, sir.' Then Mr Sprugeon retired, +and Lopez understood that he was to see nothing more of the +ironmonger. + +Of course there was nothing for him now but to retire;--to shake +the dust off his feet and get out of Silverbridge as quickly as +he could. But his friends had all deserted him and he did not +know how to retire. He had paid 500 pounds, and he had a strong +opinion that a portion at least of the money should be returned +to him. He had a keen sense of ill-usage, and at the same time a +feeling that he ought not to run out of the borough like a whipt +dog, without showing his face to any one. But his strongest +suspicion at this moment was one of hatred against Arthur +Fletcher. He was sure that Arthur Fletcher would be the new +member. He did not put the least trust in Mr Du Boung. He had +taught himself really to think that Fletcher had insulted him by +writing to his wife, and that a further insult had been offered +to him at that meeting in the street. He had told his wife that +he would ask Fletcher to give up the borough, and that he would +make the request with a horsewhip in his hand. It was too late +now to say anything of the borough, but it might not be too late +for the horsewhip. He had a great desire to make good that +threat as far as the horsewhip was concerned,--having an idea +that he would thus lower Fletcher in his wife's eyes. It was not +that he was jealous,--not jealous in the ordinary meaning of the +word. His wife's love to himself had been too recently given and +too warmly maintained for such a feeling as that. But there was +a rancorous hatred in his heart against the man, and a conviction +that his wife at any rate esteemed a man whom he hated. And then +would he not make his retreat from the borough with more honour +if before he left he could horsewhip his successful antagonist? +We, who know the feeling of Englishmen generally better than Mr +Lopez did, would say--certainly not. We would think that such +an incident would by no means redound to the credit of Mr Lopez. +And he himself, probably, at cooler moments, would have seen the +folly of such an idea. But anger about the borough had driven +him mad, and now in his wretchedness the suggestion had for him a +certain charm. The man had outraged all propriety by writing to +his wife. Of course he would be justified in horsewhipping him. +But there were difficulties. A man is not horsewhipped simply +because you wish to horsewhip him. + +In the evening, as he was sitting alone, he got a note from Mr +Sprugeon. 'Mr Sprugeon's compliments. Doesn't Mr Lopez think an +address to the electors should appear in tomorrow's "Gazette",-- +very short and easy;--something like the following.' Then Mr +Sprugeon added a very 'short and easy letter' to the electors of +the borough of Silverbridge, in which Mr Lopez was supposed to +tell them that although his canvass had promised him every +success, he felt that he owed it to the borough to retire, lest +he should injure the borough by splitting the Liberal interest +with their much respected fellow-townsman, Mr Du Boung. In the +course of the evening he did copy that letter, and sent it out to +the newspaper office. He must retire, and it was better for him +that he should retire after some recognized fashion. But he +wrote another letter also, and sent it over to the opposition +hotel. The other letter was as follows: + + SIR + Before this election began you were guilty of gross + impertinence in writing a letter to my wife,--to her + extreme annoyance and to my most justifiable anger. Any + gentleman would think that the treatment you had already + received at her hands would have served to save her from + such insult, but there are men who will never take a + lesson without a beating. And now, since you have been + here, you have presumed to offer to shake hands with me + in the street, though you ought to have known that I + should not choose to meet you on friendly terms after + what has taken place. I now write to tell you that I + shall carry a horsewhip while I am here, and that if I + meet you in the streets again before I leave the town I + shall use it. +FERDINAND LOPEZ +Mr Arthur Fletcher. + +This letter he sent at once to his enemy, and then sat late into +the night thinking of the threat and the manner in which he would +follow it up. If he could only get one fair blow at Fletcher his +purpose, he thought, would be achieved. In any matter of +horsewhipping the truth hardly ever gets itself correctly known. +The man who has given the first blow, is generally supposed to +have thrashed the other. What might follow, though it might be +inconvenient, must be borne. The man had insulted him by writing +to his wife, and the sympathies of the world, he thought, would +be with him. To give him his due, it must be owned that he had +no personal fear as to the encounter. + +That night Arthur Fletcher had gone over the Greshambury, and on +the following morning he returned with Mr Gresham. 'For heaven's +sake, look at that!' he said, handing the letter to his friend. + +'Did you ever write to his wife?' asked Gresham, when he read it. + +'Yes,--I did. All this is dreadful to me:--dreadful. Well;-- +you know how it used to be with me. I need not go into all that, +need I?' + +'Don't say a word more than you think necessary.' + +'When you asked me to stand for the place I had not heard that he +thought of being a candidate. I wrote and told her so, and told +her also that had I known it before I would not have come here.' + +'I don't quite see that,' said Gresham. + +'Perhaps not;--perhaps I was a fool. But we needn't go into +that. At any rate there was no insult to him. I wrote in the +simplest language.' + +'Looking at it all round I think you had better not have +written.' + +'You wouldn't say so if you saw the letter. I'm sure you +wouldn't. I had known her all my life. My brother is married to +her cousin. Oh heavens! we had been all but engaged. I would +have done anything for her. Was it not natural that I should +tell her? As far as the language was concerned the letter was +one to be read at Charing Cross.' + +'He says that she was annoyed and insulted.' + +'Impossible! It was a letter that any man might have written to +any woman.' + +'Well;--you have got to take care of yourself at any rate. What +will you do?' + +'What ought I to do?' + +'Go to the police.' Mr Gresham had himself once, when young, +thrashed a man who had offended him, and had then thought himself +much aggrieved because the police had been called in. But that +had been twenty years ago, and Mr Gresham's opinions had been +matured and, perhaps, corrected by age.' + +'No; I won't do that,' said Arthur Fletcher. + +'That's what you ought to do.' + +'I couldn't do that.' + +'Then take no notice of the letter, and carry a fairly big stick. +It should be big enough to hurt him a good deal, but not to do +him any serious damage.' At that moment an agent came in with +the news of the man's retirement from the contest. 'Has he left +the town?' asked Gresham. No;--he had not left the town, nor +had he been seen by any one that morning. 'You had better let me +go out and get the stick, before you show yourself,' said +Gresham. And so the stick was selected. + +As the two walked down the street together, almost the first +thing they saw was Lopez standing at his hotel door with a +cutting whip in his hand. He was at that moment quite alone, but +on the opposite side of the street was a policeman,--one of the +borough constables,--very slowly making his way along the +pavement. His movement, indeed, was so slow that anyone watching +him would have come to the conclusion that that particular part +of the High Street had some attraction for him at that special +moment. Alas, alas! How age will alter the spirit of a man! +Twenty years since Frank Gresham would have thought any one to be +a mean miscreant who would have interposed a policeman between +him and his foe. But it is to be feared that while selecting +that stick he had said a word which was causing the constable to +loiter on the pavement! + +'Do you usually walk around attended by a policeman?' said Lopez. + +'I didn't know that the man was here,' said Fletcher. + +'You may tell that to the marines. All the borough shall know +what a coward you are.' Then he turned round and addressed the +street, but still under the shadow, as it were, of the +policeman's helmet. 'This man who presumes to offer himself as a +candidate to represent Silverbridge in Parliament has insulted my +wife. And now, because he fears that I shall horsewhip him, he +goes about the street under the care of a policeman.' + +'This is intolerable,' said Fletcher, turning to his friend. + +'Mr Lopez,' said Gresham. 'I am sorry to say that I must give +you in charge;--unless you will undertake to leave the town +without interfering further with Mr Fletcher, either by word or +deed.' + +'I will undertake nothing,' said Lopez. 'The man has insulted my +wife, and is a coward.' + +About two o'clock on the afternoon of that day Mr Lopez appeared +before the Silverbridge bench of magistrates, and was there sworn +to keep the peace to Mr Fletcher for the next six months. After +that he was allowed to leave the town, and was back in London +with his wife in Belgrave Mansions, to dinner that evening. + +On the day but one after this the ballot was taken and at eight +o'clock on the evening of that day Arthur Fletcher was declared +to be duly elected. But Mr Du Boung ran him very hard. + +The numbers were-- + + FLETCHER . . . . . . .315 + DU BOUNG . . . . . . .308 + +Mr Du Boung's friends during these last two days had not +hesitated to make what use they could on behalf of their own +candidate of the Lopez and Fletcher quarrel. If Mr Fletcher had +insulted he other man's wife, surely he could not be a proper +member for Silverbridge. And then the row was declared to have +been altogether discreditable. Two strangers had come into this +peaceful town and had absolutely quarrelled with sticks and whips +in the street, calling each other opprobrious names. Would it +not be better that they should elect their own respectable +townsman? All this was nearly effective. But, in spite of all, +Arthur Fletcher was at last returned. + + + +CHAPTER 35 + +LOPEZ BACK IN LONDON. + +Lopez, as he returned to town, recovered something of his senses, +though he still fancied that Arthur Fletcher had done him a +positive injury by writing to his wife. But something of that +madness left him which had come from a deep sense of injury, both +as to the letter and as to the borough, and he began to feel that +he had been wrong about the horsewhip. He was very low in +spirits on this return journey. The money which he had spent +had been material to him, and the loss of it for the moment left +him nearly bare. While he had before his eyes the hope of being +a member of Parliament he had been able to buoy himself up. The +position itself would have gone very far with Sexty Parker, and +would, he thought, have had some effect even with his father-in- +law. But now he was returning a beaten man. Who is there that +has not felt that fall from high hope to utter despair which +comes from some single failure? As he thought of this he was +conscious that his anger had led him into great imprudence at +Silverbridge. He had not been circumspect, as it specially +behoved a man to be surrounded by such difficulties as his. All +his life he had been schooling his temper so as to keep it under +control,--sometimes with great difficulty, but always with a +consciousness that in his life everything might depend on it. Now +he had, alas, allowed it to get the better of him. No doubt he +had been insulted,--but, nevertheless, he had been wrong to +speak of a horsewhip. + +His one great object must now be to conciliate his father-in-law, +and he had certainly increased his difficulty in doing this by +his squabble down at Silverbridge. Of course the whole thing +would be reported in the London papers, and of course the story +would be told against him, as the respectabilities of the town +had been opposed to him. But he knew himself to be clever, and +he still hoped that he might overcome these difficulties. Then +it occurred to him that in doing this he must take care to have +his wife entirely on his side. He did not doubt her love; he did +not in the least doubt her rectitude--but there was that +lamentable fact that she thought well of Arthur Fletcher. It +might be that he had been a little too imperious with his wife. +It suited his disposition to be imperious within his own +household;--to be imperious out of it, if that were possible;-- +but he was conscious of having had a fall at Silverbridge, and he +must for a while take in some sail. + +He had telegraphed to her, acquainting her with his defeat, and +telling her to expect his return. 'Oh, Ferdinand,' she said, 'I +am so unhappy about this. It has made me so wretched!' + +'Better luck next time,' he said with his sweetest smile. 'It is +not good groaning over spilt milk. They haven't treated me +really well,--have they?' + +'I suppose not,--though I do not quite understand it all.' + +He was burning to abuse Arthur Fletcher, but he abstained. He +would abstain at any rate for the present moment. 'Dukes and +duchesses are no doubt very grand people,' he said, 'but it is a +pity they should not know now to behave honestly, as they expect +others to behave to them. The Duchess has thrown me over in the +most infernal way. I really can't understand it. When I think +of it I am in wonder. The truth, I suppose, is, that there has +been some quarrel between him and her.' + +'Who will get in?' + +'Oh Du Boung, no doubt.' He did not think so, but he could not +bring himself to declare the success of his enemy to her. 'The +people there know him. Your old friend is as much a stranger +there as I am. By-the-way, he and I had a little row in the +place.' + +'A row, Ferdinand?' + +'You needn't look like that, my pet. I haven't killed him. But +he came up to speak to me in the street, and I told him what I +thought about his writing to you.' On hearing this Emily looked +very wretched. 'I could not restrain myself from doing that. +Come,--you must admit that he shouldn't have written.' + +'He meant it in kindness.' + +'Then he shouldn't have meant it. Just think of it. Suppose +that I had making up to any girl,--which by-the-way I never did +but to one in my life,'--then he put his arm round her waist and +kissed her, 'and she were to have married someone else. What +would have been said of me if I had begun to correspond with her +immediately? Don't suppose I am blaming you, dear.' + +'Certainly I do not suppose that,' said Emily. + +'But you must admit that it was rather strong.' He paused, but +she said nothing. 'Only I suppose you can bring yourself to +admit nothing against him. However, so it was. There was a row, +and a policeman came up, and they made me give a promise that I +didn't mean to shoot him or anything of that kind.' As she heard +this she turned pale, but said nothing. 'Of course I didn't want +to shoot him. I wished him to know what I thought about it, and +I told him. I hate to trouble you with all this, but I couldn't +bear that you shouldn't know it all.' + +'It is very sad!' + +'Sad enough! I have had plenty to bear I can tell you. +Everybody seemed to turn away from me there. Everybody deserted +me.' As he said this he could perceive that he must obtain her +sympathy by recounting his own miseries and not Arthur Fletcher's +sins. 'I was all alone and hardly knew how to hold up my head +against so much wretchedness. And then I found myself called +upon to pay an enormous sum for my expenses.' + +'Oh, Ferdinand!' + +'Think of their demanding 500 pounds!' + +'Did you pay it?' + +'Yes, indeed. I had no alternative. Of course they took care to +come for that before they talked of my resigning. I believe it +was all planned beforehand. The whole thing seems to me to have +been a swindle from beginning to end. By heaven, I'm almost +inclined to think that the Duchess knew all about it herself!' + +'About the 500 pounds!' + +'Perhaps not the exact sum, but the way in which the thing was to +be done. In these days one doesn't know whom to trust. Men, and +women too, have become so dishonest that nobody is safe anywhere. +It has been awfully hard upon me,--awfully hard. I don't +suppose that there was ever a moment in my life when the loss of +500 pounds would have been so much to me as it is now. The +question is, what will your father do for us?' Emily could not +but remember her husband's intense desire to obtain money from +her father not yet three months since, as though all the world +depended on his getting it,--and his subsequent elation as +though all his sorrows were over for ever, because the money had +been promised. And now,--almost immediately,--he was again in +the same position. She endeavoured to judge him kindly, but a +feeling of insecurity in reference to his affairs struck her at +once and made her heart cold. Everything had been achieved, then, +by a gift of 3,000 pounds,--surely a small sum to effect such a +result with a man living as her husband lived. And now the whole +3,000 pounds was gone;--surely a large sum to have vanished in +so short a time! Something of the uncertainty of business she +could understand, but a business must be perilously uncertain if +subject to such vicissitudes as these! But as ideas of this +nature crowded themselves into her mind she told herself again +and again that she had taken him for better and for worse. If +the worse were already coming, she would still be true to her +promise. 'You had better tell papa everything.' + +'Had it not better come from you?' + +'No, Ferdinand. Of course I will do as you bid me. I will do +anything that I can do. But you had better tell him. His nature +is such that he will respect you more if it come from yourself. +And then it is so necessary that he should know all;--all.' She +put whatever emphasis she knew how to use upon this word. + +'You could tell him--all, as well as I.' + +'You would not bring yourself to tell it to me, nor could I +understand it. He will understand everything, and if he thinks +that you have told him everything, he will at any rate respect +you.' + +He sat silent for a while meditating, feeling always more and +more acutely that he had been ill-used,--never thinking for an +instant that he had ill-used others. '3,000 pounds, you know, +was no fortune for your father to give you!' She had no answer +to make, but she groaned in spirit as she heard the accusation. +'Don't you feel that yourself?' + +'I know nothing of money, Ferdinand. If you had told me to speak +to him about it before we were married, I would have done so.' + +'He ought to have spoken to me. It is marvellous how close- +fisted an old man can be. He can't take it with him.' Then he +sat for half an hour in moody silence, during which she was busy +with her needle. After that he jumped up, with a manner +altogether altered,--gay, only that the attempt was too visible +to deceive even her,--and shook himself, as though he were +ridding himself of his trouble. 'You are right, old girl. You +are always right,--almost. I will go to your father to-morrow, +and tell him everything. It isn't so very much that I want him +to do. Things will all come right again. I'm ashamed that you +should have seen me in this way,--but I have been disappointed +about the election, and troubled about that Mr Fletcher. You +shall not see me give way again like this. Give me a kiss, old +girl.' + +She kissed him, but she could not even pretend to recover her +self as he had done. 'Had we not better give up the brougham?' +she said. + +'Certainly not. For heaven's sake do not speak in that way! You +do not understand things.' + +'No; certainly I do not.' + +'It isn't that I haven't the means of living, but that my +business money is so often required for instant use. And +situated as I am at the present an addition to my capital would +enable me to do so much!' She certainly did not understand it, +but she had sufficient knowledge of the world and sufficient +common sense to be aware that their present rate of expenditure +ought to be a matter of importance to a man who felt the loss of +500 pounds as he felt that loss at Silverbridge. + +On the next morning Lopez was at Mr Wharton's chambers early,-- +so early that the lawyer had not yet reached them. He had +resolved,--not that he would tell everything, for such men never +even intend to tell everything,--but that he would tell a good deal. +He must, if possible, affect the mind of the old man in two ways. +He must ingratiate himself;--and at the same time make it +understood that Emily's comfort in life would depend very much on +her father's generosity. The first must be first accomplished, +if possible,--and then the second, as to which he could certainly +produce at any rate belief. He had not married a rich man's daughter +without an intention of getting the rich man's money! Mr Wharton +would understand that. If the worst came to the worst, Mr +Wharton must of course maintain his daughter,--and his +daughter's husband! But things had not come to the worst as yet, +and he did not intend on the present occasion to present that +view of his affairs to his father-in-law. + +Mr Wharton when he entered his chambers found Lopez seated there. +He was himself at this moment very unhappy. He had renewed his +quarrel with Everett,--or Everett rather had renewed the quarrel +with him. There had been words between them about money lost at +cards. Hard words had been used, and Everett had told his father +that if either of them were a gambler it was not he. Mr Wharton +had resented this bitterly and had driven his son from his +presence,--and now the quarrel with him had made him very +wretched. He certainly was sorry that he had called his son a +gambler, but his son had been, as he thought, inexcusable in the +retort which he had made. He was a man to whom his friends gave +credit for much sternness;--but still he was one who certainly +had no happiness in the world independent of his children. His +daughter had left him, not as he thought under happy auspices,-- +and he was now, at this moment, soft-hearted and tender in his +regards as to her. What was there in the world for him but his +children? And now he felt himself to be alone and destitute. He +was already tired of whist at the Eldon. That which would have +been a delight to him once or twice a week, became almost +loathsome when it was renewed from day to day;--and not the less +when his son told him that he also was a gambler. 'So you have +come back from Silverbridge?' he said. + +'Yes, sir; I have come back not exactly triumphant. A man should +not expect to win always.' Lopez had resolved to pluck up his +spirit and carry himself like a man. + +'You seem to have got into some scrape down there, besides losing +your election.' + +'Oh; you have seen that in the papers already. I have come to +tell you of it. As Emily is concerned in it you ought to know.' + +'Emily concerned! How is she concerned?' + +Then Lopez told the whole story,--after his own fashion, and yet +with no palpable lie. Fletcher had written to her a letter which +he had thought to be very offensive. On hearing this, Mr Wharton +looked very grave, and asked for the letter. Lopez said that he +had destroyed it, not thinking that such a document should be +preserved. Then he went on to explain that it had had reference +to the election, and that he had thought it to be highly improper +that Fletcher should write to his wife on that or on any other +subject. 'It depends very much on the letter,' said the old man. + +'But on any subject,--after what has passed.' + +'They were very old friends.' + +'Of course I will not agree with you, Mr Wharton; but I own that +it angered me. It angered me very much,--very much indeed. I +took it to be an insult to her, and when he accosted me in the +street down at Silverbridge I told him so. I may not have been +very wise, but I did it on her behalf. Surely you can understand +that such a letter might make a man angry.' + +'What did he say?' + +'That he would do anything for her sake,--even retire from +Silverbridge if his friends would let him.' Mr Wharton scratched +his head, and Lopez saw that he was perplexed. 'Should he have +offered to do anything for her sake, after what has passed?' + +'I know the man so well,' said Mr Wharton, 'that I cannot and do +not believe him to have harboured an improper thought in +reference to my child.' + +'Perhaps it was an indiscretion only.' + +'Perhaps so. I cannot say. And then they took you before the +magistrates?' + +'Yes,--in my anger I had threatened him. Then there was a +policeman and a row. And I had to swear that I would not hurt +him. Of course I had no wish to hurt him.' + +'I suppose it ruined your chance at Silverbridge?' + +'I suppose it did.' This was a lie, as Lopez had retired before +the row took place. 'What I care for most now is that you should +think I have misbehaved myself.' + +The story had been told very well, and Mr Wharton was almost +disposed to sympathize with his son-in-law. That Arthur Fletcher +had meant nothing that could be regarded as offensive to his +daughter he was quite sure;--but it might be that in making an +offer intended to be generous he had used language which the +condition of the persons concerned made indiscreet. 'I suppose,' +he said, 'that you spent a lot of money at Silverbridge?' This +gave Lopez the opening he wanted, and he described the manner in +which the 500 pounds had been extracted from him. 'You can't +play that game for nothing,' said Mr Wharton. + +'And just at present I could ill afford it. I should not have +done it if I had not felt it a pity to neglect such a chance of +rising in the world. After all, a seat in the British House of +Commons is an honour.' + +'Yes;--yes;--yes.' + + +'And the Duchess, when she spoke to me about it, was so certain.' + +'I will pay the 500 pounds,' said Mr Wharton. + +'Oh, sir, that is generous!' Then he got up and took the old +man's hands. 'Some day, when you are at liberty, I hope that you +will allow me to explain to you the exact state of my affairs. +When I wrote to you from Como I told you that I would wish to do +so. You do not object?' + +'No,' said the lawyer,--but with infinite hesitation in his +voice. 'No, I don't object. But I do not know how I could serve +them. I shall be busy just now, but I will give you the cheque. +And if you and Emily have nothing better to do, come and dine to- +morrow.' Lopez with real tears in his eyes took the cheque, and +promised to come on the morrow. 'And in the meantime I wish you +would see Everett.' Of course he promised that he would see +Everett. + +Again he was exalted, on this occasion not so much by the +acquisition of the money as by the growing conviction that his +father-in-law was a cow capable of being milked. And the quarrel +between Everett and his father might clearly be useful to him. +He might either serve the old man by reducing Everett to proper +submission, or he might manage to creep into the empty space +which his son's defection would make in the father's heart and +the father's life. He might at any rate make himself necessary +to the old man, and become such a part of the household in +Manchester Square as to be indispensable. Then the old man would +every day become older and more in want of assistance. He +thought that he saw the way to worm himself into confidence, and, +so on into possession. The old man was not a man of iron as he +had feared, but quite human, and if properly managed, soft and +malleable. + +He saw Sexty Parker in the city that day, and used his cheque for +500 pounds in some triumphant way, partly cajoling and partly +bullying his poor victim. To Sexty also he had to tell his own +story about the row down at Silverbridge. He had threatened to +thrash the fellow in the street, and the fellow had not dared to +come out of his house without a policeman. Yes;--he had lost +his election. The swindling of those fellows at Silverbridge had +been too much for him. But he flattered himself that he had got +the better of Master Fletcher. That was the tone in which he +told the story to his friend in the city. + +Then, before dinner, he found Everett at the club. Everett +Wharton was to be found there now almost every day. His excuse +to himself lay in the political character of the institution. +The club intended to do great things,--to find Liberal +candidates for all the boroughs and counties in England which had +not hitherto been furnished, and then to supply the candidates +with money. Such was the great purpose of the Progress. It had +not as yet sent out many candidates or collected much money. And +yet it was, politically, almost quiescent. And therefore Everett +Wharton, whose sense of duty took him there, spent his afternoons +either in the whist-room or at the billiard-table. + +The story of Silverbridge had to be told yet again, and was told +nearly with the same incidents as had been narrated to the +father. He could of course abuse Arthur Fletcher more roundly, +and be more confident in the assertion that Fletcher had insulted +his wife. But he came as quickly as he could to the task which +he had on hand. 'What's all this between you and your father?' + +'Simply this. I sometimes play a game of whist, and therefore he +called me a gambler. Then I reminded him that he also sometimes +played a game of whist, and I asked him what deduction was to be +drawn.' + +'He is awfully angry with you.' + +'Of course I was a fool. My father has the whip-hand of me, +because he has money and I have none, and it was simply kicking +against the pricks to speak as I did. And then too there isn't a +fellow in London has a higher respect for his father than I have, +not yet a warmer affection. But it is hard to be driven in that +way. Gambler is a nasty word.' + +'Yes, it is very nasty. But I suppose a man does gamble when he +loses so much money that he has to ask his father to pay it for +him.' + +'If he does so often, he gambles. I never asked him for money to +pay what I had lost before in my life.' + +'I wonder you told him.' + +'I never lie to him, and he ought to know that. But he is just +the man to be harder to his own son than to anybody else in the +world. What does he want me to do now?' + +'I don't know that he wants you to do anything,' said Lopez. + +'Did he send you to me?' + +'Well;--no; I can't say that he did. I told him that I should +see you as a matter of course, and he said something rough,-- +about your being an ass.' + +'I dare say he did.' + +'But if you ask me,' said Lopez, 'I think he would take it kindly +of you if you were to go and see him. Come and dine to-day, just +as if nothing had happened.' + +'I could not do that,--unless he asked me.' + +'I can't say that he asked you, Everett, I would say so, in spite +of its being a lie, if I didn't fear that your father might say +something unkind, so that the lie would be detected by both of +you.' + +'And yet you ask me to go and dine there!' + +'Yes, I do. It's only going away if he does cut up rough. And +if he takes it well,--why then,--the whole thing is done.' + +'If he wants me, he can ask me.' + +'You talk about it, my boy, just as if a father were the same as +anybody else. If I had a father with a lot of money, by George +he should knock me about with his stick if he liked, and I would +be just the same next day.' + +'Unfortunately I am of a stiffer nature,' said Everett, taking +some pride to himself for his stiffness, and being perhaps as +little 'stiff' as any young man of his day. + +That evening after dinner at Manchester Square, the conversation +between the father-in-law and the son-in-law turned almost +exclusively to the son and brother-in-law. Little or nothing was +said about the election, and the name of Arthur Fletcher was not +mentioned. But out of his full heart the father spoke. He was +wretched about Everett. Did Everett mean to cut him? + +'He wants you to withdraw some name you called him,' said Lopez. + +'Withdraw some name,--as he might ask some hot-headed fellow to +do, if his own age, like himself, some fellow that he had +quarrelled with! Does he expect his father to send him a written +apology? He had been gambling, and I told him that he was a +gambler. Is that too much for a father to say?' Lopez shrugged +his shoulders, and declared that it was a pity. 'He will break +my heart if he goes on like this,' said the old man. + +'I asked him to come and dine to-day, but he didn't seem to like +it.' + +'Like it! No. He likes nothing but that infernal club.' + +When the evening was over Lopez felt that he had done a good +stroke of work. He had not exactly made up his mind to keep the +father and son apart. That was not a part of his strategy,--at +any rate as yet. But he did intend to make himself necessary to +the old man,--to become the old man's son, and if possible the +favourite son. And now he thought that he had already done much +towards the achievement of his object. + + + +CHAPTER 36 + +THE JOLLY BLACKBIRD. + +There was great triumph at Longbarns when the news of Arthur's +victory reached the place;--and when he arrived there himself +with his friend Mr Gresham, he was received as a conquering hero. +But of course the tidings of 'the row' had gone before him, and +it was necessary that both he and Mr Gresham should tell the +story;--nor could it be told privately. Sir Alured Wharton was +there, and Mrs Fletcher. The old lady had heard of the row, and +of course required to be told all the particulars. This was not +pleasant to the hero, as in talking of the man it was impossible +for them not to talk of the man's wife. 'What a terrible +misfortune for poor Mr Wharton,' said the old lady, nodding her +head at Sir Alured. Sir Alured sighed and said nothing. +Certainly a terrible misfortune, and one which affected more or +less the whole family of Whartons! + +'Do you mean to say that he was going to attack Arthur with a +whip?' asked John Fletcher. + +'I only know that he was standing there with a whip in his hand,' +said Mr Gresham.' + +'I think he would have had the worst of that.' + +'You would have laughed,' said Arthur, 'to see me walking +majestically along the High Street with a cudgel which Gresham +had just bought for me as being of the proper medium size. I +don't doubt he meant to have a fight. And then you should have +seen the policeman sloping over and putting himself in the way. +I never quite understood where the policeman came from.' + +'They are very well off for policemen in Silverbridge,' said +Gresham. 'They've always got them going about.' + +'He must be mad,' said John. + +'Poor unfortunate young woman!' said Mrs Fletcher, holding up +both her hands. 'I must say that I cannot but blame Mr Wharton. +If he had been firm, it never would have come to that. I wonder +whether he ever sees him.' + +'Of course he does,' said John. 'Why shouldn't he see him? +You'd see him if he'd married a daughter of yours.' + +'Never!' exclaimed the old woman. 'If I had a child so lost to +all respect as that, I do not say that I would not have seen her. +Human nature might have prevailed. But I would never willingly +have put myself into contact with one who had degraded me and +mine.' + +'I shall be very anxious to know what Mr Wharton does about his +money,' said John. + +Arthur allowed himself but a couple of days among his friends, +and then hurried up to London to take his seat. When there he +was astonished to find how many questions were asked him about +'the row', and how much was known about it,--and at the same +time how little was really known. Everybody had heard that there +had been a row, and everybody knew that there had been a lady in +the case. But there seemed to be a general idea that the lady +had been in some way misused, and that Arthur Fletcher had come +forwards like a Paladin to protect her. A letter had been +written, and the husband, ogre-like, had intercepted the letter. +The lady was the most unfortunate of human beings,--or would +have been but for that consolation which she must have in the +constancy of her old lover. As to all these matters the stories +varied; but everybody agreed on one point. All the world knew +that Arthur Fletcher had gone to Silverbridge, had stood for the +borough, and taken the seat away from his rival,--because that +rival had robbed him of his bride. How the robbery had been +effected the world could not quite say. The world was still of +the opinion that the lady was violently attached to the man she +had not married. But Captain Gunner explained it all clearly to +Major Pountney by asserting that the poor girl had been coerced +into the marriage by her father. And thus Arthur Fletcher found +himself almost as much a hero in London as at Longbarns. + +Fletcher had not been above a week in town, and had become +heartily sick of the rumours which in various shapes made their +way round to his own ears, when he received an invitation from Mr +Wharton to go and dine with him at a tavern called the Jolly +Blackbird. The invitation surprised him,--that he should be +asked by such a man to dine at such a place,--but he accepted it +as a matter of course. He was indeed much interested in a bill +for the drainage of common lands which was to be discussed in the +House that night, there was a good deal of common land round +Silverbridge, and he had some idea of making his first speech,-- +but he calculated that he might get his dinner and yet be back in +time for the debate. So he went to the Jolly Blackbird,--a very +quaint old-fashioned law dining-house in the neighbourhood of +Portugal Street, which had managed not to get itself not pulled +down a dozen years ago on behalf of the Law Courts which are to +bless some coming generation. Arthur had never been there before +and was surprised at the black wainscotting, the black tables, +the old-fashioned grate, the two candles on the table, and the +silent waiter. + +'I wanted to see you Arthur,' said the old man pressing his hand +in a melancholy way, 'but I couldn't ask you to Manchester +Square. They come in sometimes in the evening, and it might have +been unpleasant. At your young men's clubs they let strangers +dine. We haven't anything of that kind at the Eldon. You'll +find they'll give you a very good bit of fish here, and a fairish +steak.' Arthur declared that he thought it a capital place,-- +the best fun in the world. 'And they've a very good bottle of +claret;--better than we get at the Eldon, I think. I don't know +that I can say much for their champagne. We'll try it. You +young fellows always like champagne.' + +'I hardly ever touch it,' said Arthur. 'Sherry and claret are my +wines.' + +'Very well;--very well. I did want to see you, my boy. Things +haven't turned out just as we wanted;--have they?' + +'Not exactly, sir.' + +'No indeed. You know the old saying, "God disposes all". I have +to make the best of it,--and so no doubt have you.' + +'There's no doubt about it, sir,' said Arthur, speaking in a low +but almost angry voice. They were not in a room by themselves, +but in a recess which separated them from the room. 'I don't +know that I want to talk about it, but to me it is one of those +things for which there is no remedy. When a man loses his leg, +he hobbles on, and sometimes has a good time of it at last;--but +there he is, without a leg.' + +'It wasn't my fault, Arthur.' + +'There has been no fault but my own. I went in for the running, +and got distanced. That's simply all about it, and there's no +more to be said.' + +'You ain't surprised that I should wish to see you.' + +'I'm ever so much obliged. I think it's very kind of you.' + +'I can't go in for a new life as you can. I can't take up +politics and Parliament. It's too late for me.' + +'I'm going to. There's a bill coming on this very night that I'm +interested about. You mustn't be angry if I rush off a little +before ten. We are going to lend money to the parishes on the +security of the rates for draining bits of common land. Then we +shall sell the land and endow the unions, so as to lessen the +poor rates, and increase the cereal products of the country. We +think we can bring 300,000 acres under the plough in three years, +which now produce almost nothing, and in five years would pay all +the expenses. Putting the value of the land at 25 pounds an +acre, which is low, we shall have created property to the value +of seven million and a half. That's something, you know.' + +'Oh, yes,' said Mr Wharton, who felt himself quite unable to +follow with any interest the aspirations of the young legislator. + +'Of course it's complicated,' continued Arthur, 'but when you +come to look into it it comes out clear enough. It is one of the +instances of the omnipotence of capital. Parliament can do such +a thing, not because it has any creative power of its own, but +because it has the command of unlimited capital.' Mr Wharton +looked at him, sighing inwardly as he reflected that unrequited +love should have brought a clear-headed young barrister into +mists so thick and labyrinths so mazy as these. 'A very good +beef-steak indeed,' said Arthur; 'I don't know when I ate a +better one. Thank you, no;--I'll stick to the claret.' Mr +Wharton had offered him Madeira. 'Claret and brown meat always +go well together. Pancake? I don't object to a pancake. A +pancake's a very good thing. Now would you believe it, sir; they +can't make a pancake at the House.' + +'And yet they sometimes fall very flat too,' said the lawyer, +making a real lawyer's joke. + +But Mr Wharton still had something to say, though he hardly knew +how to say it. 'You must come and see us at the Square after a +bit.' + +'Oh;--of course.' + +'I wouldn't ask you to dine here to-day, because I thought we +should be less melancholy here;--but you mustn't cut us +altogether. You haven't seen Everett since you've been in town?' + +'No, sir. I believe he lives a good deal,--a good deal with-- +Mr Lopez. There was a little row down at Silverbridge. Of +course it will wear off, but just at present his lines and my +lines don't converge.' + +'I'm very unhappy about him, Arthur.' + +'There's nothing the matter?' + +'My girl has married that man. I've nothing to say against him; +--but of course it wasn't to my taste, and I feel it as a +separation. And now Everett has quarrelled with me.' + +'Quarrelled with you!' + +Then the father told the story as well as he knew how. His son +had lost some money, and he had called him a gambler,--and +consequently his son would not come near him. 'It is bad to lose +them both, Arthur.' + +'That is so unlike Everett.' + +'It seems to me that everybody has changed,--except myself. Who +would have dreamed that she would have married that man? Not +that I have anything to say against him except that he was not of +our sort. He has been very good about Everett, and is very good +about him. But Everett will not come to me unless--I withdraw +the word;--say that I was wrong to call him a gambler. That is +a proposition no man should make to a father.' + +'It is very unlike Everett,' repeated the other. 'Has he written +to you to that effect?' + +'He has not written a word.' + +'Why don't you go to see him yourself, and have it out with him?' + +'Am I to go to that club after him?' said the father. + +'Write to him and bid him come to you. I'll give up my seat if +he don't come to you. Everett was always a quaint fellow, a +little idle, you know,--mooning about after ideas--' + +'He's no fool, you know,' said the father. + +'Not at all;--only vague. But he's the last man in the world to +have nasty vulgar ideas of his own importance as distinguished +from yours.' + +'Lopez says--' + +'I wouldn't quite trust Lopez.' + +'He isn't a bad fellow in his way, Arthur. Of course he is not +what I would have liked for a son-in-law. I needn't tell you +that. But he is kind and gentle-mannered, and has always been +attached to Everett. You know he saved Everett's life at the +risk of his own.' Arthur could not but smile as he perceived how +the old man was being won round by the son-in-law, whom he had +treated so violently before the man had become his son-in-law. +'By-the-way, what was all that about a letter you wrote to him?' + +'Emily,--I mean Mrs Lopez,--will tell you if you ask her.' + +'I don't want to ask her. I don't want to appear to set the wife +against the husband. I am sure, my boy, you would write nothing +that could affront her.' + +'I think not, Mr Wharton. If I know myself well at all, or my +own nature, it is not probable that I should affront your +daughter.' + +'No; no; no. I know that, my dear boy. I was always sure of +that. Take some more wine.' + +'No more, thank you. I must be off because I'm so anxious about +this bill.' + +'I couldn't ask Emily about this letter. Now that they are +married I have to make the best of it,--for her sake. I +couldn't bring myself to say anything to her which might seem to +accuse him.' + +'I thought it right, sir, to explain to her that were I not in +the hands of other people, I would not do anything to interfere +with her happiness by opposing her husband. My language was more +guarded.' + +'He destroyed the letter.' + +'I have a copy of it if it comes to that,' said Arthur. + +'It will be best, perhaps to say nothing further about it. Well; +--good night, my boy, if you must go.' Then Fletcher went off to +the House, wondering as he went at the change which had +apparently come over the character of his old friend. Mr Wharton +had always been a strong man, and now he seemed as weak as water. +As to Everett, Fletcher was sure that there was something wrong, +but he could not see his way to interfere himself. For the +present he was divided from the family. Nevertheless he told +himself again and again that the division should not be +permanent. Of all the world she must always be to him the +dearest. + + + + +CHAPTER 37 + +THE HORNS. + +The first months of the session went on very much as the last +session had gone. The ministry did nothing brilliant. As far as +the outer world could see, they seemed to be firm enough. There +was no opposing party in the House strong enough to get a vote +against them on any subject. Outsiders, who only studied +politics in the columns of their newspapers, imagined the +Coalition to be very strong. But they who were inside, members +themselves, and the club quidnuncs who were always rubbing their +shoulders against members, knew better. The opposition to the +Coalition was within the Coalition itself. Sir Orlando Drought +had not been allowed to build his four ships, and was +consequently eager in his fears that the country would be invaded +by the combined forces of Germany and France, that India would be +sold by those powers to Russia, that Canada would be annexed to +the States, that a great independent Roman Catholic hierarchy +would be established in Ireland, and that Malta and Gibraltar +would be taken away from us;--all of which evils would be +averted by the building of four big ships. A wet blanket of so +terrible a size was in itself pernicious to the Cabinet, and +heartrending to the poor Duke. But Sir Orlando could do worse +even than this. As he was not to build his four ships, neither +should Mr Monk be allowed to readjust the country suffrage. When +the skeleton of Mr Monk's scheme was discussed in the Cabinet, +Sir Orlando would not agree to it. The gentlemen, he said, who +had joined the present Government with him, would never consent +to a measure which would be so utterly destructive of the +county's interest. If Mr Monk insisted on his measure in its +proposed form, he must, with very great regret, place his +resignation in the Duke's hands, and he believed that his friends +would find themselves compelled to follow the same course. Then +our Duke consulted the old Duke. The old Duke's advice was the +same as ever. The Queen's Government was the main object. The +present ministry enjoyed the support of the country, and he +considered it the duty of the First Lord of the Treasury to +remain at his post. The country was in no hurry, and the +question of suffrages in the counties might still be delayed. +Then he added a little counsel which might be called quite +private, as it was certainly intended for no other ears than +those of his younger friend. 'Give Sir Orlando rope enough and +he'll hang himself. His own party are becoming tired of him. If +you quarrel with him this session, Drummond, and Ramsden, and +Beeswax, would go out with him, and the Government would be +broken up; but next session you may get rid of him safely.' + +'I wish it were broken up,' said the Prime Minister. + +'You have your duty to do by the country and the Queen, and you +mustn't regard your own wishes. Next session, let Monk be ready +with his bill again,--the same measure exactly. Let Sir Orlando +resign then if he will. Should he do so I doubt whether anyone +would go with him. Drummond does not like him much better than +do you and I do.' The poor Prime Minister was forced to obey. +The old Duke was his only trusted counsellor, and he found +himself constrained by his conscience to do as that counsellor +counselled him. When, however, Sir Orlando, in his place as +Leader of the House, in answer to some question from a hot and +disappointed Radical, averred that the whole of Her Majesty's +Government had been quite in unison on this question of the +country's suffrage, he was hardly able to restrain himself. 'If +there be a difference of opinion they must be kept in the +background,' said the Duke of St Bungay. 'Nothing can justify a +direct falsehood,' said the Duke of Omnium. Thus it came to pass +that the only real measure which the Government had in hand was +one by which Phineas Finn hoped so to increase the power of Irish +municipalities as to make the Home Rulers believe that a certain +amount of Home Rule was being conceded to them. It was not a +great measure, and poor Phineas Finn hardly believed in it. And +thus the Duke's ministry came to be called the Faineants. + +But the Duchess, though she had been much snubbed, still +persevered. Now and again she would declare herself to be broken- +hearted, and would say that things might go their own way, that +she would send in her resignation, that she would retire into +private life, and milk cows, that she would shake hands with no +more parliamentary cads and "cadesses",--a word which her Grace +condescended to coin for her own use, that she would spend the +next three years in travelling about the world; and lastly, that, +let there come whatever of it whatever might, Sir Orlando Drought +should never again be invited into any house of which she was the +mistress. This last threat, which was perhaps the most +indiscreet of them all, she absolutely made good--thereby adding +very greatly to her husband's difficulties. + +But by the middle of June the parties at the house in Carlton +Terrace were as frequent and as large as ever. Indeed it was all +party with her. The Duchess possessed a pretty little villa down +at Richmond, on the river, called The Horns, and gave parties +there when there were none in London. She had picnics, and +flower parties, and tea parties, and afternoons, and evenings, on +the lawn,--till half London was always on its way to Richmond or +back again. How she worked! And yet from day to day she swore +that the world was ungrateful. Everybody went. She was so far +successful that nobody thought of despising her parties. It was +quite the thing to go to the Duchess's, whether at Richmond or in +London. But people abused her and laughed at her. They said +that she intrigued to get political support for her husband,-- +and worse than that, they said that she failed. She did not fail +altogether. The world was not taken captive as she had intended. +Young members of Parliament did not become hotly enthusiastic in +support of her and her husband as she had hoped that they would +do. She had not become an institution of granite, as her dreams +had fondly told her might be possible,--for there had been +moments in which she had almost thought that she could rule +England by giving dinner and supper parties, by ices and +champagne. But in a dull, phlegmatic way, they who ate the ices +and drank the champagne were true to her. There was a feeling +abroad that 'Glencora' was a 'good sort of fellow' and ought to +be supported. And when the ridicule became too strong, or the +abuse too sharp, men would take up the cudgels for her, and fight +her battles;--a little too openly, perhaps, as they would do it +under her eyes, and in her hearing, and would tell her what they +had done, mistaking on such occasions her good humour for +sympathy. There was just enough success to prevent that +abandonment of her project which she so often threatened, but not +enough to make her triumphant. She was too clever not to see +that she was ridiculed. She knew that men called her Glencora +among themselves. She was herself quite alive to the fact that +she herself was wanting in dignity, and that with all the means +at her disposal, with all her courage and all her talents, she +did not quite play the part of the really great lady. But she +did not fail to tell herself that labour continued would at last +be successful, and she was strong to bear the buffets of the ill- +natured. She did not think that she brought first-class +materials to her work, but she believed,--a belief so erroneous +as, alas, it is common,--that first-rate results might be +achieved by second-rate means. + +'We had such a battle about your Grace last night,' Captain +Gunner said to her. + +'And were you my knight?' + +'Indeed I was. I never heard such nonsense.' + +'What were they saying?' + +'Oh, the old story;--that you were like Martha, busying yourself +about many things.' + +'Why shouldn't I busy myself about many things? It is a pity, +Captain Gunner, that some of you men have not something to busy +yourselves about.' All this was unpleasant. She could on such +an occasion make up her mind to drop any Captain Gunner who had +ventured to take too much upon himself: but she felt that in the +efforts she had made after popularity, she had submitted herself +to unpleasant familiarities;--and though persistent in her +course, she was still angry about herself. + +When she had begun her campaign as the Prime Minister's wife, one +of her difficulties had been with regard to money. An abnormal +expenditure became necessary, for which her husband's express +sanction must be obtained, and steps taken in which his personal +assistance would be necessary;--but this had been done, and +there was now no further impediment in that direction. It seemed +to be understood that she was to spend what money she pleased. +There had been various contests between them, but in every +contest she had gained something. He had been majestically +indignant with her in reference to the candidature at +Silverbridge,--but, as is usual with many of us, had been unable +to maintain his anger about two things at the same time. Or, +rather, in the majesty of his anger about her interference, he +had disdained to descend to the smaller faults of her +extravagance. He had seemed to concede everything else to her, +on condition that he should be allowed to be imperious in +reference to the borough. In that matter she had given way, +never having opened her mouth about it after that one unfortunate +word to Mr Sprugeon. But, having done so, she was entitled to +squander her thousands without remorse,--and she squandered +them. 'It is your five-and-twenty thousand pounds, my dear,' she +once said to Mrs Finn, who often took upon herself to question +the prudence of all this expenditure. This referred to a certain +sum of money which had been left by the old Duke to Madame +Goesler, as she was then called,--a legacy which that lady had +repudiated. The money had, in truth, been given away to a +relation of the Duke's by the joint consent of the lady and the +Duke himself, but the Duchess was pleased to refer to it +occasionally as a still existing property. + +'My five-and-twenty thousand pounds, as you call it, would not go +very far.' + +'What's the use of money if you don't spend it? The Duke would +go on collecting it and buying more property,--which always +means more trouble,--not because he is avaricious, but because +for the time that comes easier than spending. Supposing he had +married a woman without a shilling, he would still have been a +rich man. As it is, my property was more even than his own. If +we can do any good by spending the money, why shouldn't it be +spent?' + +'If you can do any good!' + +'It all comes round to that. It isn't because I like always to +live in a windmill! I have come to hate it. At this moment I +would give worlds to be down at Matching with no one but the +children, and to go about in a straw hat and muslin gown. I have +a fancy that I could sit under a tree and read a sermon, and +think it the sweetest recreation. But I've made the attempt to +do all this, and it so mean to fail!' + +'But where is to be the end of it?' + +'There shall be no end as long as he is Prime Minister. He is +the first man in England. Some people would say the first in +Europe--or in the world. A Prince should entertain like a +Prince.' + +'He need not be always entertaining.' + +'Hospitality should run from a man with his wealth, and his +position, like water from a fountain. As his hand is known to be +full, so it should be known to be open. When the delight of his +friends is in question, he should know nothing of cost. Pearls +should drop from him as from a fairy. But I don't think you +understand me.' + +'Not when the pearls are to be picked up by Captain Gunners, Lady +Glen.' + +'I can't make the men any better,--nor yet the women. They are +poor mean creatures. The world is made up of such. I don't know +that Captain Gunner is worse than Sir Orlando Drought or Sir +Timothy Beeswax. People seen by the mind are exactly different +to things seen by the eye. They grow smaller and smaller as you +come nearer down to them, whereas things become bigger. I +remember when I used to think that members of the Cabinet were +almost gods, and now they seem to be no bigger than shoe-blacks,- +only less picturesque. He told me the other day of the time when +he gave up going into power for the sake of taking me abroad. +Ah! me; how much was happening then,--and how much has happened +since that! We didn't know you then.' + +'He has been a good husband to you.' + +'And I have been a good wife to him! I have never had him for an +hour out of my heart since that, or ever for a moment forgotten +his interest. I can't live with him because he shuts himself up +reading blue-books, and is always at his office or in the House; +--but I would if I could. Am I not doing it all for him? You +don't think that the Captain Gunnners are particularly pleasant +to me! Think of your life and of mine. You have had lovers.' + +'One in my life,--when I was entitled to have one.' + +'Well; I am the Duchess of Omnium, and I am the wife of the Prime +Minister, and I had a larger property of my own than any other +young woman that ever was born; and I am myself too,--Glencora +M'Cluskie that was, and I've made for myself a character that I'm +not ashamed of. But I'd be the curate's wife tomorrow, and make +puddings, if I could only have my own husband and my own children +with me. What's the use of it all? I like you better than +anybody else, but you do nothing but scold me.' Still the +parties went on, and the Duchess laboured hard among her guests, +and wore her jewels, and stood on her feet all the night, night +after night, being civil to one person, bright to a second, +confidential to a third, and sarcastic to an unfortunate fourth; +--and in the morning she would work hard with her lists, seeing +who had come to her and who had stayed away, and arranging who +should be asked and who should be omitted. + +In the meantime the Duke altogether avoided those things. At +first he had been content to show himself, and escape as soon as +possible;--but now he was never seen at all in his own house, +except at certain heavy dinners. To Richmond he never went at +all, and in his own house in town very rarely ever passed through +the door that led into the reception rooms. He had not time for +ordinary society. So said the Duchess. And many, perhaps the +majority of those who frequented the house, really believed that +his official duties were too onerous to leave him time for +conversation. But in truth the hours were heavily with him as he +sat alone in his study, sighing for some sweet parliamentary +task, and regretting the days in which he was privileged to sit +in the House of Commons till two o'clock in the morning, in the +hope that he might get a clause or two passed in his bill for +decimal coinage. + +It was at The Horns at an afternoon party, given there in the +gardens by the Duchess, early in July, that Arthur Fletcher first +saw Emily after her marriage, and Lopez after the occurrence at +Silverbridge. As it happened he came out upon the lawn after +them, and found them speaking to the Duchess as they passed on. +She had put herself out of her way to be civil to Mr and Mrs +Lopez, feeling that she had in some degree injured him in +reference to the election, and had therefore invited both him and +his wife on more than one occasion. Arthur Fletcher was there as +a young man well known in the world and a supporter of the Duke's +government. The Duchess had taken up Arthur Fletcher,--as she +was wont to take up new men, and had personally become tired of +Lopez. Of course she had heard of the election, and had been +told that Lopez had behaved badly. Of Mr Lopez she did not know +enough to care anything, one way or the other;--but she still +encouraged him because she had caused him disappointment. She +had now detained them a minute on the terrace before the windows +while she said a word, and Arthur Fletcher became one of the +little party before he knew whom he was meeting. 'I am +delighted,' she said, 'that you two Silverbridge heroes should +meet together here as friends.' It was almost incumbent on her +to say something, though it would have been better for her not to +have alluded to their heroism. Mrs Lopez put out her hand, and +Arthur Fletcher of course took it. Then the two men bowed +slightly to each other, raising their hats. Arthur paused a +moment with them, as they passed on from the Duchess, thinking +that he would say something in a friendly tone. But he was +silenced by the frown on the husband's face, and was almost +constrained to go away without a word. It was very difficult for +him even to be silent, as her greeting had been kind. But yet it +was impossible for him to ignore the displeasure displayed in the +man's countenance. So he touched his hat, and asking her to +remember him affectionately to her father, turned off the path +and went away. + +'Why did you shake hands with that man?' said Lopez. It was the +first time since their marriage that his voice had been that of +an angry man and an offended husband. + +'Why not, Ferdinand? He and I are very old friends, and we have +not quarrelled.' + +'You must take up your husband's friendships and your husband's +quarrels. Did I not tell you that he had insulted you?' + +'He never insulted me.' + +'Emily, you must allow me to be the judge of that. He insulted +you, and then he behaved like a poltroon down at Silverbridge, +and I will not have you know him anymore. When I say so I +suppose that will be enough.' He waited for a reply, but she +said nothing. 'I ask you to tell me that you will obey me in +this.' + +'Of course he will not come to my house, nor should I think of +going to his, if you disapproved.' + +'Going to his house! He's unmarried.' + +'Supposing he had a wife! Ferdinand, perhaps it will be better +that you and I should not talk about him.' + +'By G-,' said Lopez, 'there shall be no subject on which I will +afraid to talk to my own wife. I insist upon your assuring me +that you will never speak to him again.' + +He had taken her along one of the upper walks because it was +desolate, and he could there speak to her, as he thought, +without being heard. She had, almost unconsciously, made a faint +attempt to lead him down the lawn, no doubt feeling averse to +private conversations at the moment; but he had persevered, and +had resented the little effort. The idea in his mind that she +was unwilling to renounce the man, anxious to escape his order +for such renunciation, added fuel to his jealousy. It was not +enough for him that she had rejected this man and had accepted +him. The man had been her lover, and she should be made to +denounce the man. It might be necessary for him to control his +feelings before old Wharton;--but he knew enough of his wife to +be sure that would not speak evil of him or betray him to her +father. Her loyalty to him, which he could understand though not +appreciate, enabled him to be a tyrant to her. So now he +repeated his order to her, pausing in the path, with a voice +unintentionally loud, and frowning down upon her as he spoke. +'You must tell me, Emily, that you will never speak to him +again.' + +She was silent, looking up into his face, not with tremulous +eyes, but with infinite woe written in them, had he been able to +read the writing. She knew that he was disgracing himself, and +yet he was the man whom she loved! 'If you bid me not to speak +to him, I will not,--but he must know the reason why.' + +'He shall know nothing from you. You do not mean to say that you +would write to him.' + +'Papa must tell him.' + +'I will not have it so. In this matter, Emily, I will be the +master,--as it is fit that I should be. I will not have you +talk to your father about Mr Fletcher.' + +'Why not, Ferdinand?' + +'Because I have so decided. He is an old family friend. I can +understand that, and do not therefore wish to interfere between +him and your father. But he has taken upon himself to write an +insolent letter to you as my wife, and to interfere in my +affairs. As to what should be done between you and him, I must +be the judge and not your father.' + +'And I must not speak to papa about it?' + +'No!' + +'Ferdinand, you make too little, I think, of the associations and +affections of a whole life.' + +'I will hear nothing about affection,' he said angrily. + +'You cannot mean that,--that--you doubt me?' + +'Certainly not. I think too much of myself and too little of +him.' It did not occur to him to tell her that he thought too +well of her for that. 'But the man who has offended me must be +held to have offended you also.' + +'You might say the same if it were my father.' + +He paused at this, but only for a moment. 'Certainly I might. +It is not probable, but no doubt I might do so. If your father +were to quarrel with me, you would not, I suppose, hesitate +between us?' + +'Nothing on earth could divide me from you.' + +'Nor me from you. In this very matter I am only taking your +part, if you did but know it.' They had now passed on, and had +met other persons, having made their way through a little +shrubbery on to a further lawn; and she had hoped, as they were +surrounded by people, that he would allow the matter to drop. +She had been unable as yet to make up her mind as to what she +should say if he pressed her hard. But, if it could be passed +by,--if nothing more were demanded from her,--she would +endeavour to forget it all, saying to herself that it had come +from sudden passion. But he was too resolute for such a +termination as that, and too keenly alive to the expediency of +making her thoroughly subject to him. So he turned her round and +took her back through the shrubbery, and in the middle of it +stopped her again and renewed his demand. + +'Promise me that you will not speak again to Mr Fletcher.' + +'Then I must tell papa.' + +'No;--you shall tell him nothing.' + +'Ferdinand, if you exact a promise from me that I will not speak +to Mr Fletcher, or bow to him should circumstances bring us +together as they did just now, I must explain to my father why I +have done so.' + +'You will wilfully disobey me?' + +'In that I must.' He glared at her, almost as though he were +going to strike her, but she bore his look without flinching. 'I +have left all my old friends, Ferdinand, and have given my heart +and soul to you. No woman did so with a truer love or more +devoted intention of doing her duty to her husband. Your affairs +shall be my affairs.' + +'Well; yes; rather.' + +She was endeavouring to assure him of her truth, but could +understand the sneer which was conveyed in his acknowledgment. +'But you cannot, nor can I for your sake, abolish the things +which have been.' + +'I wish you to abolish nothing that has been. I speak of the +future.' + +'Between our family and that of Mr Fletcher there has been old +friendship which is still very dear to my father,--the memory of +which is still very dear to me. At your request I am willing to +put all that aside from me. There is no reason why I should ever +see any of the Fletchers again. Our lives will be apart. Should +we meet our greeting would be very slight. The separation can be +effected without words. But if you demand an absolute promise,-- +I must tell my father.' + +'We will go home at once,' he said instantly, and aloud. And +home they went, back to London, without exchanging a word on the +journey. He was absolutely black with rage, and she was content +to remain silent. The promise was not given, nor indeed, was it +exacted under the conditions which the wife had imposed upon it. +He was most desirous to make her subject to his will in all +things, and quite prepared to exercise tyranny over her to any +extent,--so that her father should know nothing of it. He could +not afford to quarrel with Mr Wharton. 'You had better go to +bed,' he said, when he got her back to town;--and she went, if +not to bed, at any rate into her own room. + + + +CHAPTER 38 + +SIR ORLANDO RETIRES. + +'He is a horrid man. He came here and quarrelled with the other +man in my house, or rather down at Richmond, and made a fool of +himself, and then quarrelled with his wife and took her away. +What fools, what asses, what horrors men are! How impossible it +is to be civil and gracious without getting into a mess. I am +tempted to say that I will never know anybody any more.' Such +was the complaint made by the Duchess to Mrs Finn a few days +after the Richmond party, and from this it was evident that the +latter affair had not passed without notice. + +'Did he make a noise about it?' asked Mrs Finn. + +'There was not a row, but there was enough of a quarrel to be +visible and audible. He walked about and talked loud to the poor +woman. Of course it was my own fault. But the man was clever +and I liked him, and people told me that he was of the right +sort.' + +'The Duke heard of it?' + +'No;--and I hope he won't. It would be such a triumph for him, +after all the fuss at Silverbridge. But he never heard of +anything. If two men fought a duel in his own dining-room he +would be the last man in London to know about it.' + +'Then say nothing about it, and don't ask the men anymore.' + +'You may be sure I won't ask the man with the wife any more. The +other man is in Parliament and can't be thrown over so easily-- +and it wasn't his fault. But I'm getting so sick of it all! I'm +told that Sir Orlando has complained to Plantagenet that he isn't +asked to the dinners.' + +'Impossible!' + +'Don't you mention it, but he has. Warburton has told me so.' +Warburton was one of the Duke's private secretaries. + +'What did the Duke say?' + +'I don't' quite know. Warburton is one of my familiars, but I +didn't like to ask him for more than he chose to tell me. +Warburton suggested that I should invite Sir Orlando at once; but +there I was obdurate. Of course, if Plantagenet tells me I'll +ask the man to come every day of the week;--but it is one of +those things that I shall need to be told directly. My idea is, +you know, that they had better get rid of Sir Orlando,--and that +if Sir Orlando chooses to kick over the traces, he may be turned +loose without any danger. One has little birds that give one all +manner of information, and one little bird has told me that Sir +Orlando and Mr Roby don't speak. Mr Roby is not very much +himself, but he is a good straw to show which way the wind blows. +Plantagenet certainly sent no message about Sir Orlando, and I'm +afraid the gentleman must look for his dinners elsewhere.' + +The Duke had in truth expressed himself very plainly to Mr +Warburton; but with so much indiscreet fretfulness that the +discreet private secretary had not told it even to the Duchess. + +'This kind of thing argues a want of cordiality that may be fatal +to us,' Sir Orlando had said somewhat grandiloquently to the +Duke, and the Duke had made--almost no reply. 'I suppose I may +ask my own guests into my own house,' he had said afterwards to +Mr Warburton, 'though in public life I am everybody's slave. Mr +Warburton, anxious of course to maintain the unity of the party, +had told the Duchess so much as would, he thought, induce her to +give way, but he had not repeated the Duke's own observations, +which were, Mr Warburton thought, hostile to the interests of the +party. The Duchess only smiled and made a little grimace, with +which the private secretary was already well acquainted. And Sir +Orlando received no invitation. + +In those days Sir Orlando was unhappy and irritable, doubtful of +further success as regarded the Coalition, but quite resolved to +put the house down about the ears of the inhabitants rather than +to leave it with gentle resignation. To him it seemed to be +impossible that the Coalition should exist without him. He too +had moments of high-vaulting ambition, in which he had almost +felt himself to be the great man required by the country, the one +ruler who could gather together in his grasp the reins of +government and drive the State coach single-handed safe through +its difficulties for the next half-dozen years. There are men +who cannot conceive of themselves that anything should be +difficult for them, and again others who cannot bring themselves +so to trust themselves as to think that they can ever achieve +anything great. Samples of each sort from time to time rise high +in political life, carried thither apparently by Epicurean +concourse of atoms; and it often happens that the more confident +samples are by no means the most capable. The concourse of atoms +had carried Sir Orlando so high that he could not but think +himself intended for something higher. But the Duke, who had +really been wafted to the very top, had always doubted himself, +believing himself capable of doing some one thing by dint of +industry, but with no further confidence in his own powers. Sir +Orlando had perceived something of his leader's weakness, and had +thought that he might profit by it. He was not only a +distinguished member of the Cabinet, but even the recognised +Leader of the House of Commons. He looked out the facts and +found that for five-and-twenty years out of the last thirty the +Leader of the House of Commons had been the Head of Government. +He felt that he would be mean not to stretch out his hand and +take the prize destined for him. The Duke was a poor timid man +who had very little to say for himself. Then came the little +episode about the dinners. It had become very evident to the +world that the Duchess of Omnium had cut Sir Orlando Drought,-- +that the Prime Minister's wife, who was great in hospitality, +would not admit the First Lord of the Admiralty into her house. +The doings of Gatherum Castle, and in Carlton Terrace, and at The +Horns were watched much too closely by the world at large to +allow such omissions to be otherwise than conspicuous. Since the +commencement of the session there had been a series of articles +in the "People's Banner" violently abusive of the Prime Minister, +and in one or two of these the indecency of these exclusions had +been exposed with great strength of language. And the Editor of +the "People's Banner" had discovered that Sir Orlando Drought was +the one man in Parliament fit to rule the nation. Till +Parliament should discover this fact, or at least acknowledge it, +--the discovery having been happily made by the "People's +Banner",--the Editor of the "People's Banner" thought there +could be no hope for the country. Sir Orlando of course saw all +these articles, and his very heart believed that a man at length +sprung up among them fit to conduct a newspaper. The Duke also +unfortunately saw the "People's Banner". In his old happy days +two papers a day, one in the morning and the other before dinner, +sufficed to tell him all that he wanted to know. Now he felt it +necessary to see almost every rag that was published. And he +would skim through them all till he found lines in which he +himself was maligned, and then, with sore heart and irritated +nerves, would pause over every contumelious word. He would have +bitten his tongue out rather that have spoken of the tortures he +endured, but he was tortured and did endure. He knew the cause +of the bitter personal attacks upon him,--of the abuse with +which he was loaded, and of the ridicule, infinitely more painful +to him, with which his wife's social splendour was bespattered. +He remembered well the attempt with which Mr Quintus Slide had +made to obtain an entrance into his house, and his own scornful +rejection of that gentleman's overtures. He knew,--no man knew +better,--the real value of that able Editor's opinion. And yet +every word of it was gall and wormwood to him. In every +paragraph there was a scourge which hit him on the raw and opened +the wounds which he could show to no kind surgeon, for which he +could find solace in no friendly treatment. Not even to his wife +could he condescend to say that Mr Quintus Slide had hurt him. + +Then Sir Orlando had come himself. Sir Orlando explained himself +gracefully. He of course could understand that no gentleman had a +right to complain because he was not asked to another gentleman's +house. But the affairs of the country were above private +considerations; and he, actuated by public feelings, would +condescend to do that which under other circumstances would be +impossible. The public press, which was every vigilant, had +suggested that there was some official estrangement, because Sir +Orlando had not been included in the list of guests invited by +His Grace. Did not his Grace think that there might be seeds of, +--he would not quite say decay for the Coalition, in such a state +of things? The Duke paused for a moment, and then said that he +thought there were no such seeds. Sir Orlando bowed haughtily +and withdrew,--swearing at that moment that the Coalition should +be made to fall into a thousand shivers. This had all taken +place a fortnight before the party at The Horns form which poor +Mrs Lopez had been withdrawn so hastily. + +But Sir Orlando, when he commenced the proceeding consequent on +this resolution, did not find all that support which he had +expected. Unfortunately there had been an uncomfortable word or +two between him and Mr Roby, the political Secretary at the +Admiralty. Mr Roby had never quite seconded Sir Orlando's ardour +in the matter of the four ships, and Sir Orlando in his pride of +place had ventured to snub Mr Roby. Now Mr Roby could perhaps +bear a snubbing perhaps as well as any other official +subordinate,--but he was one who would study the question and +assure himself that it was, or that it was not, worth his while +to bear it. He, too, had discussed with his friends the +condition of the Coalition, and had come to some conclusions +rather adverse to Sir Orlando than otherwise. When, therefore, +the First Secretary sounded him as to the expediency of some step +in the direction of a firmer political combination than at +present existing,--by which of course was meant the dethronement +of the present Prime Minister,--Mr Roby had snubbed him! Then +there had been slight official criminations and recriminations, +till a state of things had come to pass which almost justified +the statement by the Duchess to Mrs Finn. + +The Coalition had many component parts, some coalescing without +difficulty, but with no special cordiality. Such was the +condition of things between the very conservative Lord Lieutenant +of Ireland and his somewhat radical Chief Secretary, Mr Finn,-- +between probably the larger number of those who were contented +with the duties of their own offices and the pleasures and +profits arising therefrom. Some by this time hardly coalesced at +all, as was the case with Sir Gregory Grogram and Sir Timothy +Beeswax, the Attorney-General and Solicitor-General;--and was +especially the case with the Prime Minister and Sir Orlando +Drought. But in one or two happy cases the Coalition was sincere +and loyal,--and in no case was this more so than with regard to +Mr Rattler and Mr Roby. Mr Rattler and Mr Roby had throughout +their long parliamentary lives belonged to opposite parties, and +had been accustomed to regard each other with mutual jealousy and +almost with mutual hatred. But now they had come to see how +equal, how alike, and how sympathetic were their tastes, and how +well each might help the other. As long as Mr Rattler could keep +his place at the Treasury,--and his ambition never stirred him +to aught higher,--he was quite contented that his old rival +should be happy at the Admiralty. And that old rival, when he +looked about him and felt his present comfort, when he remembered +how short-lived had been the good things which had hitherto come +in his way, and how little probable it was that long-lived good +things should be his when the Coalition was broken up, manfully +determined that loyalty to the present Head of Government was his +duty. He had sat for too many years on the same bench with Sir +Orlando to believe much in his power of governing the country. +Therefore, when Sir Orlando dropped his hint Mr Roby did not take +it. + +'I wonder whether it's true that Sir Orlando complained to the +Duke that he was not asked to dinner?' said Mr Roby to Mr +Rattler. + +'I should hardly think so. I can't fancy that he would have the +pluck,' said Mr Rattler. 'The Duke isn't the easiest man in the +world to speak about such a thing as that.' + +'It would be a monstrous thing for a man to do! But Drought's +head is quite turned. You can see that.' + +'We never thought much about him, you know, on our side.' + +'It was what your side thought about him,' rejoined Roby, 'that +put him where he is now.' + +'It was the fate of accidents, Roby, which puts many of us in our +places, and arranges our work for us, and makes us little men or +big men. There are other men besides Drought who have been +tossed up in a blanket till they don't know whether their heads +or their heels are highest.' + +'I quite believe the Duke,' said Mr Roby, almost alarmed by the +suggestion which his new friend had seemed to make. + +'So do I, Roby. He has not the obduracy of Lord Brock, nor the +ineffable manner of Mr Mildmay, nor the brilliant intellect of Mr +Gresham.' + +'Nor the picturesque imagination of Mr Daubney,' said Mr Roby, +feeling himself bound to support the character of his late chief. + +'Nor the audacity,' said Mr Rattler. 'But he has the peculiar +gift of his own, and gifts fitted for the peculiar combination of +circumstances, if he will only be content to use them. He is a +just, unambitious, intelligent man, in whom after a while the +country would come to have implicit confidence. But he is thin- +skinned and ungenial.' + +'I have got into his boat,' said Roby, enthusiastically, 'and he +will find that I shall be true to him.' + +'There is not better boat to be in at present,' said the slightly +sarcastic Rattler. 'As to the Drought pinnace, it will be more +difficult to get it afloat than the four ships themselves. To +tell the truth honestly, Roby, we have to rid ourselves of Sir +Orlando. I have a great regard for the man.' + +'I can't say I ever liked him.' + +'I don't talk about liking,--but he has achieved success, and is +to be regarded. Now he has lost his head, and he is bound to get +a fall. The question is,--who shall fall with him?' + +'I do not feel myself at all bound to sacrifice myself.' + +'I don't know who does. Sir Timothy Beeswax, I suppose, will +resent the injury done him. But I can hardly think that a strong +government can be formed by Sir Orlando Drought and Sir Timothy +Beeswax. Any secession is a weakness,--of course; but I think +we may survive it.' And so Mr Rattler and Mr Roby made up their +minds that the first Lord of the Admiralty might be thrown +overboard without much danger to the Queen's ship. + +Sir Orlando, however, was quite in earnest. The man had spirit +enough to feel that no alternative was left to him after he had +condescended to suggest that he should be asked to dinner and had +been refused. He tried Mr Roby, and found that Mr Roby was a +mean fellow, wedded, as he told himself, to his salary. Then he +sounded Lord Drummond, urging various reasons. The country was +not safe without more ships. Mr Monk was altogether wrong about +revenue. Mr Finn's ideas about Ireland were revolutionary. But +Lord Drummond thought that, upon the whole, the present Ministry +served the country well, and considered himself bound to adhere +to it. 'He cannot beat the idea of being out of power,' said Sir +Orlando to himself. He next said a word to Sir Timothy; but Sir +Timothy was not the man to be led by the nose by Sir Orlando. +Sir Timothy had his grievance and meant to have his revenge, but +he knew how to choose his own time. 'The Duke's not a bad +fellow,' said Sir Timothy,--'perhaps a little weak, but well- +meaning. I think we ought to stand by him a little longer. As +for Finn's Irish bill, I haven't troubled myself about it.' Then +Sir Orlando declared himself that Sir Timothy was a coward, and +resolved that he would act alone. + +About the middle of July he went to the Duke at the Treasury, was +closeted with him, and in a very long narration of his own +differences, difficulties, opinions, and grievances, explained to +the Duke that his conscience called upon him to resign. The Duke +listened and bowed his head, and with one or two very gently- +uttered word expressed his regret. Then Sir Orlando, in another +long speech, laid bare his bosom to the Chief whom he was +leaving, declaring the inexpressible sorrow with which he had +found himself called upon to take a step which he feared might be +prejudicial to the political status of a man whom he honoured so +much as he did the Duke of Omnium. Then the Duke bowed again, +but said nothing. The man had been guilty of the impropriety of +questioning the way in which the Duke's private hospitality was +exercised, and the Duke could not bring himself to be genially +civil to such an offender. Sir Orlando went on to say that he +would of course explain his views in the Cabinet, but that he had +thought it right to make them known to the Duke as soon as they +were formed. 'The best friends must part, Duke,' he said as he +took his leave. 'I hope not, Sir Orlando. I hope not,' said the +Duke. But Sir Orlando had been too full of himself and of the +words he had to speak, and of the thing he was about to do, to +understand either the Duke's words or his silence. + +And so Sir Orlando resigned, and thus supplied the only morsel of +political interest which the Session produced. 'Take no more +notice of him than if your footman was going,' had been the +advice of the old Duke. Of course there was a Cabinet meeting on +the occasion, but even there the commotion was very slight, as +every member knew before entering the room what it was that Sir +Orlando intended to do. Lord Drummond said that the step was one +to be much lamented. 'Very much indeed,' said the Duke of St +Bungay. His word themselves were false and hypocritical, but the +tone of his voice took away all the deceit. 'I am afraid,' said +the Prime Minister, 'from what Sir Orlando has said to me +privately, that we cannot hope that he will change his mind.' +'That I certainly cannot do,' said Sir Orlando, with all the +dignified courage of a modern martyr. + +On the next morning the papers were full of the political fact, +and were blessed with a subject on which they could exercise +their prophetical sagacity. The remarks made were generally +favourable to the Government. Three or four of the morning +papers were of opinion that though Sir Orlando had been a strong +man, and a good public servant, the Ministry might exist without +him. But the "People's Banner" was able to expound to the people +at large, that the only grain of salt by which the Ministry had +been kept from putrefaction had been cast out, and that +mortification, death and corruption, must ensue. It was one of +Mr Quintus Slide's greatest efforts. + + + +CHAPTER 39 + +'GET ROUND HIM.' + +Ferdinand Lopez maintained his anger against his wife for more +than a week, after the scene at Richmond, feeding it with +reflections on what he called her disobedience. Nor was it a +make-believe anger. She had declared her intention to act in +opposition to his expressed orders. He felt that his present +condition was prejudicial to his interests, and that he must take +his wife back into favour, in order the he might make progress +with her father, but could hardly bring himself to swallow his +wrath. He thought it was her duty to obey him in everything,-- +and that disobedience on a matter touching her old lover was an +abominable offence, to be visited with severest marital +displeasure, and with a succession of scowls that should make her +miserable for a month at least. Nor on her behalf would he have +hesitated, though the misery might have continued three months. +But then the old man was the main hope in his life, and must be +made its mainstay. Brilliant prospects were before him. He used +to think that Mr Wharton was a hale man, with some terribly +vexatious term of his life before him. But now, now that he was +seen more closely, he appeared to be very old. He would sit half +bent in the arm-chair in Stone Buildings, and look as though he +were near a hundred. And from day to day he seemed to lean more +upon his son-in-law, whose visits to him were continued, and +always well taken. The constant subject of discourse between +them was Everett Wharton, who had not yet seen his father since +the misfortune of their quarrel. Everett had declared to Lopez a +dozen times that he would go to his father if his father wished +it, and Lopez as often reported the father that Everett would not +go to him unless he expressed such a wish. And so they had been +kept apart. Lopez did not suppose that the old man would +disinherit his son altogether,--did not, perhaps, wish it. But +he thought that the condition of the old man's mind would affect +the partition of his property, and that the old man would surely +make some new will in the present state of his affairs. The old +man always asked after his daughter, begging that she would come +to see him, and at last it was necessary that an evening should +be fixed. 'We shall be delighted to come to-day or to-morrow,' +Lopez said. + +'We had better say to-morrow. There would be nothing to eat to- +day. The house isn't now what it used to be.' It was therefore +expedient that Lopez should drop his anger when he got home, and +prepare his wife to dine in Manchester Square in a proper frame +of mind. + +Her misery had been extreme;--very much more bitter than he had +imagined. It was not only that his displeasure made her life for +the time wearisome, and robbed the only society she had of all +its charms. It was not only that her heart was wounded by his +anger. Those evils might have been short-lived. But she had +seen,--she could not fail to see,--that his conduct was +unworthy of her and of her deep love. Though she struggled hard +against the feeling, she could not but despise the meanness of +his jealousy. She knew thoroughly well that there had been no +grain of offence in that letter from Arthur Fletcher,--and she +knew that no man, to true man, would have taken offence at it. +She tried to quench her judgement, and to silence the verdict +which her intellect gave against him, but her intellect was too +strong even for her heart. She was beginning to learn that the +god of idolatry was but a little human creature, and that she +should not have worshipped at so poor a shrine. But nevertheless +the love should be continued, and, if possible, the worship, +though the idol had been already found to have feet of clay. He +was her husband, and she would be true to him. As morning after +morning he left her still with that harsh, unmanly frown upon his +face, she would look up at him with entreating eyes, and when he +returned would receive him with her fondest smile. At length he, +too, smiled. He came to after that interview with Mr Wharton and +told her, speaking with the soft yet incisive voice which she +used to love so well, that they were to dine in the Square on the +following day. 'Let there be an end of all of this,' he said, +taking her in his arms and kissing her. Of course she did not +tell him that 'all this' had sprung from his ill-humour and not +from hers. 'I own I have been angry,' he continued. 'I will say +nothing more about it now; but that man did vex me.' + +'I have been so sorry that you should have been vexed.' + +'Well;--let it pass away. I don't think your father is looking +very well.' + +'He is not ill?' + +'Oh no. He feels the loss of your society. He is so much alone. +You must be more with him.' + +'Has he not seen Everett yet?' + +'No. Everett is not behaving altogether well.' Emily was made +unhappy by this, and showed it. 'He is the best fellow in the +world. I may safely say there is no other man whom I regard so +warmly as I do your brother. But he takes wrong ideas into his +head, and nothing will knock them out. I wonder what your father +has done about his will.' + +'I have not an idea. Nothing you may be sure will make him +unjust to Everett.' + +'Ah!--You don't happen to know whether he ever made a will?' + +'Not at all. He would be sure to say nothing to me about it,-- +or to anybody.' + +'That is the kind of secrecy which I think is wrong. It leads to +so much uncertainty. You wouldn't like to ask him?' + +'No;--certainly.' + +'It is astonishing to me how afraid you are of your father. He +hasn't any land, has he?' + +'Land!' + +'Real estate. You know what I mean. He couldn't well have +landed property without your knowing it.' She shook her head. +'It might make an immense difference to us, you know.' + +'Why so?' + +'If he were to die without a will, any land,--houses and that +kind of property,--would go to Everett. I never knew a man who +told his children so little. I want you to understand these +things. You and I will be badly off if he doesn't do something +for us.' + +'You don't think he is really ill?' + +'No;--not ill. Men above seventy are apt to die, you know.' + +'Oh, Ferdinand,--what a way to talk of it!' + +'Well, my love, the thing is so seriously matter-of-fact, that it +is better to look at it in a matter-of-fact way. I don't want +your father to die.' + +'I hope not. I hope not.' + +'But I should be very glad to learn what he means to do while he +lives. I want to get you into sympathy with me on this matter;-- +but it is so difficult.' + +'Indeed I sympathise with you.' + +'The truth is that he has taken an aversion to Everett.' + +'God forbid!' + +'I am doing all I can to prevent it. But if he does throw +Everett over we ought to have advantage of it. There is no harm +in saying as much as that. Think what it should be if he should +take it into his head to leave his money to hospitals. My G-; +fancy what my condition would be if I were to hear of such a will +as that! If he destroyed the old will. Partly because he didn't +like our marriage, and partly in anger against Everett, and then +die without making another, the property would be divided,-- +unless he bought land. You see how many dangers there are. Oh +dear! I can look forward and see myself mad,--or else myself so +proudly triumphant!' All this horrified her, but he did not see +her horror. He knew that she disliked it, but thought that +disliked the trouble, and that she dreaded her father. 'Now I do +think that you could help me a little,' he continued. + +'What can I do?' + +'Get round him when he's a little down in the mouth. That is the +way in which old men are conquered.' How utterly ignorant he was +of the very nature of her mind and disposition! To be told by +her husband that she was to 'get round' her father! 'You should +see him every day. He would be delighted if you would go to him +at his chambers. Or you could take care to be in the Square when +he comes home. I don't know whether we had not better leave this +and go an live near him. Would you mind that?' + +'I would do anything you suggest as to living anywhere.' + +'But you won't do anything I suggest as to your father.' + +'As to my being with him, if I thought he wished it,--though I +had to walk my feet off, I would go to him.' + +'There's no need of hurting your feet. There's the brougham.' + +'I do so wish, Ferdinand, you would discontinue the brougham. I +don't at all want it. I don't at all dislike cabs. And I was +only joking about walking. I walk very well.' + +'Certainly not. You fail altogether to understand my ideas about +things. If things were going bad with us, I would infinitely +prefer getting a pair of horses for you to putting down the one +you have.' She certainly did not understand his ideas. +'Whatever we do we must hold our heads up. I think he is coming +round to cotton to me. He is very close, but I can see that he +likes my going to him. Of course, as he gets older from day to +day, he'll constantly want someone to lean on more than +heretofore.' + +'I would go and stay with him if he wanted me.' + +'I have thought of that too. Now that would be a saving,-- +without any fall. And if we were both there we could hardly fail +to know what he was doing. You could offer that, couldn't you? +You could say as much as that?' + +'I could ask him if he wished it.' + +'Just so. Say that it occurs to you that he is lonely by +himself, and that we will both go to the Square at a moment's +notice if he thinks it will make him comfortable. I feel sure +that that will be the best step to take. I have already had an +offer for these rooms, and could get rid of the things we have +bought to advantage.' + +This, too, was terrible to her, and at the same time altogether +unintelligible. She had been invited to buy little treasures to +make their home more comfortable, and had already learned to take +that delight in her belongings which is one of the greatest +pleasures of a young married woman's life. A girl in her old +home, before she is given up to a husband, has many sources of +interest, and probably from day to day sees many people. And the +man just married goes to his work, and occupies his time, and has +his thickly-peopled world around him. But the bride, when the +bridal honours of the honeymoon are over, when the sweet care of +the first cradle has not yet come to her, is apt to be lonely and +to be driven to the contemplation of the pretty things with which +her husband and her friends have surrounded her. It had +certainly been so with this young bride, whose husband left her +in the morning and only returned for their late dinner. And now +she was told that her household gods had had a price put on them, +and that they were to be sold. She had intended to suggest that +she would pay her father a visit, and her husband immediately +proposed that they should quarter themselves permanently on the +old man! She was ready to give up her brougham, though she liked +the comfort of it well enough, but to that he would not consent +because the possession of it gave him an air of wealth; but +without a moment's hesitation he could catch up the idea of +throwing upon her father the burden of maintaining both her and +himself! She understood the meaning of this. She could read his +mind so far. She endeavoured not to read the book too closely,-- +but there it was, opened to her wider day by day, and she knew +that the lessons which it taught were vulgar and damnable. + +And yet she had to hide from him her own perception of himself! +She had to sympathise with his desires and yet abstain from doing +that which his desires demanded from her. Alas, poor girl! She +soon knew that the marriage had been a mistake. There was +probably no one moment in which she made the confession to +herself. But the conviction was there, in her mind, as though +the confession had been made. Then there would come upon her +unbidden, unwelcome reminiscences of Arthur Fletcher,--thoughts +that she would struggle to banish, accusing herself of some +heinous crime because the thoughts would come back to her. She +remembered his light wavy hair, which she had loved as one who +loves the beauty of a dog, which had seemed to her young +imagination, to her in the ignorance of her early years to lack +something of a dreamed-of manliness. She remembered his eager, +boyish, honest entreaties to herself, which to her had been +without that dignity of a superior being which a husband should +possess. She became aware that she had thought the less of him +because he had thought more of her. She had worshipped this +other man because he had assumed superiority and had told her +that he was big enough to be her master. But now,--now that it +was all too late,--the veil had fallen from her eyes. She could +not see the difference between manliness and 'deportment'. Ah,-- +that she should ever have been so blind, she who had given +herself credit for seeing so much clearer than they who were +their elders! And now, though at last she did see clearly, she +could not have the consolation of telling anyone what she had +seen. She must bear it all in silence, and live with it, and +still love this god of clay that she had chosen. And, above all, +she must never allow herself even to think of that other man with +the wavy light hair,--that man who was rising in the world, of +whom all people said good things, and who was showing himself to +be a man by the work he did, and whose true tenderness she could +never doubt. + +Her father was left to her. She could still love her father. It +might be that it would be best for him that she should go back to +her old home, and take care of his old age. If he should wish +it, she would make no difficulty in parting with the things +around her. Of what concern were the prettinesses of life to one +whose inner soul was hampered with such ugliness! It might be +better that they should live in Manchester Square,--if her +father wished it. It was clear to her now that her husband was +in urgent need of money, though of his affairs, even of his way +of making money, she knew nothing. As that was the case, of +course she would consent to any practicable retrenchment which he +would propose. And then she thought of other coming joys and +coming troubles,--of how in future years she might have to teach +a girl falsely to believe that her father was a good man, and to +train a boy to honest purposes whatever parental lessons might +come from the other side. + +But the mistake she had made was acknowledged. The man who could +enjoin her to 'get round' her father could never have been worthy +of the love she had given him. + + + +CHAPTER 40 + +'COME AND TRY IT.' + +The husband was almost jovial when he came home just in time to +take his young wife to dine with their father. 'I've had such a +day in the city,' he said, laughing. 'I wish I could introduce +you to my friend, Mr Sextus Parker.' + +'Cannot you do so?' + +'Well, no; not exactly. Of course you'd like him, because he is +such a wonderful character, but he'd hardly do for your drawing- +room. He's the vulgarest little creature you ever put your eyes +on; and yet in a certain way he is my partner.' + +'Then I suppose you trust him?' + +'Indeed I don't;--but I make him useful. Poor little Sexty! I +do trust him to a degree, because he believes in me and thinks he +can do best by sticking to me. The old saying of "honour among +thieves" isn't without a dash of truth in it. When two men are +in a boat together, they must be true to each other, else neither +will get to the shore.' + +'You don't attribute high motives to your friend.' + +'I'm afraid there are not very many high motives in the world, my +girl, especially in the city;--nor yet at Westminster. It can +hardly be from high motives when a lot of men, thinking +differently on every possible subject, come together for the sake +of pay and power. I don't know whether, after all, Sextus Parker +mayn't have as high motives as the Duke of Omnium. I don't +suppose anyone ever had lower motives than the Duchess when she +chiselled me about Silverbridge. Never mind,--it'll all be one +a hundred years hence. Get ready, for I want you to be with your +father a little before dinner.' + +Then, when they were in the brougham together, he began a course +of very plain instructions. 'Look here, dear, you had better get +him to talk to you before dinner. I dare say Mrs Roby will be +there, and I will get her on one side. At any rate you can +manage it, because we shall be early, and I'll take up a book +while you are talking to him.' + +'What do you wish me to say to him, Ferdinand?' + +'I have been thinking of your own proposal, and I am quite sure +that we had better join him in the Square. The thing is, I am in +a little mess about the rooms, and can't stay on without paying +very dearly for them.' + +'I thought you had paid for them.' + +'Well;--yes; in one sense I had, but you don't understand about +business. You had better not interrupt me now, as I have got a +good deal to say before we get to the Square. It will suit me to +give up the rooms. I don't like them, and they are very dear. +As you yourself said, it will be a capital thing for us to go and +live with your father.' + +'I meant only for a visit.' + +'It will be for a visit;--and we'll make it a long visit.' It +was odd that the man should have been so devoid of right feeling +himself as not to have known that the ideas which he expressed +were revolting! 'You can sound him. Begin by saying that you +are afraid he is desolate. He told me himself that he was +desolate, and you can refer to that. Then tell him that we are +both of us prepared to do anything that we can to relieve him. +Put your arm over him, and kiss him, and all that sort of thing.' +She shrunk from him into the corner of the brougham, and yet he +did not perceive it. 'Then say that you think he would be +happier if we were to join him here for a time. You can make him +understand that there would be no difficulty about the +apartments. But don't say it all in a set speech, as though it +were prepared,--though of course you can let him know that you +have suggested it to me, and that I am willing. Be sure to let +him understand that the idea began with you.' + +'But it did not.' + +'You proposed to go and stay with him. Tell him just that. And +you should explain to him that he can dine at the club just as +much as he likes. When you were alone with him here, of course, +he had to come home, but he needn't do that now unless he +chooses. Of course the brougham would be my affair. And if he +should say anything about sharing the house expenses, you can +tell him that I would do anything he might propose.' Her father +to share the household expenses in his own house, and with his +own children! 'You say as much as you can of all this before +dinner, so that when we are sitting below he may suggest it if he +pleases. It would suit me to get in there next week if +possible.' + +And so one lesson had been given. She had said little or nothing +in reply, and he had only finished as they entered the Square. +She had hardly a minute allowed her to think how far she might +follow, and in what she must ignore, her husband's instructions. +If she might use her own judgement, she would tell her father at +once that a residence for a time beneath his roof would be of +service to them pecuniarily. But this she might not do. She +understood that her duty to her husband did forbid her to +proclaim his poverty in opposition to his wishes. She would tell +nothing that he did not wish her to tell,--but make the +suggestion about their change of residence, and would make it +with proper affection;--but as regarded themselves she would +simply say that it would suit their views to give up their rooms +if it suited them. + +Mr Wharton was all alone when they entered the drawing-room,-- +but as Mr Lopez had surmised, had asked his sister-in-law round +the corner to come to dinner. 'Roby always likes an excuse to +get to his club,' said the old man, 'and Harriet likes an excuse +to go anywhere.' It was not long before Lopez began to play his +part by seating himself close to the open window and looking out +into the Square; and Emily when she found herself close to her +father, with her hand in his, could hardly divest herself of a +feeling that she also was playing her part. 'I see so very +little of you,' said the old man plaintively. + +'I'd come oftener if I thought you'd like it.' + +'It isn't liking, my dear. Of course you have to live with your +husband. Isn't it sad about Everett?' + +'Very sad. But Everett hasn't lived here for ever so long.' + +'I don't know why he shouldn't. He was a fool to go away when he +did. Does he go to you?' + +'Yes;--sometimes.' + +'And what does he say?' + +'I'm sure he would be with you at once if you would ask him.' + +'I have asked him. I've sent word by Lopez over and over again. +If he means that I am to write to him and say that I'm sorry for +offending him, I won't. Don't talk of him any more. It makes me +so angry that I sometimes feel inclined to do things which I know +I should repent when dying.' + +'Not anything to injure Everett, papa?' + +'I wonder whether he ever thinks that I am an old man and all +alone, and that his brother-in-law is daily with me. But he's a +fool, and thinks of nothing. I know it is very sad being here +night after night by myself.' Mr Wharton forgot, no doubt, at +the moment, that he passed the majority of his evenings at the +Eldon,--though had he been reminded of it, he might have +declared with perfect truth that the delights of his club were +not satisfactory. + +'Papa,' said Emily, 'would you like us to come and live here?' + +'What,--you and Lopez;--here in the Square?' + +'Yes,--for a time. He is thinking of giving up the place in +Belgrave Mansions.' + +'I thought he had them for,--for ever so many months.' + +'He does not like them, and they are expensive, and he can give +them up. If you would wish it, we would come here,--for a time.' +He turned round and looked at her almost suspiciously; and she,-- +she blushed as she remembered how accurately she was obeying her +husband's orders. 'It would be such a joy to me to be near you +again.' + +There was something in her voice which instantly reassured him. +'Well--;' he said, 'come and try it if it will suit him. The +house is big enough. It will ease his pocket and be a comfort to +me. Come and try it.' + +It astonished her that the thing should be done so easily. Here +was all that her husband had proposed to arrange by deep +diplomacy settled in three words. And yet she felt ashamed of +herself,--as though she had taken her father in. That terrible +behest to 'get round him' still grated on her ears. Had she got +round him? Had she cheated him into this? + +'Papa,' she said, 'do not do this unless you feel sure that you +will like it.' + +'How is anybody to feel sure of anything, my dear?' + +'But if you doubt, do not do it.' + +'I feel sure of one thing, that is that it will be a great saving +to your husband, and I am nearly sure that ought not to be a +matter of indifference to him. There is plenty of room here, and +it will at any rate be a comfort to me to see you sometimes.' +Just at this moment Mrs Roby came in, and the old man began to +tell his news aloud. 'Emily has not gone away for long. She's +coming back like a bad shilling.' + +'Not to live in the Square?' said Mrs Roby, looking round at +Lopez. + +'Why not? There's room here for them, and it will be just as +well to save expense. When will you come, my dear?' + +'Whenever the house may be ready, papa.' + +'It's ready now. You ought to know that I am not going to +refurnish the rooms for you, or anything of that kind. Lopez can +come in an hang up his hat whenever it pleases him.' + +During this time Lopez had hardly known how to speak or what to +say. He had been very anxious that his wife should pave the way +as he would have called it. He had been urgent with her to break +the ice to her father. But it had not occurred to him that the +matter would be settled without any reference to himself. Of +course he had heard every word that had been spoken, and was +aware that his own poverty had been suggested as the cause for +such a proceeding. It was a great thing for him in every way. +He would live for nothing, and would also have almost unlimited +power of being with Mr Wharton as old age grew on him. This +ready compliance with his wishes was a benefit far too precious +to be lost. But yet he felt that his own dignity required some +reference to himself. It was distasteful to him that his father- +in-law should regard him,--or, at any rate, that he should speak +of him,--as a pauper, unable to provide a home for his own wife. +'Emily's notion in suggesting it, sir,' he said, 'has been her +care for her comfort.' The barrister turned round and looked at +him, and Lopez did not quite like the look. 'It was she thought +of it first, and she certainly had no other idea than that. When +she mentioned it to me, I was delighted to agree.' + +Emily heard it all and blushed. It was not absolutely untrue in +words,--this assertion of her husband's,--but altogether false +in spirit. And yet she could not contradict him. 'I don't see +why it should not do very well indeed,' said Mrs Roby. + +'I hope it may,' said the barrister. 'Come, Emily, I must take +you down to dinner to-day. You are not at home yet, you know. +As you are to come, the sooner the better.' + +During dinner not a word was said on the subject. Lopez exerted +himself to be pleasant, and told all that he had heard as to the +difficulties of the Cabinet. Sir Orlando had resigned, and the +general opinion was that the Coalition was going to pieces. Had +Mr Wharton seen the last article in the "People's Banner" about +the Duke? Lopez was strongly of the opinion that Mr Wharton ought +to see that article. 'I never had the "People's Banner" within +my fingers in my life,' said the barrister angrily, 'and I +certainly never will.' + +'Ah, sir; this is an exception. You shall see this. When Slide +really means to cut a fellow up, he can do it. There's no one +like him. And the Duke has deserved it. He's a poor, +vacillating creature, led by the Duchess; and she,--according to +all that one hears,--she isn't much better than she should be.' + +'I thought the Duchess was a great friend of yours.' + +'I don't care much for such friendship. She threw me over most +shamefully.' + +'And therefore you are justified in taking away her character. I +never saw the Duchess of Omnium in my life, and should probably +be very uncomfortable if I found myself in her society; but I +believe her to be a good woman in her way.' Emily sat perfectly +silent, knowing that her husband had been rebuked, but feeling +that he had deserved it. He, however, was not abashed; but +changed the conversation, dashing into city rumours, and legal +reforms. The old man from time to time said sharp little things, +showing that his intellect was not senile, all of which his son- +in-law bore imperturbably. It was not that he liked it, or was +indifferent, but that he knew he could not get the good things +which Mr Wharton could do for him without making some kind of +payment. He must take the sharp words of the old man,--and take +all that he could get besides. + +When the two men were alone together after dinner, Mr Wharton +used a different tone. 'If you are to come,' he said, 'you might +as well do it as soon as possible.' + +'A day or two will be enough for us.' + +'There are one or two things you should understand. I shall be +very happy to see your friends at any time, but I shall like to +know when they are coming before they come.' + +'Of course, sir.' + +'I dine out a good deal.' + +'At the club, 'suggested Lopez. + +'Well;--at the club or elsewhere. It doesn't matter. There +will always be dinner for you and Emily, just as though I were at +home. I say this, so that there need be no questioning's or +doubts about it hereafter. And don't let there ever be any +question of money between us.' + +'Certainly not.' + +'Everett has an allowance, and this will be tantamount to an +allowance to Emily. You have also had 3,500 pounds. I hope it +has been well expended;--except the 500 pounds at that election, +which has, of course, been thrown away.' + +'The other was brought into the business.' + +'I don't know what the business is. But you and Emily must +understand that the money has been given as her fortune.' + +'Oh, quite so;--part of it, you mean.' + +'I mean just what I say.' + +'I call it part of it, because, as you observed just now, our +living here will be the same as though made Emily an allowance.' + +'Ah;--well; you can look at it in that light, if you please. +John has the key to the cellar. He's a man I can trust. As a +rule I have port had sherry at table every day. If you like +claret, I will get some a little cheaper than what I use when +friends are here.' + +'What wine I have is indifferent to me.' + +'I like it good, and I have it good. I always breakfast at 9.30. +You can have yours earlier if you please. I don't know that +there's anything else to be said. I hope we shall get into the +way of understanding each other, and being mutually comfortable. +Shall we go upstairs to Emily and Mrs Roby?' And so it was +determined that Emily was to come back to her old house about +eight months after her marriage. + +Mr Wharton himself sat late into the night all alone, thinking +about it. What had he done, he had done in a morose way, and he +was aware that it was so. He had not beamed with smiles, and +opened his arms lovingly, and, bidding God bless his dearest +children, told them that if they would only come and sit round +his hearth he should be the happiest old man in London. He had +said little or nothing of his own affection even for his +daughter, but had spoken of the matter as one which the pecuniary +aspect alone was important. He had found out that the saving so +effected would be material to Lopez, and had resolved that there +should be no shirking of the truth in what he was prepared to do. +He had been almost asked to take the young married couple in, and +feed them,--so that they might live free of expense. He was +willing to do it,--but was not willing that there should be any +soft-worded, high-toned false pretension. He almost read Lopez +to the bottom,--not, however giving the man credit for +dishonesty so deep or cleverness so great as he possessed. But +as regarded Emily, he was so actuated by a personal desire to +have her back again as an element of happiness to himself. He +had pined for her since he had been left alone, hardly knowing +what it was that he had wanted. And how as he thought of it all, +he was angry with himself that he had not been more loving and +softer in his manner to her. She at any rate was honest. No +doubt of that crossed his mind. And now he had been bitter to +her,--bitter in his manner,--simply because he had not wished +to appear to have been taken in by her husband. Thinking of all +this, he got up, and went to his desk, and wrote her a note, +which she would receive on the following morning after her +husband had left her. It was very short. + + DEAREST E. + I am so overjoyed that you are coming back to me. +A.W. + +He had judged her quite rightly. The manner in which the thing +had been arranged had made her very wretched. There had been no +love in it;--nothing apparently but assertions on the one side +that much was being given, and on the other acknowledgments that +much was to be received. She was aware that in this her father +had condemned her husband. She also had condemned him;--and +felt, alas, that she also had been condemned. But this little +letter took away that sting. She could read into her father's +note all the action of his mind. He had known that he was bound +to acquit her, and he had done so with one of the old long-valued +expressions of his love. + + + + +VOLUME III + + + +CHAPTER 41 + +THE VALUE OF A THICK SKIN. + +Sir Orlando Drought must have felt bitterly the quiescence with +which he sank into obscurity on the second bench on the opposite +side of the House. One great occasion he had on which it was his +privilege to explain to four or five hundred gentlemen the +insuperable reasons which caused him to break away from those +right honourable friends to act with whom had been his comfort +and his duty, his great joy and his unalloyed satisfaction. Then +he occupied the best part of an hour in abusing those friends and +all their measures. This no doubt had been a pleasure, as +practice had made the manipulation of words easy to him,--and he +was able to reveal in that absence of responsibility which must +be as a fresh perfumed bath to a minister just freed from the +trammels of office. But the pleasure was surely followed by much +suffering when Mr Monk,--Mr Monk was to assume his place as +Leader of the House,--only took five minutes to answer him, +saying that he and his colleagues regretted much the loss of the +Right Honourable Baronet's services, but that it would hardly be +necessary for him to defend the Ministry on all those points on +which it had been attacked, as, were he to do so, he would have +to repeat the arguments by which every measure brought forward by +the present Ministry had been supported. Then Mr Monk sat down, +and the business of the House went on just as if Sir Orlando had +not moved his seat at all. + +'What makes everybody and everything so dead?' said Sir Orlando +to his old friend Mr Boffin as they walked home together from the +House that night. They had in former days been staunch friends, +sitting night after night close together, united in opposition, +and sometimes a few halcyon months in the happier bonds of +office. But when Sir Orlando had joined the Coalition, and when +the sterner spirit of Mr Boffin had preferred principles to +place,--to use the language in which he was wont to speak to +himself and to his wife and family of his own abnegation,--there +had come a coolness between them. Mr Boffin, who was not a rich +man, nor by any means indifferent to the comforts of office, had +felt keenly the injury done to him when he was left hopelessly in +the cold by the desertion of his old friends. It had come to +pass that there had been no salt left in the opposition. Mr +Boffin in all his parliamentary experience had known nothing like +it. Mr Boffin had been sure that British honour was going to the +dogs and that British greatness was at an end. But the secession +of Sir Orlando gave a little fillip to his life. At any rate he +could walk home with his old friend and talk of the horrors of +the present day. + +'Well, Drought, if you ask me, you know, I can only speak as I +feel. Everything must be dead when men holding different +opinions on every subject under the sun come together in order +that they may carry on a government as they would a trade +business. The work may be done, but it must be done without +spirit.' + +'But it may be all important that the work should be done,' said +the Baronet, apologizing for his past misconduct. + +'No doubt,--and I am very far from judging those who make the +attempt. It has been made more than once before, and has, I +think, always failed. I don't believe in it myself, and I think +that the death-like torpor of which you speak is one of its worst +consequences.' After that Mr Boffin admitted Sir Orlando back +into his heart of hearts. + +Then the end of the Session came, very quietly and very early. +By the end of July there was nothing left to be done, and the +world of London was allowed to go down into the country almost a +fortnight before its usual time. + +With many men, both in and out of Parliament, it became a +question whether all this was for good or evil. The Boffinites +had of course much to say for themselves. Everything was torpid. +There was no interest in the newspapers,--except when Mr Slide +took the tomahawk into his hands. A member of Parliament this +Session had not been by half so much bigger than another man as +in times of hot political warfare. One of the most moving +sources of our national excitement seemed to have vanished from +life. We all know what happens to stagnant waters. So said the +Boffinites, and so also now said Sir Orlando. But the Government +was carried on and the country was prosperous. A few useful +measures had been passed by unambitious men, and the Duke of St +Bungay declared that he had never known a Session of Parliament +more thoroughly satisfactory to the ministers. + +But the old Duke in so saying had spoken as it were his public +opinion,--giving, truly enough, to a few of his colleagues, such +as Lord Drummond, Sir Gregory Grogram and others, the results of +his general experience, but in his own bosom and with a private +friend he was compelled to confess that there was a cloud in the +heavens. The Prime Minister had become so moody, so irritable, +and so unhappy, that the old Duke was forced to doubt whether +things could go on much longer as they were. He was wont to talk +of these things to his friend Lord Cantrip, who was not a member +of the Government, but who had been a colleague of both the +Dukes, and whom the old Duke regarded with peculiar confidence. +'I cannot explain it to you,' he said to Lord Cantrip. 'There is +nothing that ought to give him a moment's uneasiness. Since he +took office there hasn't once been a majority against him in +either House on any question that the Government has made on its +own. I don't remember such a state of things,--so easy for the +Prime Minister,--since the days of Lord Liverpool. He had one +thorn in his side, our friend who was at the Admiralty, and that +thorn like other thorns has worked itself out. Yet at this moment +it is impossible to get him to consent to the nomination of a +successor to Sir Orlando.' This was said a week before the +Session had closed. + +'I suppose it is his health,' said Lord Cantrip. + +'He's well enough as far as I can see;--though he will be ill +unless he can relieve himself from the strain of his nerves.' + +'Do you mean by resigning?' + +'Not necessarily. The fault is that he takes things too +seriously. If he could be got to believe that he might eat, and +sleep, and go to bed, and amuse himself like other men, he might +be a very good Prime Minister. He is over troubled by his +conscience. I have seen a good many Prime Ministers, Cantrip, +and I've taught myself to think that they are not very different +from other men. One wants in a Prime Minister a good many +things, but not very great things. He should be clever but need +not be a genius; he should be conscientious but by no means +strait-laced; he should be cautious but never timid, bold but +never venturesome; he should have a good digestion, genial +manners, and, above all, a thick skin. These are the gifts we +want, but we can't always get them, and have to do without them. +For my own part, I find that though Smith be a very good +Minister, the best perhaps to be had at the time, when he breaks +down Jones does nearly as well.' + +'There will be a Jones, then, if your Smith does break down?' + +'No doubt England wouldn't come to an end because the Duke of +Omnium shut himself up at Matching. But I love the man, and, +with some few exceptions, am contented with the party. We can't +do better, and it cuts me to the heart when I see him suffering, +knowing how much I did myself to make him undertake the work.' + +'Is he going to Gatherum Castle?' + +'No;--to Matching. There is some discomfort about that.' + +'I suppose,' said Lord Cantrip,--speaking almost in a whisper, +although they were closeted together,--'I suppose the Duchess is +a little troublesome.' + +'She's the dearest woman in the world,' said the Duke of St +Bungay. 'I love her almost as I do my own daughter. And she is +most zealous to serve him.' + +'I fancy she overdoes it.' + +'No doubt.' + +'And that he suffers from perceiving it,' said Lord Cantrip. + +'But a man hasn't a right to suppose that he shall have no +annoyances. The best horse in the world has some faults. He +pulls, or he shies, or is slow at his fences, or doesn't like +heavy ground. He has not right to expect that his wife shall know +everything and do everything without a mistake. And then he has +such faults of his own! His skin is so thin. Do you remember +dear old Brock? By heavens,--there was a covering, a hide +impervious to fire or steel! He wouldn't have gone into tantrums +because his wife asked too may people to the house. +Nevertheless, I won't give up all hope.' + +'A man's skin may be thickened, I suppose.' + +'No doubt;--as a blacksmith's arm.' + +But the Duke of St Bungay, though he declared that he wouldn't +give up hope, was very uneasy on the matter. 'Why don't you let +me go?' the other Duke had said to him. + +'What;--because such a man as Sir Orlando Drought throws up his +office?' + +But in truth the Duke of Omnium had not been instigated to ask +the question by the resignation of Sir Orlando. At that very +moment the "People's Banner" had been put out of sight at the +bottom of a heap of other newspapers behind the Prime Minister's +chair, and his present misery had been produced by Mr Quintus +Slide. To have a festering wound and to be able to show the wound +to no surgeon, is wretchedness indeed! 'It's not Sir Orlando, +but a sense of general failure,' said the Prime Minister. Then +his old friend had made use of that argument of the ever- +recurring majorities to prove that there had been no failure. +'There seems to have come a lethargy upon the country,' said the +poor victim. Then the Duke of St Bungay knew that his friend had +read that pernicious article in the "People's Banner", for the +Duke had also read it and remembered that phrase of a 'lethargy +on the country', and understood at once how the poison had +rankled. + +It was a week before he would consent to ask any man to fill the +vacancy made by Sir Orlando. He would not allow suggestions to +be made to him and yet would name no one himself. The old Duke, +indeed, did make a suggestion, and anything coming from him was +of course borne with patience. Barrington Erle, he thought, +would do for the Admiralty. But the Prime Minister shook his +head. 'In the first place he would refuse, and that would be a +great blow to me.' + +'I could sound him,' said the old Duke. But the Prime Minister +again shook his head and turned the subject. With all his +timidity he was becoming autocratic and peevishly imperious. +Then he went to Lord Cantrip, and when Lord Cantrip, with all the +kindness which he could throw into his words, stated the reasons +which induced him at present to decline office, he was again in +despair. At last he asked Phineas Finn to move to the Admiralty, +and, when our old friend somewhat reluctantly obeyed, of course +he had the same difficulty in filling the office Finn had held. +Other changes and other complications became necessary, and Mr +Quintus Slide, who hated Phineas Finn even worse than the poor +Duke, found ample scope for his patriotic indignation. + +This all took place in the closing week of the Session, filling +our poor Prime Minister with trouble and dismay, just when other +people were complaining that there was nothing to think of and +nothing to do. Men do not really like leaving London before the +grouse calls them,--the grouse or rather the fashion of the +grouse. And some ladies were very angry at being separated so +soon from their swains in the city. The tradesmen too were +displeased,--so that there were voices to re-echo the abuse of +the "People's Banner". The Duchess had done her best to prolong +the Session by another week, telling her husband of the evil +consequences above suggested, but he had thrown wide his arms and +asked her with affected dismay whether he was to keep Parliament +sitting in order that more ribbons might be sold! 'There is +nothing to be done,' said the Duke almost angrily. + +'Then you should make something to be done,' said the Duchess, +mimicking him. + + + +CHAPTER 42 + +RETRIBUTION. + +The Duchess had been at work with her husband for the last two +months in the hope of renewing her autumnal festivities, but had +been lamentably unsuccessful. The Duke had declared that there +should be no more rural crowds, no repetition of what he called +London turned loose on his own grounds. He could not forget the +necessity which had been imposed upon him of turning Major +Pountney out of his house, or the change that had been made in +his gardens, or his wife's attempt to conquer him at +Silverbridge. 'Do you mean,' she said, 'that we are to have +nobody?' He replied that he thought it would be best to go to +Matching. 'And live a Darby and Joan life?' said the Duchess. + +'I said nothing of Darby and Joan. Whatever may be my feelings I +hardly think that you are fitted for that kind of thing. +Matching is not so big as Gatherum, but it is not a cottage. Of +course you can ask your own friends.' + +'I don't know what you mean by my own friends. I endeavour +always to ask yours.' + +'I don't know that Major Pountney, and Captain Gunner, and Mr +Lopez were ever among the number of my friends.' + +'I suppose you mean Lady Rosina?' said the Duchess. 'I shall be +happy to have her at Matching, if you wish it.' + +'I should like to see Lady Rosina De Courcy at Matching very +much.' + +'And is there to be nobody else? I'm afraid I should find it +rather dull while you two were opening your hearts to each +other.' Here he looked at her angrily. 'Can you think of +anybody besides Lady Rosina?' + +'I suppose you will wish to have Mrs Finn.' + +'What an arrangement! Lady Rosina for you to flirt with, and Mrs +Finn for me to grumble to.' + +'That is an odious word,' said the Prime Minister. + +'What;--flirting? I don't see anything bad about the word. The +thing is dangerous. But you are quite at liberty if you don't go +beyond Lady Rosina. I should like to know whether you would wish +anybody else to come?' Of course he made no becoming answer to +this question, and of course no becoming answer was expected. He +knew that she was trying to provoke him because he would not let +her do this year as she had done last. The house, he had no +doubt, would be full to overflowing when he got there. He could +not help that. But as compared with Gatherum Castle the house at +Matching was small, and his domestic authority sufficed at any +rate for shutting up Gatherum for the time. + +I do not know whether at times her sufferings were not as acute +as his own. He, at any rate, was Prime Minister, and it seemed +to her that she was to be reduced to nothing. At the beginning +of it all he had, with unwonted tenderness asked her for her +sympathy in his undertaking, and, according to her power, she had +given it to him with her whole heart. She had thought that she +had seen a way by which she might assist him in his great +employment, and she had worked at it like a slave. Every day she +told herself that she did not, herself, love the Captain Gunners +and Major Pountneys, nor the Sir Orlandos, nor, indeed the Lady +Rosinas. She had not followed the bent of her own inclination +when she had descended to sheets and towels, and busied herself +to establish an archery-ground. She had not shot an arrow during +the whole season, nor had she cared who had won and who had lost. +It had not been for her own personal delight that she had kept +open house for forty persons throughout four months of the year, +in doing which he had never taken an ounce of labour off her +shoulders by any single word or deed! It had all been done for +his sake,--that his reign might be long and triumphant, that the +world might say that his hospitality was noble and full, that his +name might be in men's mouths, and that he might prosper as a +British Minister. Such, at least, were the assertions which she +made to herself, when she thought of her own grievances and her +own troubles. And how she was angry with her husband. It was +very well for him to ask for her sympathy, but he had none to +give her in return! He could not pity her failures,--even +though he had himself caused them! If he had a grain of +intelligence about him he must, she thought, understand well +enough how sore it must be for her to descend from her princely +entertainments to solitude at Matching, and thus to own before +all the world that she was beaten. Then when she asked him for +advice, when she was really anxious to know how far she might go +in filling her house without offending him, he told her to ask +Lady Rosina De Courcy! If he chose to be ridiculous he might. +She would ask Lady Rosina De Courcy. In her active anger she did +write to Lady Rosina De Courcy a formal letter, in which she said +that the Duke hoped to have the pleasure of her ladyship's +company at Matching Park on the 1st August. It was an absurd +letter, somewhat long, written very much in the Duke's name, with +overwhelming expressions of affection, instigated in the writer's +mind partly by the fun of supposition that such a man as her +husband should flirt with such a woman as Lady Rosina. There was +something too of anger in what she wrote, some touch of revenge. +She sent off this invitation, and she sent no other. Lady Rosina +took it all in good part, and replied saying that she should have +the greatest pleasure in going to Matching! She had declared to +herself that she would ask none but those he had named, and in +accordance with her resolution she sent out no other written +invitation. + +He had also told her to ask Mrs Finn. Now this had become almost +a matter of course. There had grown up from accidental +circumstances so strong a bond between these two women, that it +was taken for granted by both their husbands that they should be +nearly always within reach of one another. And the two husbands +were also on kindly, if not affectionate, terms with each other. +The nature of the Duke's character was such that, with a most +loving heart, he was hardly capable of that opening out of +himself to another which is necessary for positive friendship. +There was a stiff reserve about him, of which he was himself only +too conscious, which almost prohibited friendship. But he liked +Mr Finn both as a man and a member of his party, and was always +satisfied to have him as a guest. The Duchess, therefore, had +taken it for granted that Mrs Finn would come to her,--and that +Mr Finn would come also any time that he might be able to escape +from Ireland. But, when the invitation was verbally conveyed, Mr +Finn had gone to the Admiralty, and had already made arrangements +for going to sea, as a gallant sailor should. 'We are going away +in the "Black Watch" for a couple of months,' said Mrs Finn. Now +the "Black Watch" was an Admiralty yacht. + +'Heavens and earth!' ejaculated the Duchess. + +'It is always done. The First Lord would have his epaulets +stripped if he didn't go to sea in August.' + +'And must you go with him?' + +'I have promised.' + +'I think it very unkind,--very hard upon me. Of course you know +that I should want you.' + +'But if my husband wants me too?' + +'Bother your husband! I wish with all my heart I had never +helped make up the match.' + +'It would have been made up all the same, Lady Glen.' + +'You know that I cannot get on without you. And he ought to know +it too. There isn't another person in the world that I can +really say a thing to.' + +'Why don't you have Mrs Grey?' + +'She's going to Persia with her husband. And then she is not +wicked enough. She always lectured me, and she does it still. +What do you think is going to happen?' + +'Nothing terrible, I hope,' said Mrs Finn, mindful of her +husband's new honours at the Admiralty, and hoping that the Duke +might not have repeated his threat of resigning. + +'We are going to Matching.' + +'So I supposed.' + +'And whom do you think we are going to have?' + +'Not Major Pountney?' + +'No;--not at my asking.' + +'Not Mr Lopez?' + +'Nor yet Mr Lopez. Guess again.' + +'I suppose there will be a dozen to guess.' + +'No,' shrieked the Duchess. 'There will only be one. I have +asked one,--at his special desire,--and as you won't come I +shall ask nobody else. When I pressed him to name a second he +named you. I'll obey him to the letter. Now, my dear, who do +you think is the chosen one,--the one person who is to +solace the perturbed spirit of the Prime Minister for the three +months of the autumn.' + +'Mr Warburton, I should say.' + +'Oh, Mr Warburton! No doubt Mr Warburton will come as part of +his luggage and possibly half-a-dozen Treasury clerks. He +declares, however, that there is nothing to do, and therefore Mr +Warburton's strength alone may suffice to help him to do it. +There is to be one unnecessary guest,--unnecessary, that is, for +official purpose, though,--oh,--so much needed for his social +happiness. Guess one more.' + +'Knowing the spirit of mischief that is in you,--perhaps it is +Lady Rosina.' + +'Of course it is Lady Rosina,' said the Duchess, clapping her +hands together. 'And I should like to know what you mean by +spirit of mischief! I asked him, and he himself said that he +particularly wished to have Lady Rosina at Matching. Now, I'm +not a jealous woman,--am I?' + +'Not of Lady Rosina.' + +'I don't think they'll do any harm together, but it is +particular, you know. However, she is to come. And nobody else +is to come. I did count upon you.' Then Mrs Finn counselled her +very seriously as to the taste of such a joke, explaining to her +that the Duke had certainly not intended that invitations should +be confined to Lady Rosina. But it was not all joke with the +Duchess. She had been driven almost to despair, and was very +angry with her husband. He had brought the thing upon himself, +and must now make the best of it. She would ask nobody else. +She declared that there was nobody whom she could ask with +propriety. She was tired of asking. Let her ask whom she would, +he was dissatisfied. The only two people he cared to see were +Lady Rosina and the old Duke. She had asked Lady Rosina for his +sake. Let him ask his old friend himself if he pleased. + +The Duke and Duchess with all the family went down together, and +Mr Warburton went with them. The Duchess had said not a word +more to her husband about his guests, nor had he alluded to the +subject. But each was labouring under a conviction that the +other was misbehaving, and with that feeling it was impossible +that there should be confidence between them. He busied himself +with books and papers,--always turning over those piles of +newspapers to see what evil was said of himself,--and speaking +only now and again to his private secretary. She engaged herself +with the children or pretended to read a novel. Her heart was +sore within her. She had wished to punish him, but in truth she +was punishing herself. + +On the day of their arrival, the father and mother, with Lord +Silverbridge, the eldest son, who was from Eton, and the private +Secretary dined together. As the Duke sat at table, he began to +think how long it was since such a state of things had happened +before, and his heart softened towards her. Instead of being made +angry by the strangeness of the proceeding, he took delight in +it, and in the course of the evening spoke a word to signify his +satisfaction. 'I'm afraid it won't last long,' she said, 'for +Lady Rosina comes tomorrow.' + +'Oh, indeed.' + +'You bid me to ask her yourself.' + +Then he perceived it all;--how she had taken advantage of his +former answer to her and had acted upon it in a spirit of +contradictory petulance. But he resolved that he would forgive +it and endeavour to bring her back to him. 'I thought we were +both joking,' he said good-humouredly. + +'Oh no! I never suspected you of a joke. At any rate she is +coming.' + +'She will do neither of us any harm. And Mrs Finn?' + +'You have sent her to sea.' + +'She may be at sea,--and he too; but it is without my sending. +The First Lord, I believe, usually does go a cruise. Is there +nobody else?' + +'Nobody else,--unless you have asked anyone.' + +'Not a creature. Well;--so much the better. I dare say Lady +Rosina will get on very well.' + +'You will have to talk to her,' said the Duchess. + +'I will do my best.' + +Lady Rosina came and no doubt did think it odd. But she did not +say so, and it really did seem to the Duchess as though all her +vengeance had been blown away by the winds. And she too laughed +at the matter,--to herself and began to feel less cross and less +perverse. The world did not come to an end because she and her +husband with Lady Rosina and her boy and the private Secretary +sat down to dinner every day together. The parish clergyman with +the neighbouring squire and his wife and daughter did come one +day,--to the relief of M. Millepois, who had begun to feel that +the world had collapsed. And every day at a certain hour the +Duke and Lady Rosina walked together for an hour and a half in +the Park. The Duchess would have enjoyed it, instead of +suffering, could she only have had her friend, Mrs Finn, to hear +her jokes. 'Now, Plantagenet,'she said, 'do tell me one thing. +What does she talk about?' + +'The troubles of her family generally, I think.' + +'That can't last for ever.' + +'She wears cork soles to her boots and she thinks a good deal +about them.' + +'And you listen to her?' + +'Why not? I can talk about cork soles as well as anything else. +Anything that may do material good to the world at large, or even +to yourself privately, is a fit subject for conversation to +rational people.' + +'I suppose I never was one of them.' + +'But I can talk upon anything,' continued the Duke, 'as long as +the talker talks in good faith and does not say things that +should not be said, or deal with matters that are offensive. I +could talk for an hour about bankers' accounts, but I should not +expect a stranger to ask me the state of my own. She almost +persuaded me to send to Mr Sprout of Silverbridge and get some +cork soles of my own.' + +'Don't do anything of the kind,' said the Duchess with animation; +--as though she had secret knowledge that cork soles were +specially fatal to the family of the Pallisers. + +'Why not, my dear?' + +'He was a man who especially, above all others, threw me over at +Silverbridge.' Then again there came upon his brow that angry +frown which during the last few days had been dissipated by the +innocence of Lady Rosina's conversation. 'Of course I don't mean +to ask you to take any interest in the borough again. You have +said that you wouldn't, and you are always as good as your word.' + +'I hope so.' + +'But I certainly would not employ a tradesman just at your elbow +who has directly opposed what was generally understood in the +town to be your interests.' + +'What did Mr Sprout do? This is the first I have heard of it.' + +'He got Mr Du Boung to stand against Mr Lopez.' + +'I am very glad for the sake of the borough that Mr Lopez did not +get in.' + +'So am I. But that has nothing to do with it. Mr Sprout knew at +any rate what my wishes were, and went directly against them.' + +'You were not entitled to have wishes in the matter, Glencora.' + +'That's all very well;--but I had, and he knew it. As for the +future, of course the thing is over. But you have done +everything for the borough.' + +'You mean the borough has done much for me.' + +'I know what I mean very well;--and I shall take it very ill if +a shilling out of the Castle ever goes into Mr Sprout's pocket +again.' + +It is needless to trouble the reader at length with the sermon +which he preached her on the occasion,--showing the utter +corruption which must come from the mixing up of politics with +trade, or with the scorn which she threw into the few words with +which she interrupted him from time to time. 'Whether a man +makes good shoes, at a reasonable price, and charges for them +honestly,--that is what you have to consider,' said the Duke +impressively. + +'I'd rather pay double for bad shoes to a man who did not thwart +me.' + +'You should not condescend to be thwarted in such a matter. You +lower yourself by admitting such a feeling.' And yet he writhed +himself under the lashes of Mr Slide! + +'I know an enemy when I see him,' said the Duchess, 'and as long +as I live I'll treat an enemy as an enemy.' + +There was ever so much of it, in the course of which the Duke +declared his purpose of sending at once to Mr Sprout for ever so +many cork soles, and the Duchess,--most imprudently,--declared +her purpose of ruining Mr Sprout. There was something in this +threat which grated terribly against the Duke's sense of honour; +--that his wife should threaten to ruin a poor tradesman, that +she should do so in reference to the political affairs of the +borough which he all but owned, that she should do so in declared +opposition to him! Of course he ought to have known that her sin +consisted simply in her determination to vex him at the moment. +A more good-natured woman did not live;--or one less prone to +ruin anyone. But any reference to the Silverbridge election +brought back upon him the remembrance of the cruel attacks which +had been made upon him, and rendered him for the time moody, +morose, and wretched. So they again parted ill friends, and +hardly spoke when they met at dinner. + +The next morning there reached Matching a letter which greatly +added to his bitterness of spirit against the world in general +and against her in particular. The letter, though marked +'private', had been opened, as were all letters, by Mr Warburton, +but the private Secretary thought it necessary to show the letter +to the Prime Minister. He, when he had read it, told Warburton +that it did not signify, and maintained for half an hour an +attitude of quiescence. Then he walked forth, having the letter +hidden in his hand, and finding his wife alone, gave it her to +read. 'See what you have brought upon me,' he said, 'by your +interference and disobedience.' The letter was as follows: + +Manchester Square, August 3, 187- + + MY LORD DUKE, + I consider myself entitled to complain to your Grace of + the conduct with which I am treated at the last election + at Silverbridge, whereby I was led into very heavy + expenditure without the least chance of being returned + for the borough. I am aware that I had no direct + conversation with your Grace on the subject, and that + your Grace can plead that, as between man and man, I had + no authority from yourself for supposing that I should + receive your Grace's support. But I was distinctly asked + by the Duchess to stand, and was assured by her that if I + did so I should have all the assistance that your Grace's + influence could procure for me;--and it was also + explained to me that your Grace's official position made + it inexpedient that your Grace on this special occasion + should have any personal conference with your own + candidate. Under these circumstances I submit to your + Grace that I am entitled to complain of the hardship I + have suffered. + + I had not been long in the borough before I found that my + position was hopeless. Influential men in the town who + had been represented to me as being altogether devoted to + your Grace's interests started a third candidate,--a + Liberal as myself,--and the natural consequence was that + neither of us succeeded, though my return as your Grace's + candidate would have been certain had not this been done. + That all this was preconcerted there can be no doubt, + but, before the mine was sprung on me,--immediately, + indeed, on my arrival, if I remember rightly,--an + application was made to me for 500 pounds, so that the + money might be exacted before the truth was known to me. + Of course I should not have paid the 500 pounds had I + known that your Grace's usual agents in the town,--I may + name Mr Sprout especially,--were prepared to act against + me. But I did pay the money, and I think your Grace will + agree with me that a very opprobrious term might be + applied without injustice to the transaction. + + My Lord Duke, I am a poor man,--ambitious I will own, + whether that be a sin or a virtue,--and willing, perhaps + to incur expenditure which can hardly be justified in + pursuit of certain public objects. But I do not feel + inclined to sit down tamely under such a loss as this. I + should not have dreamed of interfering in the election at + Silverbridge had not the Duchess exhorted me to do so. I + would not even run the risk of a doubtful contest. But I + came forward at the suggestion of the Duchess, backed by + the personal assurance that the seat was certain as being + in your Grace's hands. It was no doubt understood that + your Grace would not yourself interfere, but it was + equally well understood that your Grace's influence was + for the time deputed to the Duchess. The Duchess herself + will, I am sure, confirm my statement that I had her + distinct authority for regarding myself as your Grace's + candidate. + + I can of course bring an action against Mr Wise, the + gentleman to whom I paid the money, but I feel that as a + gentleman I should not do so without reference to your + Grace, as circumstances might possibly be brought out in + evidence,--I will not say prejudicial to your Grace,- + but which would be unbecoming. I cannot, however, think + that your Grace will be willing that a poor man like + myself, in search for an entrance into public life, + should be mulcted to so heavy an extent in consequence of + an error on the part of the Duchess. Should your Grace + be able to assist me in my view of getting into + Parliament for any other seat I shall be willing to abide + by the loss I have incurred. I hardly, however, + dare to hope for such assistance. In this case I think + your grace ought to see that I am reimbursed. + +I have the honour to be, +My Lord Duke, +Your Grace's faithful Servant +FERDINAND LOPEZ + +The Duke stood over her in her own room upstairs, with his back +to the fireplace and his eyes fixed upon her while she was +reading this letter. He gave her ample time, and she did not +read it very quickly. Much of it indeed she perused twice, +turning very red in the face as she did so. She was thus +studious partly because the letter astounded even her, and partly +because she wanted time to consider how she would meet his wrath. +'Well,' said he, 'what do you say to that?' + +'The man is a blackguard,--of course.' + +'He is so;--though I do not know that I wish to hear him called +such a name by your lips. Let him be what he may he was your +friend.' + +'He was my acquaintance.' + +'He was the man whom you selected to be your candidate for the +borough in opposition to my wishes, and whom you continued to +support in direct disobedience to my orders.' + +'Surely, Plantagenet, we had all that about disobedience out +before.' + +'You cannot have such things "out",--as you call it. Evil-doing +will not bury itself out of the way and be done with. Do you +feel no shame at having your name mentioned a score of times with +reprobation as that man mentions it,--at being written about by +such a man as that?' + +'Do you want me to roll in the gutter because I mistook him for a +gentleman?' + +'That was not all,--nor half. In your eagerness to serve such a +miserable creature as this your forgot me entreaties, my +commands, my position! I explained to you why, I, of al men, and +you, of all women, as part of me, should not do this thing, and +yet you did it, mistaking such a cur for a man! What am I to do? +How am I to free myself from the impediments which you make for +me? My enemies I can overcome,--but I cannot escape the +pitfalls which are made for me by my own wife. I can only retire +into private life and hope to console myself with my children and +my books.' + +There was a reality of tragedy about him which for the moment +overcame her. She had no joke ready, no sarcasm, no feminine +counter-grumble. Little as she agreed with him when he spoke of +the necessity of retiring into private life because a man had +written to him such a letter as this, incapable as she was of +understanding fully the nature of the irritation which tormented +him, still she knew that he was suffering, and acknowledged to +herself that she had been the cause of the agony. 'I am sorry,' +she ejaculated at last. 'What more can I say?' + +'What am I to do? What can be said to the man? Warburton read +the letter, and gave it me in silence. He could see the terrible +difficulty.' + +'Tear it in pieces, and then let there be an end of it.' + +'I do not feel sure but that he has right on his side. He is, as +you say, certainly a blackguard, or he would not make such a +claim. He is taking advantage of the mistake made by a good- +natured woman through her folly and her vanity;'--as he said +this the Duchess gave an absurd little pout, but luckily he did +not see it,--'and he knows very well that he is doing so. But +still he has a show of justice on his side. There was, I +suppose, no chance for him at Silverbridge after I had made +myself fully understood. The money was absolutely wasted. It +was your persuasion and your continued encouragement that led him +to spend the money.' + +'Pay it then. The loss will not hurt you.' + +'Ah;--if we could but get out of our difficulty by paying! +Suppose that I do pay it. I begin to think that I must pay it,-- +that after all I cannot allow such a plea to remain unanswered. +But when it is paid;--what then? Do you think such a payment +made by the Queen's Minister will not be known to all the +newspapers, and that I shall escape the charge of having bribed +the man to hold his tongue?' + +'It will be no bribe if you pay him because you think you ought.' + +'But how shall I excuse it? There are things done which are holy +as the heavens,--which are clear before God as the light of the +sun, which leave no stain on the conscience, and which yet the +malignity of man can invest with the very blackest of hell! I +shall know why I pay this 500 pounds. Because she who of all the +world is the nearest and dearest to me,'--she looked up into his +face with amazement, as he stood stretching his arms out in +energy,--'has in her impetuous folly committed a grievous +blunder, from which she would not allow her husband to save her, +this sum must be paid to the wretched craven. But I cannot tell +the world that. I cannot say abroad that this small sacrifice of +money was the justest means of retrieving the injury which you +have done.' + +'Say it abroad. Say it everywhere.' + +'No, Glencora.' + +'Do you think I would have you spare me if it was my fault? And +how would it hurt me? Will it be new to anyone that I have done +a foolish thing? Will the newspapers disturb my peace? I +sometimes think, Plantagenet, that I should have been the man, my +skin is so thick; and that you should have been the woman, your +is so tender.' + +'But it is not so.' + +'Take the advantage, nevertheless, of my toughness. Send him the +500 pounds without a word,--or make Warburton do so, or Mr +Moreton. Make no secret of it. Then if the papers talk about +it-' + +'A question might be asked about it in the House.' + +'Or if questioned in any way,--say what I did. Tell the exact +truth. You are always saying that nothing but truth ever serves. +Let the truth serve now. I shall not blench. Your saying it all +in the House of Lords won't wound me half so much as your looking +at me as you did now.' + +'Did I wound you? God knows I would not hurt you willingly.' + +'Never mind. Go on. I know you think I have brought it all on +myself by my own wickedness. Pay this man the money, and then if +anything is said about it, explain that it was my fault, and say +that you paid the money because I had done wrong.' + +When he came in she had been seated on a sofa, which she +constantly used herself, and he had stood over her, masterful, +imperious, and almost tyrannical. She had felt this tyranny, but +had resented it less than usual,--or rather had been less +determined in holding her own against him and asserting herself +as his equal,--because she confessed to herself that she had +injured him. She had, she thought, done but little, but that +which she had done had produced this injury. So she had sat and +endured the oppression of his standing posture. But now he sat +down by her, very close to her, and put his hand upon her +shoulder,--almost round her waist. + +'Cora,' he said, 'you do not quite understand it.' + +'I never understand anything, I think,' she answered. + +'Not in this case,--perhaps never,--what it is that a husband +feels about his wife. Do you think that I could say a word +against you, even to a friend?' + +'Why not?' + +'I never did. I never could. If my anger were at the hottest I +would not confess to a human being that you were not perfect,-- +except to yourself.' + +'Oh, thank you! If you were to scold me vicariously I should +feel it less.' + +'Do not joke with me now, for I am so much in earnest. And if I +could not consent that your conduct should be called in question +even by a friend, do you suppose it possible that I could +contrive an escape from a public censure by laying the blame +publicly on you?' + +'Stick to the truth;--that's what you always say.' + +'I certainly shall stick to the truth. A man and his wife are +one. For what she does he is responsible.' + +'They couldn't hang you, you know, because I committed a murder.' + +'I should be willing that they should do so. No;--if I pay this +money I shall take the consequences. I shall not do it in any +way under the rose. But I wish you would remember--' + +'Remember what? I know I shall never forget all this trouble +about that dirty little town, which I never will enter again as +long as I live.' + +'I wish you would think that in all that you do you are dealing +with my feelings, with my heartstrings, with my reputation. You +cannot divide yourself from me; nor, for the value of it all, +would I wish that such a division were possible. You say that I +am thin-skinned.' + +'Certainly you are. What people call a delicate organization,-- +whereas I am rough and thick and monstrously commonplace.' + +'Then should you too be thin-skinned for my sake.' + +'I wish I could make you thick-skinned for your own. It's the +only way to be decently comfortable in such a coarse, rough-and- +tumble world as this is.' + +'Let us both do our best,' he said, now putting his arm round her +and kissing her. 'I think I shall send the man his money at +once. It is the best of two evils. And now let there never be a +word more about it between us.' + +Then he left her and went back,--not to the study in which he +was wont, when at Matching, to work with his private secretary,-- +but to a small inner closet of his own, in which many a bitter +moment was spent while he thought over that abortive system of +decimal coinage by which he had once hoped to make himself one of +the great benefactors of his nation, revolving in his mind the +troubles which his wife brought upon him, and regretting the +golden inanity of the coronet which in the very prime of life had +expelled him from the House of Commons. Here he seated himself, +and for an hour neither stirred from his seat, nor touched a pen, +nor opened a book. He was trying to calculate in his mind what +might be the consequences of paying the money to Mr Lopez. But +when the calculation slipped from him,--as it did,--then he +demanded of himself whether strict high-minded justice did not +call upon him to pay the money let the consequences be what they +might. And here his mind was truer to him, and he was able to +fix himself to a purpose,--though the resolution to which he +came was not, perhaps, wise. + +When the hour was over he went to his desk, drew a cheque for 500 +pounds in favour of Ferdinand Lopez, and then caused his +Secretary to send it in the following note: + +Matching, August 4, 187- + + SIR, + The Duke of Omnium has read the letter you have addressed + to him, dated the 3rd instant. The Duke of Omnium, + feeling that you may have been induced to undertake the + late contest at Silverbridge by misrepresentations made + to you at Gatherum Castle, directs me to enclose a cheque + for 500 pounds, that being the sum stated by you to have + been expended in carrying on the contest at Silverbridge. +I am, sir, +Your obedient servant, +ARTHUR WARBURTON + Ferdinand Lopez, Esq. + + + +CHAPTER 43 + +KAURI GUM. + +The reader will no doubt think that Ferdinand Lopez must have +been very hardly driven indeed by circumstances before he would +have made such an appeal to the Duke as given in the last +chapter. But it was not the want of money only that had brought +it about. It may be remembered that the 500 pounds had already +been once repaid him by his father-in-law,--that special sum +having been given to him for that special purpose. And Lopez, +when he wrote to the Duke, assured himself that if, by any +miracle, his letter should produce pecuniary results in the shape +of a payment from the Duke, he would refund the money so obtained +to Mr Wharton. But when he wrote the letter he did not expect to +get the money,--nor, indeed, did he expect that aid towards +another seat, to which he alluded at the close of the letter. He +expected probably nothing but to vex the Duke, and to drive the +Duke into correspondence with him. + +Though this man had lived nearly all his life in England, he had +not quite acquired that knowledge of the way in which things are +done which is general among men of a certain class, and so rare +among those beneath them. He had not understood that the +Duchess's promise of her assistance at Silverbridge might be +taken by him for what it was worth, and that her aid might be +used as far as it went,--but, that in the event of its failing +him, he was bound in honour to take the result without +complaining, whatever that result might be. He felt that a +grievous injury,--even though it were against a woman. He just +knew that he could not very well write to the Duchess herself,-- +though there was sometimes present to his mind a plan for +attacking her in public, and telling her what evil she had done +him. He had half resolved that he would do so in her own garden +at The Horns;--but on that occasion the apparition of Arthur +Fletcher had disturbed him, and he had vented his anger in +another direction. But still his wrath against the Duke and +Duchess remained, and he was wont to indulge it with very violent +language as he sat upon one of the chairs in Sexty Parker's +office, talking somewhat loudly of his own position, of the +things that he would do, and of the injury done him. Sexty +Parker sympathized with him to the full,--especially as that +first 500 pounds, which he had received from Mr Wharton, had gone +into Sexty's coffers. At that time Lopez and Sexty were together +committed to large speculations in the guano trade, and Sexty's +mind was by no means easy in the early periods of the day. As he +went into town by his train he would think of his wife and family +and of the terrible things that might happen to them. But yet, +up to this period, money had always been forthcoming from Lopez +when absolutely wanted, and Sexty was quite alive to the fact +that he was living with a freedom of expenditure in his own +household that he had never known before, and that without +apparent damage. Whenever, therefore, at some critical moment, a +much-needed sum of money was produced Sexty would become light- +hearted, triumphant, and very sympathetic. 'Well;--I never +heard such a story,' he had said when Lopez was insisting on his +wrongs. 'That's what the Dukes and Duchesses call honour among +thieves! Well, Ferdy, my boy, if you stand that you'll stand +anything.' In these latter days Sexty had become very intimate +with his partner. + +'I don't mean to stand it,' Lopez had replied, and then on the +spot had written the letter which he had dated from Manchester +Square. He had certainly contrived to make that letter as +oppressive as possible. He had been clever enough to put into it +words which were sure to wound the poor Duke and to confound the +Duchess. And having written it he was very careful to keep the +first draft, so that if occasion came he might use it again and +push for vengeance farther. But he certainly had not expected +such a result as it produced. + +When he received the private Secretary's letter with the money he +was sitting opposite his father-in-law at breakfast, while his +wife was making the tea. Not many of his letters came to +Manchester Square. Sexty Parker's office or his club were more +convenient addresses, but in this case he had thought that +Manchester Square would have a better sound and appearance. When +he opened the letter the cheque of course appeared bearing the +Duke's own signature. He had seen that and the amount before he +had read the letter, and as he saw it his eye travelled quickly +across the table to his father-in-law's face. Mr Wharton might +certainly have seen the cheque and even the amount, probably also +the signature, without the slightest suspicion as to the nature +of the payment made. As it was, he was eating his toast, and had +thought nothing about the letter. Lopez, having concealed the +cheque, read the few words which the private Secretary had +written, and then put the document with its contents into his +pocket. 'So you think, sir, of going down to Hertfordshire on +the 15th,' he said in a very cheery voice. The cheery voice was +still pleasant to the old man, but the young wife had already +come to distrust it. She had learned, though she was hardly +conscious how the lesson had come to her, that a certain tone of +cheeriness indicated, if not deceit, at any rate concealment of +something. It grated against her spirit, and when this tone +reached her ears a frown or look of sorrow would come cross her +brow. And her husband also had perceived that it was so, and +knew at such times that he was rebuked. He was hardly aware what +doings, and especially what feelings, were imputed to him as +faults,--not understanding the lines which separate right from +wrong, but he knew that he was often condemned by his wife, and +he lived in fear that he should also be condemned by his wife's +father. Had it been his wife only he thought that he could soon +have quenched her condemnation. He would soon have made her +tired of showing her disapproval. But he had put himself into +the old man's house, where the old man could see not only him but +his treatment of his wife, and the old man's good-will and good +opinion were essential to him. Yet he could not restrain one +glance of anger at her when she saw that look upon her face. + +'I suppose I shall,' said the barrister, 'I must go somewhere. +My going need not disturb you.' + +'I think we have made up our mind,' said Lopez, 'to take a +cottage at Dovercourt. It is not a very lively place, nor yet +fashionable. But it is very healthy, and I can run up to town +easily. Unfortunately my business won't let me be altogether +away this autumn.' + +'I wish my business would keep me,' said the barrister. + +'I did not understand that you had made up your mind to go to +Dovercourt,' said Emily. He had spoken to Mr Wharton of their +joint action in the matter, and as the place had only once been +named by him to her, she resented what seemed to be a falsehood. +She knew that she was to be taken or left as it suited him. If +he had said boldly,--'We'll go to Dovercourt. That's what I've +settled on. That's what will suit me,' she would have been +contented. She quite understood that he meant to have his own +way in such things. But it seemed to her that he wanted to be a +tyrant without having the courage for tyranny. + +'I thought you seemed to like it,' he said. + +'I don't dislike it at all.' + +'Then, as it suits my business, we might as well consider it +settled.' So saying, he left the room and went off to the city. +The old man was still sipping his tea and lingering over his +breakfast in a way that was not usual with him. He was generally +anxious to get away to Lincoln's Inn, and on most mornings had +left the house before his son-in-law. Emily of course remained +with him, sitting silent in her place opposite to the teapot, +meditating perhaps on her prospects of happiness at Dovercourt,- +a place of which she had never heard even the name two days ago, +and in which it was hardly possible that she should find even an +acquaintance. In former years these autumn months, passed in +Hertfordshire, had been the delight of her life. + +Mr Wharton also had seen the cloud on his daughter's face, and +had understood the nature of the little dialogue about +Dovercourt. And he was aware,--that the young wife's manner and +tone to her husband was not that of perfect conjugal sympathy. +He had already said to himself more than once that she had made +her bed for herself, and must lie upon it. She was the man's +wife, and must take her husband as he was. If she suffered under +this man's mode and manner of life, he, as her father, could not +assist her,--could do nothing for her, unless the man should +become absolutely cruel. He had settled that within his own mind +already;--but yet his heart yearned towards her, and when he +thought that she was unhappy, he longed to comfort her and tell +her that she still had a father. But the time had not come as +yet in which he could comfort her by sympathizing with her +against her husband. There had never fallen from her lips a +syllable of complaint. When she had spoken to him a chance word +respecting her husband, it had always carried with it some tone +of affection. But still he longed to say to her something which +might tell her that his heart was soft towards her. 'Do you like +the idea of going to this place?' he said. + +'I don't at all know what it will be like. Ferdinand says it +will be cheap.' + +'Is that of such a vital consequence?' + +'Ah;--yes, I fear it.' + +This was very sad to him. Lopez had already had from him a +considerable sum of money, having not yet been married twelve +months, and was now living in London almost free of expense. +Before his marriage he had always spoken of himself, and had +contrived to be spoken of, as a wealthy man, and now he was +obliged to choose some small English seaside place to which to +retreat, because thus he might have a low rate! Had they been +married as poor people there would have been nothing to regret in +this;--there would be nothing that might be done with entire +satisfaction. But, as it was, it told a bad tale for the future! +'Do you understand his money matters, Emily?' + +'Not at all, papa.' + +'I do not in the least mean to make inquiry. Perhaps I should +have asked before,--but if I did make inquiry now it would be of +him. But I think a wife should know.' + +'I know nothing.' + +'What is his business?' + +'I have no idea. I used to think he was connected with Mr Mills +Happerton and with Messrs Hunky and Sons.' + +'Is he not connected with Hunky's business?' + +'I think not. He has a partner of the name of Parker, who is,-- +who is not, I think, quite--quite a gentleman. I never saw +him.' + +'What does he do with Mr Parker?' + +'I believe they buy guano.' + +'Ah;--that, I fancy, was only one affair.' + +'I'm afraid he lost money, papa, by that election at +Silverbridge.' + +'I paid that,' said Mr Wharton sternly. Surely he would have +told his wife that he had received that money from her family! + +'Did you? That was very kind. I am afraid, papa, we are a great +burden to you.' + +'I should not mind it, my dear, if there were confidence and +happiness. What matter would it be to me whether you had your +money now or hereafter, so that you might have it in the manner +that would be most beneficial to you? I wish he would be open +with me, and tell me everything.' + +'Shall I let him know that you say so?' + +He thought for a minute or two before he answered her. Perhaps +the man would be more impressed if the message came to him +through his wife. 'If you think that he will not be annoyed with +you, you may do so.' + +'I don't know why he should,--but if it be right, that must be +borne. I am not afraid to say anything to him.' + +'Then tell him so. Tell him that it will be better that he +should let me know the whole condition of his affairs. God bless +you, dear.' Then he stooped over her, and kissed her, and went +his way to Stone Buildings. + +It was not as he sat at the breakfast table that Ferdinand Lopez +made up his mind to pocket the Duke's money and to say nothing +about it to Mr Wharton. He had been careful to conceal the +cheque, but he had done so with the feeling that the matter was +one to be considered in his own mind before to took any step. As +he left the house, already considering it, he was inclined to +think the money must be surrendered. Mr Wharton had very +generously paid his electioneering expenses, but had not done so +simply with the view of making him a present of money. He wished +the Duke had taken him at his word. In handing this cheque over +to Mr Wharton, he would be forced to tell the story of his letter +to the Duke, and was sure that Mr Wharton would not approve of +his having written such a letter. How could anyone approve of +his having applied for a sum of money which had already been paid +to him? How could such a one as Mr Wharton,--an old-fashioned +English gentleman,--approve of such an application being made +under any circumstances? Mr Wharton would very probably insist +on having the cheque sent back to the Duke,--which would be a +sorry end to the triumph as at present achieved. And the more he +thought of it the more he sure he was that it would be imprudent +to mention to Mr Wharton his application to the Duke. The old +men of the present day were, he said to himself, such fools that +they understood nothing. And then the money was very convenient +to him. He was intent on obtaining Sexty Parker's consent to a +large speculation, and knew that he could not do so without a +show of funds. By the time, therefore, that he had reached the +city he had resolved that at any rate for the present he would +use the money and say nothing about it to Mr Wharton. Was it not +spoil got from the enemy by his own courage and cleverness? When +he was writing his acknowledgement for the money to Warburton he +had taught himself to look upon the sum extracted from the Duke +as a matter quite distinct from the payment made to him by his +father-in-law. + +It was evident on that day to Sexty Parker that his partner was a +man of great resources. Though things sometimes looked very bad, +yet money always 'turned up'. Some of their buyings and sellings +had answered pretty well. Some had been great failures. No +great stroke had been made as yet, but then the great stroke was +always being expected. Sexty's fears were greatly exaggerated by +the feeling that the coffee and guano were not always real coffee +and guano. His partner, indeed, was of the opinion that in such +a trade as this they were following there was no need at all of +real coffee or real guano, and explained his theory with +considerable eloquence. 'If I buy a ton of coffee and keep it +six weeks, why do I buy it and keep it, and why does the seller +sell it instead of keeping it? The seller sells it because he +thinks he can do best by parting with it now at a certain +price. I buy it because I think I can make money by keeping it. +It is just the same as though we were back to our opinions. He +backs the fall. I back the rise. You needn't have coffee and +you needn't have guano to do this. Indeed the possession of the +coffee or guano is only a very clumsy addition to the trouble of +your profession. I make it my study to watch the markets;--but +I needn't buy everything I see in order to make money by my +labour and intelligence.' Sexty Parker before his lunch always +thought that his partner was wrong, but after that ceremony he +almost daily became a convert to the great doctrine. Coffee and +guano still had to be bought because the world was dull and would +not learn the tricks of trade as taught by Ferdinand Lopez,-- +also possibly because somebody might want such articles,--but +our enterprising hero looked for a time in which no such dull +burden should be imposed on him. + +On this day, when the Duke's 500 pounds was turned into the +business, Sexty yielded in a large matter which his partner had +been pressing upon him for the last week. They bought a cargo +of Kauri gum, coming from New Zealand. Lopez had reasons for +thinking that Kauri gum must have a great rise. There was an +immense demand for amber, and Kauri gum might be used as a +substitute, and in six months' time would be double its present +value. This unfortunately was a real cargo. He could not find +an individual so enterprising as to venture to deal in a cargo of +Kauri gum after his fashion. But the next best thing was done. +The real cargo was bought, and his name and Sexty's name were on +the bills given for the goods. On that day he returned home in +high spirits for he did believe in his own intelligence and good +fortune. + + + +CHAPTER 44 + +MR WHARTON THINKS OF A NEW WILL. + +On that afternoon, immediately on the husband's return to the +house, his wife spoke to him as her father had desired. On that +evening Mr Wharton was dining at his club, and therefore there +was the whole evening before them; but the thing to be done was +disagreeable, and therefore she did it at once,--rushing into +the matter almost before he had seated himself in the arm-chair +which he had appropriated to his use in the drawing-room. 'Papa +was talking about our affairs after you left this morning, and he +thinks that it would be so much better if you would tell him +about them.' + +'What made him talk of that today?' he said, turning at her +almost angrily and thinking at once of the Duke's cheque. + +'I suppose it is natural that he should be anxious about us, +Ferdinand;--and the more natural as he has money to give if he +chooses to give it.' + +'I have asked him for nothing lately;--though, by George, I +intend to ask him and that very roundly. Three thousand pounds +isn't much of a sum of money for your father to have given you.' + +'And he paid the election bill;--didn't he?' + +'He has been complaining of that behind my back,--has he? I +didn't ask him for it, he offered it. I wasn't such a fool as to +refuse, but he needn't bring that up as a grievance to you.' + +'It wasn't brought up as a grievance. I was saying that your +standing had been a heavy expenditure--' + +'Why did you say so? What made you talk about it at all? Why +should you be discussing my affairs behind my back?' + +'To my own father! And that too when you are telling me every +day that I am to induce him to help you.' + +'Not by complaining that I am poor. But how did it all begin?' +She had to think for a moment before she could recollect how it +did begin. 'There has been something,' he said, 'which you are +ashamed to tell me.' + +'There is nothing I am ashamed to tell you. There never has been +and never will be anything.' And she stood up as she spoke, with +open eyes and extended nostrils. 'Whatever may come, however +wretched it may be, I shall not be ashamed of myself.' + +'But of me!' + +'Why do you say so? Why do you try to make unhappiness between +us?' + +'You have been talking of--my poverty.' + +'My father asked why you should go to Dovercourt,--and whether +it was because it would save expense.' + +'You want to go somewhere?' + +'Not at all. I am contented to stay in London. But I said that I +thought the expense had a good deal to do with it. Of course it +has.' + +'Where do you want to be taken? I suppose Dovercourt is not +fashionable.' + +'I want nothing.' + +'If you are thinking of travelling abroad, I can't spare the +time. It isn't an affair of money, and you had no business to +say so. I thought of the place because it is quiet and because I +can get up and down easily. I am sorry that I ever came to live +in this house.' + +'Why do you say that, Ferdinand?' + +'Because you and your father make cabals behind my back. If +there is anything I hate it is that kind of thing.' + +'You are very unjust,' she said to him sobbing. 'I have never +caballed. I have never done anything against you. Of course +papa ought to know.' + +'Why ought he to know? Why is your father to have the right of +inquiry into all my affairs?' + +'Because you want his assistance. It is only natural. You +always tell me to get him to assist you. He spoke to me kindly, +saying that he would like to know how things are.' + +'Then he won't know. As for wanting his assistance, of course I +want the fortune which he ought to give to you. He is a man of +the world enough to know that as I am in business capital must be +useful to me. I should have thought that you would understand as +much as that yourself.' + +'I do understand it, I suppose.' + +'Then why don't you act as my friend rather than his? Why don't +you take my part? It seems to me that you are much more his +daughter than my wife.' + +'That is most unfair.' + +'If you had any pluck you would make him understand that for your +sake he ought to say what he means to do, so that I might have +the advantage of the fortune which I suppose he means to give you +some day. If you had the slightest anxiety to help me you could +influence him. Instead of that you talk to him about my poverty. +I don't want him to think that I am a pauper. That's not the way +to get round a man like your father, who is rich himself and who +thinks it a disgrace in other men not to be rich too.' + +'I can't tell him in the same breath that you are rich and that +you want money.' + +'Money is the means by which men make money. If he was confident +of my business he'd sell out his cash quick enough! It is +because he has been taught to think that I am in a small way. +He'll find his mistake some day.' + +'You won't speak to him then?' + +'I don't say that at all. If I find that it will answer my own +purpose I shall speak to him. But it would be very much easier +to me if I could get you to be cordial in helping me.' + +Emily by this time quite knew what such cordiality meant. He had +been so free in his words to her that there could be no mistake. +He had instructed her to 'get round' her father. And now again +he spoke of her influence over her father. Although her +illusions were all melting away,--oh, so quickly vanishing,-- +still she knew that it was her duty to be true to her husband, +and to be his wife rather than her father's daughter. But what +could she say on his behalf, knowing nothing of his affairs? She +had no idea what was his business, what was his income, what +amount of money she ought to spend as his wife. As far as she +could see,--and her common sense in seeing such things was good, +--he had no regular income, and was justified in no expenditure. +On her own account she would ask for no information. She was too +proud to request that from him which should be given without any +request. But in her own defence she must tell him that she could +use no influence with her father as she knew none of the +circumstances by which her father would be guided. 'I cannot +tell you in the manner you mean,' she said, 'because I know +nothing myself.' + +'You know that you can trust me to do the best with your money if +I could get hold of it, I suppose?' She certainly did not know +this, and held her tongue. 'You could assure him of that?' + +'I could only tell him to judge for himself.' + +'What you mean is that you'd see me d-d before you would open +your mouth for me to the old man!' + +He had never sworn at her before, and now she burst out into a +flood of tears. It was to her a terrible outrage. I do not know +that a woman is very much the worse because her husband may +forget himself on an occasion to 'rap out an oath at her', as he +would call it when making the best of his own sin. Such an +offence is compatible with uniform kindness and most affectionate +consideration. I have known ladies who would think little or +nothing about it,--who would go no farther than the mildest +protest,--'Do remember where you are!' or 'My dear John!'--if +no stranger were present. But then a wife should be initiated +into it by degrees and there are different tones of bad language, +of which by far the most general is the good-humoured tone. We +all of us know men who never damn their servants or inferiors, or +strangers, or women,--who in fact keep it all for their bosom +friends, and if a little does sometimes flow over in the freedom +of domestic life, the wife is apt to remember that she is the +bosomer of her husband's friends, and so to pardon the +transgression. But here the word had been uttered with all its +foulest violence, with virulence and vulgarity. It seemed to the +victim to be the sign of a terrible crisis in her early married +life,--as though the man who had spoken to her could never again +love her, never again be kind to her, never again be sweetly +gentle and like a love. And as he spoke it he looked at her as +though he would like to tear her limbs asunder. She was +frightened as well as horrified and astounded. She had not a +word to say to him. She did not know in what language to make +her complaint of such treatment. She burst into tears, and +throwing herself on the sofa, hid her face in her hands. 'You +provoke me to be violent,' he said. But still she could not +speak to him. 'I come away from the city, tired with work and +troubled with a thousand things, and you have not had a kind word +to say to me.' Then there was a pause, during which she still +sobbed. 'If your father has anything to say to me, let him say +it. I shall not run away. But as to going to him of my own +accord with a story as long as my arm about my affairs, I don't +mean to do it.' Then he paused a moment again. 'Come, old girl, +cheer up! Don't pretend to be broken-hearted because I used a +hard word. There are worse things than that to be borne in the +world.' + +'I--I--I was so startled, Ferdinand.' + +'A man can't always remember that he isn't with another man. +Don't think anything more about it, but do bear this in mind,-- +that, situated as we are, your influence with your father may be +the making or marring of me.' And so he left the room. + +She had sat for the next ten minutes thinking of it all. The +words which he had spoken were so horrible that she could not get +them out of her mind,--could not bring herself to look upon them +as a trifle. The darkness of his countenance still dwelt with +her,--and that absence of all tenderness, that coarse, un- +marital and yet marital roughness, which should not at any rate +have come to him so soon. The whole man too was so different +from what she had thought him to be. Before their marriage no +word as to money had ever reached her ears from his lips. He had +talked to her of books,--and especially of poetry. Shakespeare +and Moliere, Dante and Goethe, had been or had seemed to be, dear +to him. And he had been full of fine ideas about women, and +about men in their intercourse with women. For his sake she had +separated herself from all her old friends. For his sake she had +hurried into a marriage altogether distasteful to her father. +For his sake she had closed her heart against the other lover. +Trusting altogether in him she had ventured to think that she had +known what was good for her better than all those who had been +her counsellors, and had given herself to him utterly. Now she +was awake, her dream was over, and the natural language of the man +was still ringing in her ears. + +They met together at dinner and passed the evening without a +further allusion to the scene which had been acted. He sat with +a magazine in his hand, every now and then making some remark +intended to be pleasant but which grated on her ears as being +fictitious. She would answer him,--because it was her duty to +do so, and because she would not condescend to sulk; but she +could not bring herself even to say to herself that all should be +with her as though that horrid word had not been spoken. She sat +over her work till ten, answering him when he spoke in a voice +which was also fictitious, and then took herself off to her bed +that she might weep alone. It would, she knew, be late before he +would come to her. + +On the next morning there came a message to him as he was +dressing. Mr Wharton wished to speak to him. Would he come down +before breakfast, or would he call on Mr Wharton in Stone +Buildings? He sent down word that he would do the latter at an +hour to be fixed, and then did not show himself in the breakfast- +room till Mr Wharton was gone. 'I've got to go to your father +to-day,' he said to his wife, 'and I thought it best not to begin +till we come to the regular business. I hope he does not mean to +be unreasonable.' To this she made no answer. 'Of course you +think the want of reason will be all on my side.' + +'I don't know why you should say so.' + +'Because I can read your mind. You do think so. You've been in +the same boat with your father all your life, and you can't get +out of that boat and get into mine. I was wrong to come and live +here. Of course it was not the way to withdraw you from his +influence.' She had nothing to say that would not anger him, and +was therefore silent. 'Well; I must do the best I can by myself, +I suppose. Good-bye,' and so he was off. + +'I want to know,' said Mr Wharton, on whom was thrown by +premeditation on the part of Lopez the task of beginning the +conversation,--'I want to know what is the nature of your +operation. I have never been quite able to understand it.' + +'I do not know that I quite understand it myself,' said Lopez +laughing. + +'No man alive,' continued the old barrister almost solemnly, 'has +a greater objection to thrust himself into another man's affairs +than I have. And I didn't ask the question before your marriage, +--as perhaps I ought to have done,--I should not do so now, were +it not that the disposition of some part of my earnings of my +life must depend on the condition of your affairs.' Lopez +immediately perceived that it behoved him to be very much on the +alert. It might be that if he showed himself to be very poor, +his father-in-law would see the necessity of assisting him at +once, or it might be, that unless he could show himself to be in +prosperous circumstances, his father-in-law would not assist him +at all. 'To tell you the plain truth, I am minded to make a new +will. I had of course made arrangements as to my property before +Emily's marriage. Those arrangements I think I shall now alter. +I am greatly distressed with Everett, and from what I see and +from a few words that have dropped from Emily, I am not, to tell +you the truth, quite happy as to your position. If I understand +rightly you are a general merchant, buying and selling goods in +the market?' + +'That's about it, sir.' + +'What capital have you in the business?' + +'What capital?' + +'Yes;--how much did you put into it at starting?' + +Lopez paused a moment. He had got his wife. The marriage could +not be undone. Mr Wharton had money enough for them all, and +would not certainly would not discard his daughter. Mr Wharton +could place him on a really equal footing, and might not +improbably do so if he could be made to feel some confidence in +his son-in-law. At this moment there was much doubt with the +son-in-law whether he had better not tell the simple truth. 'It +has gone in by degrees,' he said. 'Altogether I have about 8,000 +pounds in it.' In truth he had never been possessed of a +shilling. + +'Does that include the 3,000 pounds you had from me?' + +'Yes; it does.' + +'Then you have married my girl and started into the world with a +business based on 5,000 pounds, and which had so far miscarried +that within a month of two after your marriage you were driven to +apply to me for funds!' + +'I wanted money for a certain purpose.' + +'Have you any partner, Mr Lopez?' This address was felt to be +very ominous. + +'Yes. I have a partner who is possessed of capital. His name is +Parker.' + +'Then his capital is your capital.' + +'Well;--I can't explain it, but it is not so.' + +'What is the name of your firm?' + +'We haven't a registered name.' + +'Have you a place of business?' + +'Parker has a place of business in Little Tankard Yard.' + +Mr Wharton turned to a directory and found out Parker's name. +'Mr Parker is a stockbroker. Are you also a stockbroker?' + +'No,--I am not.' + +'Then, sir, it seems to me that you are a commercial adventurer.' + +'I am not at all ashamed of the name, Mr Wharton. According to +your manner of reckoning half the business of the City of London +is done by commercial adventurers. I watch the markets and buy +goods,--and sell them at a profit. Mr Parker is a moneyed man, +who happens also to be a stockbroker. We can very easily call +ourselves merchants, and put up the names of Lopez and Parker +over the door.' + +'Do you sign bills together?' + +'Yes.' + +'As Lopez and Parker?' + +'No. I sign them and he signs them. I trade also by myself, and +so, I believe, does he.' + +'One other question, Mr Lopez. On what income have you paid +income-tax for the last three years?' + +'On 2,000 pounds a year,' said Lopez. This was a direct lie. + +'Can you make out any schedule showing your exact assets and +liabilities at the present time?' + +'Certainly I can.' + +'Then do so, and send it to me before I go into Hertfordshire. +My will as it stands at present would not be to your advantage. +But I cannot change it till I know more of your circumstances +than I do now.' And so the interview was over. + + + +CHAPTER 45 + +MRS SEXTY PARKER. + +Though Mr Wharton and Lopez met every day for the next week, +nothing more was said about the schedule. The old man was +thinking about it every day, and so was Lopez. But Mr Wharton +had made his demand, and, as he thought, nothing more was to be +said on the subject. He could not continue the subject as he +would have done with his son. But as day after day passed by he +became more and more convinced that his son-in-law's affairs were +not in a state which could bear to see the light. He had +declared his purpose of altering his will in the man's favour, if +the man would satisfy him. And yet nothing was done and nothing +was said. + +Lopez had come among them and robbed him of his daughter. Since +the man had become intimate in his house he had not known an +hour's happiness. The man had destroyed all the plans of his +life, broken through his castle, and violated his very hearth. +No doubt he himself had vacillated. He was aware of that. No +present mood was severe enough in judging himself. In his +desolation he had tried to take the man to his heart,--had been +kind to him, and had even opened his house to him. He had told +himself that as the man was the husband of his daughter he had +better make the best of it. He had endeavoured to make the best +of it, but between him and the man there were such differences +that they were poles asunder. And now it became clear to him +that the man was, as he had declared to the man's face, no better +than an adventurer! + +By his will as it at present stood he had left two-thirds of his +property to Everett, and one-third to his daughter, with +arrangements for settling her share on her children, should she +be married and have children at the time of his death. This will +had been made many years ago, and he had long since determined to +alter it, in order that he might divide his property equally +between his children;--but he had postponed the matter, +intending to give a large portion of Emily's share to her +directly on her marriage with Arthur Fletcher. She had not +married Arthur Fletcher;--but it was still necessary that a new +will should be made. + +When he left town for Hertfordshire he had not yet made up his +mind how this should be done. He had at one time thought that he +would give some considerable sum to Lopez at once, knowing that +to a man in business such assistance would be useful. And he had +not altogether abandoned that idea, even when he had asked for +the schedule. He did not relish the thought of giving his hard- +earned money to Lopez, but still the man's wife was his daughter, +and he must do the best that he could for her. Her taste in +marrying the man was inexplicable to him. But that was done;-- +and now how might he best arrange his affairs so as to serve her +interests? + +About the middle of August he went to Hertfordshire and she to +the seaside in Essex,--to the little place which Lopez had +selected. Before the end of the month the father-in-law wrote a +line to his son-in-law. + + DEAR LOPEZ, +(not without premeditation had he departed from the sternness of +that 'Mr Lopez', which in his anger he had used at the chambers.) + + When we were discussing your affairs I asked you for a + schedule of your assets and liabilities. I can make no + new arrangement of my property until I receive this. + Should I die leaving my present will as the instrument + under which my property would be conveyed to my heirs, + Emily's share would go into the hands of trustees for the + use of herself and her possible children. I tell you + this that you may understand that it is for your own + interest to comply with my requisition. +Yours, +A. WHARTON + +Of course questions were asked him as to how the newly married +couple were getting on. At Wharton these questions were mild and +easily put off. Sir Alured was contented with a slight shake of +his head, and Lady Wharton only remarked for the fifth or sixth +time that it 'was a pity'. But when they all went to Longbarns, +the difficulty became greater. Arthur was not there, and old Mrs +Fletcher was in full strength. 'So the Lopezes have come to live +with you in Manchester Square?' Mr Wharton acknowledged that it +was so with an affirmative grunt. 'I hope he's a pleasant +inmate.' There was a scorn in the old woman's voice as she said +this, which ought to have provoked any man. + +'More so than most men would be,' said Mr Wharton. + +'Oh, indeed!' + +'He is courteous and forbearing, and does not think that +everything around him should be suited to his own peculiar +fancies.' + +'I am glad you are contented with the marriage, Mr Wharton.' + +'Who said that I am contented with it? No one ought to +understand or to share my discontent so cordially as yourself, +Mrs Fletcher;--and no one ought to be more chary of speaking of +it. You and I hoped for other things, and old people do not like +to be disappointed. But I needn't paint the devil blacker than +he is.' + +'I'm afraid that, as usual, he is rather black.' + +'Mother,' said John Fletcher, 'the thing has been done and you +might as well let it be. We are all sorry that Emily has not +come nearer to us, but she has a right to choose for herself, and +I for one wish,--as does my brother also,--that she may be +happy in the lot she has chosen.' + +'His conduct to Arthur at Silverbridge was so nice!,' said the +pertinacious old woman. + +'Never mind his conduct, mother. What is it to us?' + +'That's all very well, John, but according to that nobody is to +talk about anybody.' + +'I would much prefer, at any rate,' said Mr Wharton, 'that you +would not talk about Mr Lopez in my hearing.' + +'I don't like Lopez, you know,' Mr Wharton said to John Fletcher +afterwards. 'How should it be possible that I should like such a +man? But there can be no good got by complaints. It is not what +your mother suffers, or what evil I can suffer,--or, worse +again, what Arthur may suffer, that makes the sadness of all +this. What will be her life? That is the question. And it is +too near me, too important to me, for the endurance either of +scorn or pity. I was glad you asked your mother to be silent.' + +'I can understand it,' said John. 'I do not think that she will +trouble you again.' + +In the meantime Lopez received Mr Wharton's letter at Dovercourt, +and had to consider what answer he should give to it. No answer +could be satisfactory,--unless he could impose a false answer on +his father-in-law so as to make it credible. The more he thought +of it, the more he believed this would be impossible. The +cautious old lawyer would not accept unverified statements. A +certain sum of money,--by no means illiberal at present,--he +had already extracted from the old man. What he wanted was a +further and much larger grant. Though Mr Wharton was old he did +not want to have to wait for the death even of an old man. The +next two or three years,--probably the very next year,--might +be the turning-point of his life. He had married the girl, and +ought to have the girl's fortune,--down on the nail! As he +thought of this he cursed his ill luck. The husbands of other +girls had their fortunes conveyed to them immediately on their +marriage. What would not 20,000 pounds do for him, if he could +get it into his hand? And so he taught himself to regard the old +man as a robber and himself as a victim. Who among us is there +who does not teach himself the same lesson? And then too how +cruelly, how damnably he had been used by the Duchess of Omnium! +And how Sexty Parker, whose fortune he was making for him, whose +fortune he at any rate intended to make, was troubling him in +various ways. 'We're in a boat together,' Sexty had said. +'You've had the use of my money, and by heavens you have it +still. I don't see why you should be so stiff. Do you bring +your missus to Dovercourt, and I'll take mine, and let 'em know +each other.' There was a little argument on the subject, but +Sexty Parker had the best of it, and in this way the trip to +Dovercourt was arranged. + +Lopez was in a very good humour when he took his wife down, and +he walked her round the terraces and esplanades of that not +sufficiently well-known marine paradise, now bidding her admire +the sea and now laughing at the finery of the people, till she +became gradually filled with the idea that he was making himself +pleasant, she also ought to do the same. Of course she was not +happy. The gilding had so completely and so rapidly been washed +off her idol that she could not be very happy. But she also +could be good-humoured. 'And now,' said he, smiling, 'I have got +something for you to do for me,--something that you will find +very disagreeable.' + +'What is it? It won't be very bad, I'm sure.' + +'It will be very bad, I'm afraid. My excellent but horribly +vulgar partner, Sexty Parker, when he found that I was coming +here, insisted on bringing his wife and children also. I want +you to know them.' + +'Is that all? She must be very bad indeed if I can't put up with +that.' + +'In one sense she isn't bad at all. I believe her to be an +excellent woman, intent on spoiling her children and giving her +husband a good dinner every day. But I think you will find that +she is,--well,--not quite what you would call a lady.' + +'I shan't mind that in the least. I'll help her spoil the +children.' + +'You can get a lesson there, you know,' he said, looking into her +face. The little joke was one which a young wife might take with +pleasure from her husband, but her life had already been too much +embittered for any such delight. Yes; the time was coming when +that trouble also would be added to her. She dreaded she knew +not what, and had often told herself that it would be better that +she should be childless. + +'Do you like him?' she said. + +'Like him. No;--I can't say I like him. He is useful, and in +one sense honest.' + +'Is he not honest in all senses?' + +'That's a large order. To tell you the truth, I don't know any +man who is.' + +'Everett is honest.' + +'He loses money at play which he can't pay without assistance +from his father. If his father had refused, where would then +have been his honesty? Sexty is as honest as others, I dare say, +but I shouldn't like to trust him much farther than I could see +him. I shan't go up to town to-morrow, and we'll both look in on +them after luncheon.' + +In the afternoon the call was made. The Parkers, having +children, had dined early, and he was sitting out on a little +porch smoking his pipe, drinking whisky and water, and looking at +the sea. His eldest girl was standing between his legs, and his +wife, with the other three children round her, was sitting on the +door-step. 'I've brought my wife to see you,' said Lopez, +holding his hand to Mrs Parker, as she rose from the ground. + +'I told her that you'd be coming,' said Sexty, 'and she wanted me +to put off my pipe and little drop of drink; but I said that if +Mrs Lopez was the lady I took her to be she wouldn't begrudge a +hard-working fellow his pipe and glass on a holiday.' + +There was a soundness of sense in this which mollified any +feeling of disgust which Emily might have felt at the man's +vulgarity. 'I think you are quite right, Mr Parker. I should be +very sorry if,--if--' + +'If I was to put my pipe out. Well, I won't. You'll take a +glass of sherry, Lopez? Though I'm drinking spirits myself. I +brought down a hamper of sherry wine. Oh, nonsense;--you must +take something. That's right, Jane. Let us have the stuff and +the glasses, and then they can do as they like.' Lopez lit a +cigar, and allowed his host to pour out for him a glass of +'sherry wine', while Mrs Lopez went into the house with Mrs +Parker and the children. + +Mrs Parker opened herself out to her new friend immediately. She +hoped that they two might see 'a deal of each other,--that is, +if you don't think it's too pushing'. Sextus, she said, was so +much away, coming down to Dovercourt only every other day! And +then, within the half hour which was consumed by Lopez with his +cigar, the poor woman got upon the general troubles of her life. +Did Mrs Lopez think that 'all this speckelation was just the +right thing?' + +'I don't think I know anything about it, Mrs Parker.' + +'But you ought;--oughtn't you, now? Don't you think that a wife +ought to know what it is that her husband is after;--specially +if there's children? A good bit of money was mine, Mrs Lopez, +and though I don't begrudge it, not one bit, if any good is to +come out of it to him or them, a woman doesn't like what her +father has given her should be made ducks and drakes of.' + +'But are they making ducks and drakes?' + +'When he don't tell me I'm always afeard. And I'll tell you what +I know just as well as two and two. When he comes home a little +flustered, and then takes more than his regular allowance, he's +been at something as don't quite satisfy him. He's never that +way when he's done a good day's work at his regular business. He +takes to the children then, and has one glass after his dinner, +and tells me all about it,--down to the shillings and pence. +But it's very seldom he's that way now.' + +'You may think it very odd, Mrs Parker, but I don't in the least +know what my husband is--in business.' + +'And you never ask?' + +'I haven't been very long married, you know,--only about two +months.' + +'I'd had my fust by that time.' + +'Only nine months, I think, indeed.' + +'Well; I wasn't very long after that. But I took care to know +what it was he was a-doing of in the city long before that time. +And I did use to know everything, till --' She was going to say, +till Lopez had come upon the scene. But she did not wish, at any +rate as yet, to be harsh to her new friend. + +'I hope it is all right,' said Emily. + +'Sometimes he's as though the Bank of England was all his own. +And there's been more money come into the house;--that I must +say. And there isn't an open-handeder one than Sexty anywhere. +He'd like to see me in a silk gown every day of my life;--and as +for the children, there's nothing smart enough for them. Only +I'd sooner have a little and safe, than anything ever so fine, +and never be sure whether it wasn't going to come to an end.' + +'There I agree with you, quite.' + +'I don't suppose men feels it as we do; but, oh, Mrs Lopez, give +me a little safe, so that I may know that I shan't see my +children want. When I thinks what it would be to have them +darlings' little bellies empty, and nothing in the cupboard, I +get that low that I'm nigh fit for Bedlam.' + +In the meantime the two men outside the porch were discussing +their affairs in somewhat the same spirit. At last Lopez showed +the friend Wharton's letter, and told him of the expected +schedule. 'Schedule be d-d, you know,' said Lopez. 'How am I to +put down a rise of 12s.6d a ton on Kauri gum in a schedule? But +when you come to 2,000 tons it's 1,250 pounds.' + +'He's very old, isn't he?' + +'But as strong as a horse.' + +'He's got the money?' + +'Yes;--he has got it safe enough. There's no doubt about the +money.' + +'What he talks about is only a will. Now you want the money at +once.' + +'Of course I do;--and he talks to me as if I were some old fogy +with an estate of my own. I must concoct a letter and explain my +views; and the more I can make him understand how things really +are the better. I don't suppose he wants to see his daughter +come to grief.' + +'Then the sooner you write it the better,' said Mr Parker. + + + +CHAPTER 46 + +'HE WANTS TO GET RICH TOO QUICK.' + +As they strolled home Lopez told his wife that he had accepted an +invitation to dine the next day at the Parker's cottage. In +doing this his manner was not quite so gentle as when he had +asked her to call on them. He had been a little ruffled by what +had been said, and now exhibited his temper. 'I don't suppose it +will be very nice,' he said, 'but we may have to put up with +worse things than that.' + +'I have made no objection.' + +'But you don't seem to take it very cordially.' + +'I had thought I had got on very well with Mrs Parker. If you +can eat your dinner with them, I'm sure I can. You do not seem +to like him altogether, and I wish you had got a partner more to +your taste.' + +'Taste indeed! When you come to this kind of thing it isn't a +matter of taste. The fact is, that I am in the fellow's hands to +an extent I don't like to think of, and don't see my way out of +it unless your father will do as he ought to do. You altogether +refuse to help me with your father, and you must, therefore, put +up with Sexty Parker and his wife. It is quite on the cards that +worse things may come even than Sexty Parker.' To this she made +no immediate answer, but walked on, increasing her pace, not only +unhappy, but also very angry. It was becoming a matter of doubt +to her whether she could continue to bear the repeated attacks +about her father's money. 'I can see how it is,' he continued. +'You think that a husband should bear all the troubles of life, +and that a wife should never be made to hear of them.' + +'Ferdinand,' she said, 'I declare I did not think that any man +could be so unfair to a woman as you are to me.' + +'Of course! Because I haven't got thousands a year to spend on +you I am unfair.' + +'I am content to live in any way that you may direct. If you are +poor, I am satisfied to be poor. If you are even ruined, I am +content to be ruined.' + +'Who is talking about ruin?' + +'If you are in want of everything, I also will be in want and +will never complain. Whatever our joint lot may bring to us I +will endure and endeavour to endure with cheerfulness. But I +will not ask my father for money, either for you or for myself. +He knows what he ought to do. I trust him implicitly.' + +'And me not at all.' + +'He is, I know, in communication with you about what should be +done. I can only say,--tell him everything.' + +'My dear, that is a matter in which it may be possible that I +understand my own interest best.' + +'Very likely. I certainly understand nothing, for I do not even +know the nature of your business. How can I tell him that he +ought to give you money?' + +'You might have asked him for your own.' + +'I have got nothing. Did I ever tell you that I had?' + +'You ought to have known.' + +'Do you mean that when you asked me to marry you I should have +refused you because I did not know what money my papa would give +me? Why did you not ask papa?' + +'Had I known him then as well as I do now you may be quite sure +that I should have done so.' + +'Ferdinand, it will be better that we should not speak about my +father. I will in all things strive to do as you would have me, +but I cannot hear him abused. If you have anything to say, go to +Everett.' + +'Yes;--when he is such a gambler that your father won't even +speak to him. Your father will be found dead in bed some day, +and all his money will have been left to some cursed hospital.' +They were at their own door when this was said, and she, without +further answer, went up to her bedroom. + +All these bitter things had been said, not because Lopez had +thought that he could further his own views by saying them;--he +knew indeed that he was injuring himself by every display of ill- +temper;--but she was in his power, and Sexty Parker was +rebelling. He thought a good deal that day on the delight he +would have in 'kicking that ill-conditioned cur', if only he +could afford to kick him. But is wife was his own, and she must +be taught to endure his will, and must be made to know that +though she was not to be kicked, yet she was to be tormented and +ill-used. And it might be possible that he should cow her +spirits as to bring her to act as she should direct. Still, as +he walked alone along the sea-shore, he knew that it would be +better for him to control his temper. + +On that evening he did write to Mr Wharton,--as follows,--and +he dated the letter from Little Tankard Yard, so that Mr Wharton +might suppose that that was his own place of business, and that +he was there, at his work: + + MY DEAR SIR, + You have asked for a schedule of my affairs, and I have + found it quite impossible to give it. As it was with the + merchants whom Shakespeare and the other dramatists + described,--so it is with me. My caravels are out at + sea, and will not always come home in time. My property + at this moment consists of certain shares of cargoes of + jute, Kauri gum, guano, and sulphur, worth altogether at + the present moment something over 26,000 pounds, of which + Mr Parker possesses a half;--but then of this property + only a portion is paid for,--perhaps something more than + a half. For the other half our bills are in the market. + But in February next these articles will probably be sold + for considerably more than 30,000 pounds. If I had 5,000 + pounds placed to my credit now, I should be worth about + 15,000 pounds by the end of next February. I am engaged + in sundry other smaller ventures, all returning profits; + ---but in such a condition of things it is impossible that + I should make a schedule. + + I am undoubtedly in the condition of a man trading beyond + his capital. I have been tempted by fair offers, and + what I think I may call something beyond an average + understanding of such matters, to go into ventures beyond + my means. I have stretched my arm out too far. In such a + position it is not perhaps unnatural that I should ask a + wealthy father-in-law to assist me. It is certainly not + unnatural that I should wish him to do so. + + I do not think I am a mercenary man. When I married your + daughter I raised no question of her fortune. Being + embarked in trade I no doubt thought that her means,-- + whatever they might be,--would be joined with my own. I + know that a sum of 20,000 pounds, with my expeditious use + of the money, would give us a noble income. But I would + not condescend to ask a question which might lead to a + supposition that I was marrying her for her money and not + because I loved her. + + You now know, I think, all that I can tell you. If there + be any other questions I would willingly answer them. It + is certainly the case that Emily's fortune, whatever you + may choose to give her, would be of infinitely greater + use to me now,--and consequently to her,--than at a + future date which I sincerely pray may be very long + deferred. + Believe me to be, your affectionate son-in-law + FERDINAND LOPEZ + A. Wharton, Esq. + +This letter he himself took up to town on the following day, and +there posted, addressing it to Wharton Hall. He did not expect +very great results from it. As he read it over, he was painfully +aware that all this trash about caravels and cargoes of sulphur +would not go very far with Mr Wharton. But it might go farther +than nothing. He was bound not to neglect Mr Wharton's letter to +him. When a man is in difficulty about money, even a lie,--even +a lie that is sure to be found out to be a lie,--will serve his +immediate turn better than silence. There is nothing that the +courts hate so much as contempt;--not even perjury. And Lopez +felt that Mr Wharton was the judge before whom he was bound to +plead. + +He returned to Dovercourt on that day, and he and his wife dined +with the Parkers. No woman of her age had known better what were +the manners of ladies and gentlemen than Emily Wharton. She had +thoroughly understood that when in Hertfordshire she was +surrounded by people of that class, and that when she was with +her aunt, Mrs Roby, she was not quite so happily placed. No +doubt she had been terribly deceived by her husband,--but the +deceit had come from the fact that his manners gave no indication +of his character. When she found herself in Mrs Parker's little +sitting-room, with Mr Parker making florid speeches to her, she +knew that she had fallen among people for whose society she had +not been intended. But this was a part, and only a very trifling +part, of the punishment which she felt that she deserved. If +that, and things like that, were all, she would bear them without +a murmur. + +'Now I call Dovercourt a dooced nice little place,' said Mrs +Parker, as he helped her to the 'bit fish', which he told her he +had brought down with him from London. + +'It is very healthy, I should think. + +'Just the thing for the children, ma'am. You've none of your +own, Mrs Lopez, but there's a good time coming. You were up to- +day, weren't you, Lopez. Any news?' + +'Things seemed to be very quiet in the city.' + +'Too quiet, I'm afraid. I hate having 'em quiet. You must come +and see me in Little Tankard Yard some of these days, Mrs Lopez. +We can give you a glass of champagne and the wing of a chicken;-- +can't we, Lopez?' + +'I don't know. It's more than you ever gave me,' said Lopez, +trying to look good-humoured. + +'But you ain't a lady.' + +'Or me,' said Mrs Parker. + +'You're only a wife. If Mrs Lopez will make a day of it we'll +treat her well in the city;--won't we, Ferdinand?' A black +cloud come across 'Ferdinand's' face, but he said nothing. Emily +of a sudden drew herself up unconsciously,--and then at once +relaxed her features and smiled. If her husband chose that it +should be so, she would make no objection. + +'Upon my honour, Sexty, you are very familiar,' said Mrs Parker. + +'It's a way we have in the city,' said Sexty. Sexty knew what he +was about. His partner called him Sexty, and why shouldn't he +call his partner Ferdinand? + +'He'll call you Emily before long,' said Lopez. + +'When you call my wife Jane, I shall,--and I've no objection in +life. I don't see why people ain't to call each other by their +Christian names. Take a glass of champagne, Mrs Lopez. I +brought down half-a-dozen to-day so that we might be jolly. Care +killed a cat. Whatever we call each other, I'm very glad to see +you here, Mrs Lopez, and I hope it's the first of a great many. +Here's to your health.' + +It was all his ordering, and if he bade her dine with a crossing- +sweeper she would do it. But she could not but remember that not +long since he had told her that his partner was not a person with +whom she could fitly associated; and she did not fail to perceive +that he must be going down in the world to admit such +associations for her after he had so spoken. And as she sipped +the mixture which Sexty called champagne, she thought of +Hertfordshire and the banks of the Wye, and--alas, alas,--she +thought of Arthur Fletcher. Nevertheless, come what might, she +would do her duty, even though it might call upon her to sit at +dinner with Mr Parker three days in the week. Lopez was her +husband, and would be the father of her child, and she would make +herself one with him. It mattered not what people might call +him,--or even her. She had acted on her own judgement in +marrying him, and had been a fool; and now she would bear the +punishment without complaint. + +When dinner was over Mrs Parker helped the servant to remove the +dinner things from the single sitting-room, and the two men went +out to smoke their cigars in the covered porch. Mrs Parker +herself took out the whisky and hot water, and sugar and lemons, +and then returned to have a little matronly discourse with her +guest. 'Does Mr Lopez ever take a drop too much?' + +'Never,' said Mrs Lopez. + +'Perhaps it don't affect him as it do Sexty. He ain't a drinker; +--certainly not. And he's one that works hard every day of his +life. But he's getting fond of it these last twelve months, and +though he don't take very much it hurries him and flurries him. +If I speaks at night he gets cross;--and in the morning when he +gets up, which he always do regular, though it's ever so bad with +him, then I haven't the heart to scold him. It's very hard +sometimes for a wife to know what to do, Mrs Lopez.' + +'Yes, indeed.' Emily could not but think how soon she herself +had learned that lesson. + +'Of course I'd anything for Sexty,--the father of my bairns, and +has always been a good husband to me. You don't know him, of +course, but I do. A right good man at bottom; but so weak!' + +'If he,--if he,--injures his health, shouldn't you talk to him +about it?' + +'It isn't the drink as is the evil, Mrs Lopez, but that which +makes him drink. He's not one as goes a mucker merely for the +pleasure. When things are going right he'll sit out in our arbour +at home, and smoke pipe after pipe, playing with the children, +and one glass of gin and water will see him to bed. Tobacco, +dry, do agree with him, I think. But when he comes to three or +four goes of hot toddy, I know it's not as it should be.' + +'You should restrain him, Mrs Parker.' + +'Of course I should;--but how? Am I to walk off with the bottle +and disgrace him before the servant girl? Or am I to let the +children know as their father takes too much? If I was as much +as to make one fight of it, it'd be all over Ponder's End that +he's a drunkard;--which he ain't. Restrain him;--oh yes! If I +could restrain that gambling instead of regular business. That's +what I would like to restrain.' + +'Does he gamble?' + +'What is it but gambling that he and Mr Lopez is a-doing +together? Or course, ma'am, I don't know you, and you are +different from me. I ain't foolish enough not to know all that. +My father stood in Smithfield and sold hay, and your father is a +gentleman as has been high up in the Courts all his life. But +it's your husband is a-doing this.' + +'Oh, Mrs Parker!' + +'He is then. I don't know about commerce, Mrs Lopez, because I'm +only a woman; but it can't be fair. They goes and buys things +that they haven't got the money to pay for, and then waits to see +if they'll turn up trumps. Isn't that gambling?' + +'I cannot say. I do not know.' She felt now that her husband +had been accused, and that part of that accusation had been +levelled at herself. There was something in her manner of saying +these few words which the poor complaining woman perceived, +feeling immediately that she had been inhospitable and perhaps +unjust. She put out her hand softly, touching the other woman's +arm, and looking up into her guest's face. 'If this is so, it's +terrible,' said Emily. + +'Perhaps I shouldn't speak so free.' + +'Oh, yes;--for your children, and yourself, and your husband.' + +'It's them,--and him. Of course it's not your doing, and Mr +Lopez, I'm sure, is a very fine gentleman. And if he gets wrong +one way, he'll get himself right in another.' Upon hearing this +Emily shook her head. 'Your papa is a rich man, and won't see +you and yours come to want. There's nothing more to come to me +or Sexty let it be ever so.' + +'Why does he do it?' + +'Why does who do it?' + +'Your husband. Why don't you speak to him as you do to me, and +tell him to mind only his proper business?' + +'Now you are angry with me.' + +'Angry! No;--indeed I am not angry. Every word that you say is +good and true, and just what you ought to say. I am not angry; +but I am terrified. I know nothing of my husband's business. I +cannot tell you that you should trust to it. He is very clever, +but-' + +'But what, ma'am?' + +'Perhaps I should say that he is ambitious.' + +'You mean he wants to get rich too quick, ma'am.' + +'I'm afraid so.' + +'Then it's just the same with Sexty. He's ambitious too. But +what's the good of being ambitious, Mrs Lopez, if you never know +whether you're on your head or your heels? And what's the good +of being ambitious if you're to get into the workhouse? I know +what that means. There's one or two of them sort of men gets +into Parliament, and has houses as big as the Queen's palace, +while hundreds of them has their wives and children in the +gutter. Who ever hears of them? Nobody. It don't become any +man to be ambitious who has got a wife and family. If he's a +bachelor, who, of course, he can go to the Colonies. There's +Mary Jane and the two little ones right down on the sea, with +their feet in the water. She we put on our hats, Mrs Lopez, and +go and look after them?' To this proposition Emily assented, and +the two ladies went out after the children. + +'Mix yourself another glass,' said Sexty to his partner. + +'I'd rather not. Don't ask me again. You know I never drink, +and I don't like being pressed.' + +'By George,--you're particular.' + +'What's the use of teasing a fellow to do a thing he doesn't +like?' + +'You won't mind me having another?' + +'Fifty if you please, so that I'm not forced to join you.' + +'Forced! It's liberty 'all here, and you can do as you please. +Only when a fellow will take a drop with me, he's better +company.' + +'Then I'm d-d bad company, and you'd better get somebody else to +be jolly with. To tell you the truth, Sexty, I suit you better +at business than at this sort of thing. I'm like Shylock, you +know.' + +'I don't know about Shylock, but I'm blessed if I think you suit +me very well at anything. I'm putting up with a deal of ill- +usage, and when I try to be happy with you, you won't drink, and +you tell me about Shylock. He was a Jew, wasn't he?' + +'That is the general idea.' + +'Then you ain't much very like him, for they're the sort of +people that always has money about them.' + +'How do you suppose he made his money to begin with? What an ass +you are!' + +'That's true, I am. Ever since I began putting my name on the +same bit of paper with yours, I've been an ass.' + +'You'll have to be one a bit longer yet;--unless you mean to +throw up everything. At this present moment you are six or seven +thousand pounds richer than you were before you first met me.' + +'I wish I could see the money.' + +'That's like you. What's the use of money you can see? How are +you to make money out of money by looking at it? I like to know +that my money is fructifying.' + +'I like to know that it's all there,--and I did know it before I +ever saw you. I'm blessed if I know it now. Go down and join +the ladies, will you? You ain't much of a companion up here.' + +Shortly after that Lopez told Mrs Parker that he had already bade +adieu to her husband, and then he took his wife to their own +lodgings. + + + +CHAPTER 47 + +AS FOR LOVE! + +The time spent by Mrs Lopez at Dovercourt was by no means one of +complete happiness. Her husband did not come down very +frequently, alleging that his business kept him in town, and that +the journey was too long. When he did come he annoyed her either +by moroseness or tyranny, or by an affectation of loving good- +humour, which was the more disagreeable alternative of the two. +She knew that he had not right to be good-humoured, and she was +quite able to appreciate the difference between fictitious love +and love that was real. He did not while she was at Dovercourt +speak to her again directly about her father's money,--but he +gave her to understand that he required from her very close +economy. Then again she referred to the brougham which she knew +was to be in readiness on her return to London, but he told her +that he was the best judge of that. The economy which he +demanded was that comfortless heartrending economy which nips the +practiser at every turn, but does not betray itself to the world +at large. He would have her save out of her washerwoman and +linendraper, and yet have a smart gown and go in a brougham. He +begrudged her postage stamps, and stopped the subscription at +Mudie's, though he insisted on a front seat in the Dovercourt +church, paying half a guinea more for it than he would for a +place at the side. And then before their sojourn at the place +had come to an end he left her for a while absolutely penniless, +so that when the butcher and baker called for their money she +could not pay them. That was a dreadful calamity to her, and of +which she was hardly able to measure the real worth. It had +never happened to her before to have to refuse an application for +money that was due. In her father's house such a thing, as far +as she knew, had never happened. She had sometimes heard that +Everett was impecunious, but that had simply indicated an +additional call upon her father. When the butcher came the +second time she wrote to her husband in an agony. Should she +write to her father for a supply? She was sure that her father +would not leave them in actual want. Then he sent her a cheque, +enclosed in an angry letter. Apply to her father! Had she not +learnt as yet that she was to lean upon her father any longer, +but simply on him? And was she such a fool as to suppose that a +tradesman could not wait a month for his money? + +During all this time she had no friend,--no person to whom she +could speak,--except Mrs Parker. Mrs Parker was very open and +very confidential about the business, really knowing very much +more about it than did Mrs Lopez. There was some sympathy and +confidence between her and her husband, though they had latterly +been much lessened by Sexty's conduct. Mrs Parker talked daily +about the business now that her mouth had been opened, and was +very clearly of the opinion that it was not a good business. +'Sexty don't think it good himself,' she said. + +'Then why does he go on with it?' + +'Business is a thing, Mrs Lopez, as people can't drop out of just +at a moment. A man gets himself entangled, and must free himself +as best he can. I know he's terribly afeard;--and sometimes he +does say such things of your husband!' Emily shrunk almost into +herself as she heard this. 'You mustn't be angry, for indeed +it's better you should know all.' + +'I'm not angry; only very unhappy. Surely, Mr Parker could +separate himself from Mr Lopez if he pleased?' + +'That's what I say to him. Give it up, though it be ever so much +as you've got to lose by him. Give it up, and begin again. +You've always got your experience, and if it's only a crust you +can earn, that's sure and safe. But then he declares that he +means to pull through, Mrs Lopez. There shouldn't be no need of +pulling through. It should all come just of its own accord,-- +little and little, but safe.' Then, when the days of their +marine holiday were coming to an end,--in the first week in +October,--the day before the return of the Parkers to Ponder's +End, she made a strong appeal to her new friend. 'You ain't +afraid of him, are you?' + +'Of my husband?' said Mrs Lopez. 'I hope not. Why should you +ask?' + +'Believe me, a woman should never be afraid of 'em. I never +would give in to be bullied and made little of by Sexty. I'd do +a'most anything to make him comfortable. I'm soft-hearted. And +why not, when he's the father of my children? But I'm not going +not to say a thing if I think it right, because I'm afeard.' + +'I think I could say anything if I thought it right.' + +'Then tell him of me and my babes,--as how I can never have a +quiet night while this is going on. It isn't that they two men +are fond of one another. Nothing of the sort. Now you;--I've +got to be downright fond of you, though, of course, you think me +common.' Mrs Lopez would not contradict her but stooped forward +and kissed her cheek. 'I'm downright fond of you, I am,' +continued Mrs Parker, snuffling and sobbing, 'but they two men +are only together because Mr Lopez wants to gamble, and Parker +has got a little money to gamble with.' This aspect of the thing +was so terrible to Mrs Lopez that she could only weep and hid her +face. 'Now, if you would tell him the truth! Tell him what I +say, and that I've been a-saying it! Tell him it's for my +children I'm a-speaking, who won't have bread in their very +mouths if their father's squeezed dry like a sponge! Sure, if +you'd tell him this, he wouldn't go on!' Then she paused a +moment, looking up into the other woman's face. 'He'd have some +bowels of compassion;--wouldn't he now?' + +'I'll try,' said Mrs Lopez. + +'I know you're good and kind-hearted, my dear. I saw it in your +eyes from the very first. But then men, when they get on at +money-making,--or money-losing, which makes 'em worse,--are +like tigers clawing one another. They don't care how many they +kills, so that they has at least bit for themselves. There ain't +no fear of God init, nor yet no mercy, nor ere a morsel of heart. +It ain't what I call manly,--not that longing after other folk's +money. When it's come by hard work, as I tell Sexty,--by the +very sweat of his brow,--oh,--it's sweet as sweet. When he'd +tell me that he'd made his three pound, or his five pound, or, +perhaps, his ten in a day, and'd calculate it up, how much it'd +come to if he did that every day, and where we could go to, and +what we could do for the children, I loved to hear him talk about +money. But now--! why, it's altered the looks of the man +altogether. It's just as though he was a-thirsting for blood.' + +Thirsting for blood! Yes, indeed. It was the very idea that had +occurred to Mrs Lopez herself when her husband bade her to 'get +round her father'. No;--it certainly was not manly. There +certainly was neither the fear of God in it, nor mercy. Yes;-- +she would try. But as for bowels of compassion in Ferdinand +Lopez--; she, the young wife, had already seen enough of her +husband to think that he was not to be moved by any prayers on +that side. Then the two women bade each other farewell. 'Parker +has been talking of my going to Manchester Square,' said Mrs +Parker, 'but I shan't. What'd I be in Manchester Square? And, +besides, there'd better be an end of it. Mr Lopez'd turn Sexty +and me out of the house at a moment's notice if it wasn't for the +money.' + +'It's papa's house,' said Mrs Lopez, not, however, meaning to +make an attack upon her husband. + +'I suppose so, but I shan't come to trouble no one, and we live +ever so far away, at Ponder's End,--out or your line altogether, +Mrs Lopez. But I've taken to you and will never think ill of you +in any way--and do as you said you would.' + +'I will try,' said Mrs Lopez. + +In the meantime Lopez received from Mr Wharton an answer to his +letter about the missing caravels, which did not please him. +Here is the letter: + + MY DEAR LOPEZ, + I cannot say that your statement is satisfactory, nor can + I reconcile it to your assurance to me that you have made + a trade income for some years past of 2,000 pounds a + year. I do not know much of business, but I cannot + imagine such a result from such a condition of things as + you describe. Have you any books; and if so, will you + allow them to be inspected by any accountant that I may + name? + + You say that a sum of 20,000 pounds would suit your + business better now than when I am dead. Very likely. + But with such an account of the business as that you have + given me, I do not know that I feel disposed to confide + my savings of my life to assist so very doubtful an + enterprise. Of course whatever I may do to your + advantage will be done for the sake of Emily and her + children, should she have any. As far I can see at + present, I shall best do my duty to her, by leaving what + I may have to leave to her, to trustees, for her benefit + and that of her children. + Yours truly, + A. WHARTON + +This, of course, did not tend to mollify the spirit of the man to +whom it was written, or to make him gracious towards his wife. +He received the letter three weeks before the lodgings at +Dovercourt were given up,--but during these three weeks he was +very little at the place, and when there did not mention the +letter. On these occasions he said nothing about business, but +satisfied himself with giving strict injunctions as to economy. +Then he took her back to town on the day after her promise to Mrs +Parker that she would 'try'. Mrs Parker had told her that no +woman ought to be afraid to speak to her husband, and, if +necessary, to speak roundly on such subjects. Mrs Parker was +certainly not a highly educated lady, but she had impressed Emily +with an admiration for her practical good sense and proper +feeling. The lady who was a lady had begun to feel that in the +troubles of her life she might fine a much less satisfactory +companion than the lady who was not a lady. She would do as Mrs +Parker had told her. She would not be afraid. Of course it was +right that she should speak on such a matter. She knew herself +to be an obedient wife. She had borne all her unexpected sorrows +without a complaint, with a resolve that she would bear all for +his sake,--not because she loved him, but because she had made +herself his wife. Into whatever calamities he might fall, she +would share them. Though he should bring her utterly into the +dirt, she would remain in that dirt with him. It seemed probable +to her that it might be so;--that they might have to go into the +dirt;--and if it were so, she would still be true to him. She +had chosen to marry him, and she would be a true wife. But, as +such, she would not be afraid of him. Mrs Parker had told her +that 'a woman should never be afraid of 'em', and she believed in +Mrs Parker. In this case, too, it was clearly her duty to speak, +--for the injury being done was terrible, and might too probably +become tragical. How could she endure to think of that woman and +her children, should she come to know that the husband of the +woman and the father of the children had been ruined by her +husband? + +Yes;--she would speak to him. But she did fear. It is all very +well for a woman to tell herself that she will encounter some +anticipated difficulty without fear,--or for a man either. The +fear cannot be overcome by will. The thing, however, may be +done, whether it be leading a forlorn hope, or speaking to an +angry husband,--in spite of fear. She would do it; but when the +moment for doing it came, her very heart trembled within her. He +had been so masterful with her, so persistent in repudiating her +interference, so exacting in his demands for obedience, so +capable of making her miserable by his moroseness when she failed +to comply with his wishes, that she could not go to her task +without fear. But she did feel that she ought not to be afraid, +or that her fears, at any rate, should not be allowed to restrain +her. A wife, she knew, should be prepared to yield, but yet was +entitled to be her husband's counsellor. And it was now the case +that in this matter she was conversant with circumstances which +were unknown to her husband. It was to her that Mrs Parker's +appeal had been made, and with a direct request from the poor +woman that it should be repeated to her husband's partner. + +She found that she could not do it on the journey home from +Dovercourt, nor yet on that evening. Mrs Dick Roby, who had come +back from sojourn at Boulogne, was with them in the Square, and +brought her dear friend Mrs Leslie with her, and also Lady +Eustace. The reader may remember that Mr Wharton had met these +ladies at Mrs Dick's house some months before his daughter's +marriage, but he certainly had never asked them into his own. On +this occasion Emily had given them no invitation, but had been +told by her husband that her aunt would probably bring them with +her. 'Mrs Leslie and Lady Eustace!' she exclaimed with a little +shudder. 'I suppose your aunt may bring a couple of friends with +her to see you, though it is your father's house?' he had +replied. She had said no more, not daring to have a fight on +that subject at present, while the other matter was pressing on +her mind. The evening passed away pleasantly enough, she +thought, to all except herself. Mrs Leslie and Lady Eustace had +talked a great deal, and her husband had borne himself quite as +though he had been a wealthy man and the owner of the house in +Manchester Square. In the course of the evening Dick Roby came +in and Major Pountney, who since the late affairs at Silverbridge +had become intimate with Lopez. So that there was quite a party; +and Emily was astonished to hear her husband declare that he was +only watching the opportunity of another vacancy in order that he +might get into the House, and expose the miserable duplicity of +the Duke of Omnium. And yet this man, within the last month, had +taken away her subscription at Mudie's, and told her that she +shouldn't wear things that wanted washing! But he was able to +say so ever many pretty little things to Lady Eustace, and had +given a new fan to Mrs Dick, and talked of taking a box for Mrs +Leslie at The Gaiety. + +But on the next morning before breakfast she began. 'Ferdinand,' +she said, 'while I was at Dovercourt I saw a good deal of Mrs +Parker.' + +'I could not help that. Or rather you might have helped it if +you pleased. It was necessary that you should meet, but I didn't +tell you that you were to see a great deal of her.' + +'I liked her very much.' + +'Then I must say you've got a very odd taste. Did you like him?' + +'No. I did not see very much of him, and I think that the +manners of women are less objectionable than those of men. But I +want to tell you what passed between her and me.' + +'If it is about her husband's business she ought to have held her +tongue, and you had better hold yours now.' + +This was not a happy beginning, but still she was determined to +go on. 'It was I think more about your business than his.' + +'Then it was infernal impudence on her part, and you should not +have listened to her for a moment.' + +'You do not want to ruin her and her children?' + +'What have I to do with her and her children? I did not marry +her, and I am not their father. He has got to look to that.' + +'She thinks you are enticing him into risks which he cannot +afford.' + +'Am I doing anything for him that I ain't doing for myself! If +there is money made, will not he share it? If money has to be +lost, of course he must do the same.' Lopez stating his case +omitted to say that whatever capital was now being used belonged +to his partner. 'But women when they get together talk all +manner of nonsense. Is it likely that I shall alter my course of +action because you tell me that she tells you that he tells her +that he is losing money? He is a half-hearted fellow who quails +at every turn against him. And when he is crying drunk I dare +say he makes a poor mouth to her.' + +'I think, Ferdinand, it is more than that. She says that--' + +'To tell the truth, Emily, I don't give a d--what she says. Now +give me some tea.' + +The roughness of this absolutely quelled her. It was not now +that she was afraid of him, but that she was knocked down as +though by a blow. She had been altogether so unused to such +language that she could not get on with her matter in hand, +letting the bad word pass by her as an unmeaning expletive. She +wearily poured out the cup of tea and sat herself down silent. +The man was too strong for her, and would be so always. She told +herself at this moment that language such as that must always +absolutely silence her. Then, within a few minutes, he desired +her, quite cheerfully, to ask her uncle and aunt to dinner the +day but one following, and also to ask Lady Eustace and Mrs +Leslie. 'I will pick up a couple of men which will make us all +right,' he said. + +This was in every way horrible to her. Her father had been back +in town, had not been very well, and had been recommended to +return to the country. He had consequently removed himself,-- +not to Hertfordshire,--but to Brighton, and was now living at an +hotel, almost within an hour of London. Had he been at home he +certainly would not have invited Mrs Leslie and Lady Eustace to +his house. He had often expressed a feeling of dislike to the +former lady in the hearing of his son-in-law, and had ridiculed +his sister-in-law for allowing herself to be acquainted with Lady +Eustace, whose name had at one time been very common in the +mouths of people. Emily also felt that she was hardly entitled +to give a dinner party in his house in his absence. And, after +all that she had lately heard about her husband's poverty, she +could not understand how he should wish to incur the expense. +'You would not ask Mrs Leslie here!' she said. + +'Why should we not ask Mrs Leslie?' + +'Papa dislikes her.' + +'But "papa", as you call him, isn't going to meet her.' + +'He has said that he doesn't know what day he may be home. And +he does more than dislike her. He disapproves of her.' + +'Nonsense! She is your aunt's friend. Because your father once +heard some cock-and-bull story about her, and because he has +always taken it upon himself to criticize your aunt's friends, I +am not to be civil to a person I like.' + +'But, Ferdinand, I do not like her myself. She never was in this +house till that other night.' + +'Look here, my dear. Lady Eustace can be useful to me, and I +cannot ask Lady Eustace without asking her friend. You do as I +bid you,--or else I shall do it myself.' + +She paused for a moment, and then she positively refused. 'I +cannot bring myself to ask Mrs Leslie to dine in this house. If +she comes to dine with you, of course I shall sit at the table, +but she will be sure to see that she is not welcome.' + +'It seems to me that you are determined to go against me in +everything I propose.' + +'I don't think you would say that if you knew how miserable yo +made me.' + +'I tell you that that other woman can be very useful to me.' + +'In what way useful?' + +'Are you jealous, my dear?' + +'Certainly not of Lady Eustace,--nor of any woman. But it seems +so odd that such a person's services should be required.' + +'Will you do as I tell you, and ask them? You can go round and +tell your aunt about it. She knows that I mean to ask them. +Lady Eustace is a very rich woman, and is disposed to do a little +in commerce. Now do you understand?' + +'Not in the least,' said Emily. + +'Why shouldn't a woman who has money buy coffee as well as buy +shares?' + +'Does she buy shares?' + +'By George, Emily, I think you are a fool.' + +'I dare say I am, Ferdinand. I do not in the least know what it +all means. But I do know this, that you ought not, in papa's +absence, to ask people to dine here whom he particularly +dislikes, and whom he would not wish to have in the house.' + +'You think I am to be governed by you in such a matter as that?' + +'I don't want to govern you.' + +'You think that a wife should dictate to a husband as to the way +in which he is to do his work, and the partners he may be allowed +to have in his business, and the persons whom he may ask to +dinner! Because you have been dictating to me on all these +matters. Now, look here, my dear. As to my business, you had +better never speak to me about it any more. I have endeavoured +to take you into my confidence and to get you to act with me, but +you have declined that, and have preferred to stick to your +father. As to my partners, whether I may choose to have Sexty +Parker or Lady Eustace, I am a better judge thanyou. And as to +asking Mrs Leslie and Lady Eustace or any other persons to +dinner, as I am obliged to make even the recreation of life +subservient to work, I must claim permission to have my own way.' +She had listened, but when he paused she made no reply. 'Do you +mean to do as I bid and ask these ladies?' + +'I cannot do that. I know that it ought not to be done. This is +papa's house, and we are living here as his guests.' + +'D--your papa!' he said as he burst out of the room. After a +quarter of an hour he put his head into the room and saw her +sitting, like a statue, exactly where he had left her. 'I have +written the notes to Lady Eustace and to Mrs Leslie,' he said. +'You can't think it any sin at any rate to ask your aunt.' + +'I will see my aunt,' she said. + +'And remember I am not going to be your father's guest as you +call it. I mean to pay for the dinner myself, and to send in my +own wines. Your father shall have nothing to complain of on that +head.' + +'Could you not ask them to Richmond, or to some hotel?' she said. + +'What, in October! If you think I am going to live in a house in +which I can't invite a friend to dinner, you are mistaken.' And +with that he took his departure. + +The whole thing had now become so horrible to her that she felt +unable any longer to hold up her head. It seemed to her to be +sacrilege that these women should come and sit in her father's +room, but when she spoke of her father her husband had cursed him +with scorn! Lopez was going to send food and wine into the +house, which would be gall and wormwood to her father. At one +time she thought she would at once write to her father and tell +him of it all,--or perhaps telegraph to him; but she could not +do so without letting her husband know what she had done, and +then he would have justice on his side in calling her +disobedient. Were she to do that, then it would indeed be +necessary that she should take part against her husband. + +She had brought all this misery on herself and on her father +because she had been obstinate in thinking she could with +certainty read a lover's character. As for love,--that of +course had died away in her heart,--imperceptibly, though, alas, +so quickly! It was impossible that she could continue to love a +man who from day to day was teaching her mean lessons, and who +was ever doing mean things, the meanness of which was so little +apparent to himself that he did not scruple to divulge them to +her. How could she love a man who would make no sacrifice either +to her comfort or her pride, or her conscience? But still she +might obey him,--if she could feel sure that obedience to him +was a duty. Could it be a duty to sin against her father's +wishes, and to assist in profaning his house and abusing his +hospitality after this fashion? Then her mind again went back to +the troubles of Mrs Parker, and her absolute inefficiency in that +matter. It seemed to her that she had given herself over body +and soul and mind to some evil genius, and that there was no +escape. + +'Of course we'll come,' said Mrs Roby had said to her when she +went round the corner into Berkeley Street early in the day. +'Lopez spoke to me about it before.' + +'What will papa say about it, Aunt Harriet?' + +'I suppose he and Lopez understand each other.' + +'I do not think papa will understand this.' + +'I am sure Mr Wharton would not lend his house to his son-in-law +and then object to the man he had lent it to asking a friend to +dine with him. And I am sure that Mr Lopez would not consent to +occupy a house on those terms. If you don't like it, of course +we won't come.' + +'Pray do not say that. As these other women are to come, pray do +not desert me. But I cannot say I think it is right.' Mrs Dick, +however, only laughed at her scruples. + +In the course of the evening Emily got letters addressed to +herself, from Lady Eustace and Mrs Leslie, informing her that +they would have very much pleasure in dining with her on the day +named. And Lady Eustace went on to say, with much pleasantry, +that she always regarded little parties, got up without any +ceremony, as being the pleasantest, and that she should come on +this occasion without any ceremonial observance. Then Emily was +aware that her husband had not only written the notes in her +name, but had put into her mouth some studied apology as to the +shortness of the invitation. Well! She was the man's wife, and +she supposed that he was entitled to put any words that he please +into her mouth. + + + +CHAPTER 48 + +'HAS HE ILL-TREATED YOU?' + +Lopez relieved his wife from all care as to provision for his +guests. 'I've been to a shop in Wigmore Street,' he said, 'and +everything will be done. They'll send in a cook to make the +things hot, and your father won't have to pay even for a crust of +bread.' + +'Papa doesn't mind paying for anything,' she said in her +indignation. + +'It is all very pretty for you to say so, but my experience of +him goes just the other way. At any rate there will be nothing +to be paid for. Stewam and Sugarscraps will send in everything, +if you'll only tell the old fogies downstairs not to interfere.' +Then she made a little request. Might she ask Everett who was +now in town? 'I've already got Major Pountney and Captain +Gunner,' he said. She pleaded that one more would make no +difference. 'But that's just what one more always does. It +destroys everything, and turns a pretty little dinner into an +awkward feed. We won't have him this time. Pountney'll take +you, and I'll take her ladyship. Dick will take Mrs Leslie, and +Gunner will have Aunt Harriet. Dick will sit opposite to me, and +the four ladies will sit at the four corners. We shall be very +pleasant, but one more would spoil us.' + +She did speak to the 'old fogies' downstairs,--the housekeeper, +who had lived with her father since she was a child, and the +butler, who had been there still longer, and the cook, who, +having been in her place only three years, resigned impetuously +within half an hour after the advent of Mr Sugarscaps' head man. +The 'fogies' were indignant. The butler expressed his intention +of locking himself up in his own peculiar pantry, and the +housekeeper took it upon herself to tell her young mistress that +'Master wouldn't like it'. Since she had known Mr Wharton such a +thing as cooked food being sent into the house from a shop had +never been so much as heard of. Emily, who had hitherto been +regarded in the house as a rather strong-minded young woman, +could only break down and weep. Why, oh why, had she consented +to bring herself and her misery into her father's house? She +could at any rate have prevented that by explaining to her father +the unfitness of such an arrangement. + +The 'party' came. There was Major Pountney, very fine, rather +loud, very intimate with the host, whom on one occasion had +called 'Ferdy, my boy', and very full of abuse of the Duke and +Duchess of Omnium. 'And yet she was a good creature when I knew +her', said Lady Eustace. Pountney suggested that the Duchess had +not then taken up politics. 'I've got out of her way,' said Lady +Eustace, 'since she did that.' And there was Captain Gunner, who +defended the Duchess, but who acknowledged that the Duke was the +'most consumedly stuck up coxcomb' then existing. 'And the most +dishonest', said Lopez, who had told his new friends nothing +about the repayment of the election expenses. And Dick was +there. He liked these little parties, in which a good deal of +wine could be drunk, and at which ladies were not supposed to be +very stiff. The Major and the Captain, and Mrs Leslie and Lady +Eustace, were such people as he liked,--all within the pale, but +having a piquant relish of fastness and impropriety. Dick was +wont to declare that he hated the world in buckram. Aunt Harriet +was triumphant in a manner which disgusted Emily, and which she +thought to be most disrespectful to her father;--but in truth +Aunt Harriett did not now care very much for Mr Wharton, +preferring the friendship of Mr Wharton's son-in-law. Mrs Leslie +came in gorgeous clothes, which, as she was known to be very +poor, and to have attached herself lately with almost more than +feminine affection to Lady Eustace, were at any rate open to +suspicious cavil. In former days Mrs Leslie had taken upon +herself to say bitter things about Mr Lopez, which Emily could +now have repeated, to that lady's discomfiture, had such a mode +of revenge suited her disposition. With Mrs Leslie there was +Lady Eustace, pretty as ever, and sharp and witty, with the old +passion for some excitement, the old proneness to pretend to +trust everybody, and the old capacity for trusting nobody. +Ferdinand Lopez had lately been at her feet, and had fired her +imagination with stories of the grand things to be done in trade. +Ladies do it? Yes; why not women as well as men? Anyone might +do it who had money in his pocket and experience to tell him or +to tell her, what to buy and what to sell. And the experience, +luckily, might be vicarious. At the present moment half the +jewels worn in London were,--if Ferdinand Lopez knew anything +about it,--bought from the proceeds of such commerce. Of course +there were misfortunes. But these came from a want of that +experience which Ferdinand Lopez possessed, and which he was +quite willing to place at the service of one whom he admired so +thoroughly as he did Lady Eustace. Lady Eustace had been +charmed, had seen her way into a new and most delightful life,-- +but had not yet put any of her money into the hands of Ferdinand +Lopez. + +I cannot say that the dinner was good. It may be a doubt whether +such tradesmen as Messrs Stewam and Sugarscraps do ever produce +good food;--or whether, with all the will in the world to do so, +such a result is within their power. It is certain, I think, +that the humblest mutton chop is better eating than any 'Supreme +of chicken after martial manner',--as I have seen the dish named +in a French bill of fare, translated by a French pastrycook for +the benefit of his English customers,--when sent in from Messrs +Stewam and Sugarscraps even with their best exertions. Nor can +it be said that the wine was good, though Mr Sugarscraps, when he +contracted for the whole entertainment, was eager in his +assurance that he procured the very best that London could +produce. But the outside look of the things was handsome, and +there were many dishes, and enough servants to hand them, and the +wines, if not good, were various. Probably Pountney and Gunner +did not know good wines. Roby did, but was contented on this +occasion to drink them bad. And everything went pleasantly, with +perhaps a little too much noise;--everything except the hostess, +who was allowed by general consent to be sad and silent,--till +there came a loud double-rap at the door. + +'There's papa,' said Emily, jumping up from her seat. + +Mrs Dick looked at Lopez, and saw at a glance for a moment his +courage had failed him. But he recovered himself quickly. +'Hadn't you better keep your seat, my dear?' he said to his wife. +'The servants will attend to Mr Wharton, and I will go to him +presently.' + +'Oh, no,' said Emily, who by this time was almost at the door. + +'You didn't expect him,--did you?' asked Dick Roby. + +'Nobody knew when he was coming. I think he told Emily that he +might be here any day.' + +'He's the most uncertain man alive,' said Mrs Dick, who was a +good deal scared by the arrival, though determined to hold up her +head and exhibit no fear. + +'I suppose the old gentleman will come and have some dinner,' +whispered Captain Gunner to his neighbour Mrs Leslie. + +'Not if he knows I'm here,' replied Mrs Leslie, tittering. 'He +thinks that I am,--oh, something a great deal worse than I can +tell you.' + +'Is he given to be cross?' asked Lady Eustace, also affecting to +whisper. + +'Never saw him in my life,' answered the major, 'but I shouldn't +wonder if he was. Old gentlemen generally are cross. Gout, and +that kind of thing, you know.' + +For a minute or two the servants stopped in their ministrations, +and things were very uncomfortable; but Lopez, as soon as he had +recovered himself, directed Mr Sugarscraps' men to proceed with +the banquet. 'We can eat our dinner, I suppose, though my +father-in-law has come back,' he said. 'I wish my wife was not +so fussy, though that is the kind of thing, Lady Eustace, that +one must expect from young wives.' The banquet did go on, but +the feeling was general that a misfortune had come upon them, and +that something dreadful might possibly happen. + +Emily, when she rushed out, met her father in the hall, and ran +into his arms. 'Oh, papa!' she exclaimed. + +'What's all this about?' he asked, and as he spoke he passed on +through the hall to his own room at the back of the house. There +were of course many evidences on all sides of the party,--the +strange servants, the dishes going in and out, the clatter of +glasses, and the smell of viands. 'You've got a dinner party,' +he said. 'Had you not better go back to your friends?' + +'No, papa.' + +'What is the matter, Emily? You are unhappy.' + +'Oh, so unhappy?' + +'What is it all about? Who are they? Whose doing is it,--yours +or his? What makes you unhappy?' + +He was now seated in his arm-chair, and she threw herself on her +knees at his feet. 'He would have them. You mustn't be angry +with me. You won't be angry with me;--will you?' + +He put his hand upon her head, and stroked her hair. 'Why should +I be angry with you because your husband has asked friends to +dinner?' She was so unlike her usual self that he knew not what +to make of it. It had not been her nature to kneel and ask for +pardon, or to be timid and submissive. 'What is it, Emily, that +makes you like this?' + +'He shouldn't have had the people.' + +'Well;--granted. But it does not signify much. Is your Aunt +Harriet here?' + +'Yes.' + +'It can't be very bad, then.' + +'Mrs Leslie is here, and Lady Eustace,--and two men I don't +like.' + +'Is Everett here?' + +'No;--he wouldn't have Everett.' + +'Oughtn't you go to them?' + +'Don't make me go. I should only cry. I have been crying all +day, and the whole of yesterday.' Then she buried her face upon +his knees, and sobbed as though she would break her heart. + +He couldn't at all understand it. Though he distrusted his son- +in-law, and certainly did not love him, he had not as yet learned +to hold him in aversion. When the connection was once made he +had determined to make the best of it, and had declared to +himself that as far as manners went the man was well enough. He +had not as yet seen the inside of the man, as it had been the sad +fate of the poor wife to see him. It had never occurred to him +that his daughter's love had failed her, or that she could +already be repenting what she had done. And now, when she was +weeping at his feet and deploring the sin of the dinner party, -- +which, after all, was a trifling sin,--he could not comprehend +the feelings which were actuating her. 'I suppose your Aunt +Harriet made up the party,' he said. + +'He did it.' + +'Your husband?' + +'Yes;--he did it. He wrote to the women in my name when I +refused.' Then Mr Wharton began to perceive that there had been +a quarrel. 'I told him Mrs Leslie oughtn't to come here.' + +'I don't love Mrs Leslie,--nor, for the matter of that,--Lady +Eustace. But they won't hurt the house, my dear.' + +'And he has had the dinner sent in from a shop.' + +'Why couldn't he let Mrs Williams do it?' As he said this, the +tone of his voice for the first time became angry. + +'Cook has gone away. She wouldn't stand it. And Mrs Williams is +very angry. And Barker wouldn't wait at table.' + +'What's the meaning of it all?' + +'He would have it so. Oh, papa, you don't know what I've +undergone. I wish,--I wish we had not come here. It would have +been better anywhere else.' + +'What would have been better, dear?' + +'Everything. Whether we lived or died, it would have been +better. Why should I bring my misery to you? Oh, papa, you do +not know,--you can never know.' + +'But I must know. Is there more than this dinner to disturb +you?' + +Oh, yes;--more than that. Only I couldn't bear that it should +be done in your house.' + +'Has he--ill-treated you?' + +Then she got up, and stood before him. 'I do not mean to +complain. I should have said nothing only that you have found us +in this way. For myself I will bear it all, whatever it may be. +But, papa, I want you to tell him that we must leave this house.' + +'He has got no other home for you.' + +'He must find one. I will go anywhere. I don't care where it +is. But I won't stay here. I have done it myself, but I won't +bring it upon you. I could bear it all if I thought that you +would never see me again.' + +'Emily!' + +'Yes;--if you would never see me again. I know it all, and that +would be best.' She was now walking about the room. 'Why should +you see it all?' + +'See what, my love?' + +'See his ruin, and my unhappiness, and my baby. Oh--oh--oh!' + +'I think so very differently, Emily, that under no circumstances +will I have you taken to another home. I cannot understand much +of all this as yet, but I suppose that I shall come to see it. +If Lopez be, as you say, ruined, it is well that I have still +enough for us to live on. This is a bad time just now to talk +about your husband's affairs.' + +'I did not mean to talk about them, papa.' + +'What would you like best to do now,--now at once. Can you go +down again to your husband's friends?' + +'No;--no;--no.' + +'As for the dinner, never mind about that. I can't blame him for +making use of my house in my absence, as far as that goes,-- +though I wish he could have contented himself with such a dinner +as my servants could have prepared for him. I will have some tea +here.' + +'Let me stay with you, papa, and make it for you.' + +'Very well, dear. I do not mean to be ashamed to enter my own +dining-room. I shall, therefore, go in and make your apologies.' +Thereupon Mr Wharton walked slowly forth, and marched into the +dining-room. + +'Oh, Mr Wharton,' said Mrs Dick, 'we didn't expect you.' + +'Have you dined yet, sir?' asked Lopez. + +'I have dined early,' said Mr Wharton. 'I should not now have +come in to disturb you, but that I have found Mrs Lopez unwell, +and she has begged me to ask you to excuse her.' + +'I will go to her,' said Lopez, rising. + +'It is not necessary,' said Wharton. 'She is not ill, but hardly +able to take her place at table.' Then Mrs Dick proposed to go +to her dear niece, but Mr Wharton would not allow it, and left +the room, having succeeded in persuading them to go on with their +dinner. Lopez certainly was not happy during the evening, but he +was strong enough to hide his misgivings, and to do his duty as +host with seeming cheerfulness. + + + + +CHAPTER 49 + +WHERE IS GUATEMALA? + +Though his daughter's words to him had been very wild they did +almost more to convince Mr Wharton that he should not give his +money to his son-in-law than even the letters which had passed +between them. To Emily herself he spoke very little as to what +had occurred that evening. 'Papa,' she said, 'do not ask me +anything more about it. I was very miserable,--because of the +dinner.' Nor did he at that time ask her any questions, +contenting himself with assuring her that, at any rate at +present, and till after her baby should have been born, she must +remain at Manchester Square. 'He won't hurt me,' said Mr +Wharton, and than added with a smile, 'He won't want to have any +more dinner parties while I am here.' + +Nor did he make any complaint to Lopez as to what had been done, +or even allude to the dinner. But when he had been back about a +week he announced to his son-in-law his final determination as to +money. 'I had better tell you, Lopez, what I mean to do, so that +you may not be left in doubt. I shall not entrust any further +sum of money into your hands on behalf of Emily.' + +'You can do as you please, sir,--of course.' + +'Just so. You have had what to me is a very considerable sum,-- +though I fear that it did not go for much in your large concern.' + +'It was not very much, Mr Wharton.' + +'I dare say not. Opinions on such a matter differ, you know. At +any rate there will be no more. At present I wish Emily to live +her, and you, of course, are welcome here also. If things are +not going well with you, this will, at any rate, relieve you from +immediate expense. + +'Mine are more minute. The necessities of my life have caused me +to think of these little things. When I am dead there will be +provision for Emily made by my will;--the income going to +trustees for her benefit, and the capital to her children after +her death. I thought it only fair to you that this should be +explained.' + +'And you will do nothing for me?' + +'Nothing;--if that is nothing. I should have thought that your +present maintenance and the future support of your wife and +children would have been regarded as something.' + +'It is nothing;--nothing!' + +'Then let it be nothing. Good morning.' + +Two days after that Lopez recurred to the subject. 'You were +very explicit with me the other day, sir.' + +'I meant to be so.' + +'And I will be equally so to you now. Both I and your daughter +are absolutely ruined unless you reconsider your purpose.' + +'If you mean money by reconsideration;--present money to be +given to you,--I certainly shall not reconsider it. You may +take my solemn assurance that I will give you nothing that can be +of any service to you in trade.' + +Then, sir,--I must tell you my purpose, and give you my +assurance, which is equally solemn. Under those circumstances I +must leave England, and try my fortune in Central America. There +is an opening for me at Guatemala, though not a very hopeful +one.' + +'Guatemala!' + +'Yes;--friends of mine have a connection there. I have not +broken it to Emily yet, but under these circumstances she will +have to go.' + +'You will not take her to Guatemala!' + +'Not take my wife, sir? Indeed I shall. Do you suppose that I +would go away and leave my wife a pensioner on your bounty? Do +you think that she would wish to desert her husband? I don't +think you know your daughter.' + +'I wish you had never known her.' + +'That is neither here not there, sir. If I cannot succeed in +this country I must go elsewhere. As I have told you before +20,000 pounds at the present moment would enable me to surmount +all my difficulties, and make me a very wealthy man. But unless +I can command some such sum by Christmas everything here must be +sacrificed.' + +'Never in my life did I hear so base a proposition,' said Mr +Wharton. + +'Why is it base? I can only tell you the truth.' + +'So be it. You will find that I have mean what I said.' + +'So do I, Mr Wharton.' + +'As to my daughter, she must, of course, do as she thinks fit.' + +'She must do as I think fit, Mr Wharton.' + +'I will not argue with you. Alas, alas, poor girl.' + +'Poor girl indeed! She is likely to be a poor girl if she is +treated in this way by her father. As I understand that you +intend to use, or to try to use, authority over her, I shall take +steps for removing her at once from your house.' And so the +interview was ended. + +Lopez had thought the matter over, and had determined to 'brazen +it out', as he himself called it. Nothing further was, he +thought, to be got by civility and obedience. Now he must use +his power. His idea of going to Guatemala was not an invention +of the moment, nor was it devoid of a certain basis of truth. +Such a suggestion had been made to him some time since by Mr +Mills Happerton. There were mines in Guatemala which wanted, or +at some future date, might want, a resident director. The +proposition had been made to Lopez before his marriage, and Mr +Happerton probably had now forgotten all about it;--but the +thing was of service now. He broke the matter very suddenly to +his wife. 'Has your father been speaking to you of my plans?' + +'Not lately;--not that I remember.' + +'He could not speak of them without your remembering, I should +think. Has he told you that I am going to Guatemala?' + +'Guatemala! Where is Guatemala, Ferdinand?' + +'You can answer my question though your geography is deficient.' + +'He has said nothing about your going anywhere.' + +'You will have to go,--as soon after Christmas as you may be +fit.' + +'But where is Guatemala;--and for how long, Ferdinand?' + +'Guatemala is in Central America, and we shall probably settle +there for the rest of our lives. I have got nothing to live on +here.' + +During the next two months this plan of seeking a distant home +and a strange country was constantly spoken of in Manchester +Square, and did receive corroboration from Mr Happerton himself. +Lopez renewed his application and received a letter saying that +the thing might probably be arranged if he were in earnest. 'I +am quite earnest,' Lopez said as he showed the letter to Mr +Wharton. 'I suppose Emily will be able to start two months after +her confinement. They tell me babies do very well at sea.' + +During this time, in spite of his threat, he continued to live +with Mr Wharton in Manchester Square, and went every day into the +city,--whether to make arrangements and receive instructions as +to Guatemala, or to carry on his old business, neither Emily nor +her father knew. He never at this time spoke about his affairs +to either of them, but daily referred to her future expatriation +as a thing that was certain. At last there came up the actual +question,--whether she were to go or not. Her father told her +that though she was doubtless bound by law to obey her husband, in +such a matter as this she might defy the law. 'I do not think +that he can actually force you on board the ship,' her father +said. + +'But if he tells me I must go?' + +'Stay with me,' said the father. 'Stay here with your baby. +I'll fight it out for you. I'll so manage that you shall have +all the world on your side.' + +Emily at the moment came to no decision, but on the following day +she discussed the matter with Lopez himself. 'Of course you will +go with me,' he said, when she asked the question. + +'You mean that I must, whether I wish to go or not.' + +'Certainly you must. Good G-! Where is a wife's place? Am I to +go without my child, and without you, while you are enjoying all +the comforts of your father's wealth at home? That is not my +idea of life.' + +'Ferdinand, I have been thinking about it very much. I must beg +you to allow me to remain. I ask it of you as if I were asking +my life.' + +'Your father has put you up to this.' + +'No;--not to this.' + +'To what then.' + +'My father thinks I should refuse to go.' + +'He does, does he?' + +'But I shall not refuse. I shall go if you insist upon it. +There shall be no contest between us about that.' + +'Well, I should hope not.' + +'But I do implore you to spare me.' + +'That is very selfish, Emily.' + +'Yes,'--she said, 'yes, I cannot contradict that. But so is the +man selfish who prays the judge to spare his life.' + +'But you do not think of me. I must go.' + +'I shall not make you happier, Ferdinand.' + +'Do you think that it is a fine thing for a man to live in such a +country as that all alone?' + +'I think it would be better so than with a wife he does not-- +love.' + +'Who says I do not love you?' + +'Or with one who does--not--love him.' This she said very +slowly, very softly, but looking up into his eyes as she said it. + +'Do you tell me that to my face?' + +'Yes;--what good can I do now by lying? You have not been to me +as I thought you would be.' + +'And, because you have built some castle in the air that has +fallen to pieces, you tell your husband to his face that you do +not love him, and that you prefer not to live with him. Is that +your idea of duty?' + +'Why have you been so cruel?' + +'Cruel! What have I done? Tell me what cruelty. Have I beat +you? Have you been starved? Have I not asked and implored your +assistance,--only to be refused? The fact is that your father +and you have found out that I am not a rich man, and you want to +be rid of me. Is that true or false?' + +'It is not true that I want to be rid of you because you are +poor.' + +'I do not mean to be rid of you. You will have to settle down +and do your work as my wife in whatever place it may suit me to +live. Your father is a rich man, but you shall not have the +advantage of his wealth unless it comes to you, as it ought to +come, through my hands. If your father would give me the fortune +which ought to be yours there need be no going abroad. He cannot +bear to part with his money, and therefore we must go. Now you +know all about it.' She was then turning to leave him, when he +asked her a direct question. 'Am I to understand that you intend +to resist my right to take you with me?' + +'If you bid me go,--I shall go.' + +'It will be better, as you will save both trouble and expense.' + +Of course she told her father what had taken place; but he could +only shake his head, and groaning over his misery in his +chambers. He had explained to her what he was willing to do on +her behalf, but she declined his aid. He could not tell her that +she was wrong. She was the man's wife, and out of that terrible +destiny she could not now escape. The only question with him was +whether it would not be best to buy the man,--give him a some of +money to go, and to go alone. Could he have been quit of the man +even for 20,000 pounds, he would willingly have paid the money. +But the man would either not go, or would come back as soon as he +got the money. His own life, as he passed it now, with this man +in the house with him, was horrible to him. For Lopez, though he +had more than once threatened that he would carry his wife to +another home, had taken no steps towards getting that other house +ready for her. + +During all this time Mr Wharton had not seen his son. Everett +had gone abroad just as his father returned to London from +Brighton, and was still on the continent. He received his +allowance punctually, and that was the only intercourse which +took place between them. But Emily had written to him, not +telling him much of her troubles,--only saying that she believed +her husband would take her to Central America early in the +spring, and begging him to come home before she went. + +Just before Christmas her baby was born, but the poor child did +not live a couple of days. She herself at the time was so worn +with care, so thin and wan and wretched, that looking in the +glass she hardly knew her own face. 'Ferdinand,' she said to +him, 'I know he will not live. The Doctor says so.' + +'Noting thrives that I have to do with,' he answered gloomily. + +'Will you not look at him?' + +'Well; yes. I have looked at him, have I not? I wish to God +that where he is going I could go with him.' + +'I wish I was;--I wish I was going,' said the poor mother. Then +the father went out, and before he had returned to the house the +child was dead. 'Oh, Ferdinand, speak one kind word to me now,' +she said. + +'What kind word can I speak when you have told me that you do not +love me. Do you think that I can forget that because, because he +has gone?' + +'A woman's love may always be won back by kindness.' + +'Psha! How am I to kiss and make pretty speeches with my mind +harassed as it is now?' But he did touch her brow with his lips +before he went away. + +The infant was buried, and then there was not much show of +mourning in the house. The poor mother would sit gloomily alone +day after day, telling herself that it was perhaps better that +she should have been robbed of her treasure than have gone forth +with him into the wide, unknown, harsh world with such a father +as she had given him. Then she would look at all the +preparations she had made,--the happy work of her fingers when +her thoughts of their future use were her sweetest consolation,-- +and weep till she would herself feel that there never could be an +end to her tears. + +The second week in January had come and yet nothing further had +been settled as to the Guatemala project. Lopez talked about it +as though it was certain, and even told his wife as they would +move so soon it would not be now worth while for him to take +other lodgings for her. But when she asked as to her own +preparations,--the wardrobe necessary for the long voyage and +her general outfit,--he told her that three weeks or a fortnight +would be enough for all, and that he would give her sufficient +notice. 'Upon my word he is very kind to honour my poor house as +he does,' said Mr Wharton. + +'Papa, we will go at once if you wish it,' said his daughter. + +'Nay, Emily; do not turn upon me. I cannot but be sensible to +the insult of his daily presence, but even that is better than +losing you.' + +Then there occurred a ludicrous incident,--or the combination of +incidents,--which, in spite of their absurdity, drove Mr Wharton +almost frantic. First there came to him the bill from Messrs +Stewam and Sugarscraps for the dinner. At this time he kept +nothing back from his daughter. 'Look at that!' he said. The +bill was absolutely made out in his name. + +'It is a mistake, papa.' + +'Not at all. The dinner was given in my house, and I must pay +for it. I would sooner do so than he should pay it,--even if he +had the means.' So he paid Messrs Stewam and Sugarscraps 25 +pounds 9s 6d., begging them as he did so never to send another +dinner into his house, and observing that he was in the habit of +entertaining his friends at less than three guineas a head. 'But +Chateau Yquem and Cote d'Or!' said Mr Sugarscraps. 'Chateau +fiddlesticks!' said Mr Wharton, walking out of the house with his +receipt. + +Then came the bill for the brougham,--for the brougham from the +very day of their return to town after their wedding trip. This +he showed to Lopez. Indeed the bill had been made out to Lopez +and sent to Mr Wharton with an apologetic note. 'I didn't tell +him to send it,' said Lopez. + +'But will you pay it?' + +'I certainly shall not ask you to pay it.' But Mr Wharton at +last did pay it, and he also paid the rent of the rooms in the +Belgrave Mansions, and between 30 pounds and 40 pounds for +dresses which Emily had got at Lewes and Allenby's under her +husband's orders in the first days of their married life in +London. + +'Oh, papa, I wish I had not gone there,' she said. + +'My dear, anything that you may have had I do not grudge in the +least. And even for him, if he would let you remain here, I +would pay willingly. I would supply all he wants if he would +only--go away.' + + + +CHAPTER 50 + +MR SLIDE'S REVENGE. + +'Do you mean to say, my lady, that the Duke paid his +electioneering bill down at Silverbridge?' + +'I do mean to say so, Mr Slide,' Lady Eustace nodded her head, +and Mr Quintus Slide opened his mouth. + +'Goodness gracious!' said Mrs Leslie, who was sitting with them. +They were in Lady Eustace's drawing-room, and the patriotic +editor of the "People's Banner" was obtaining from a new ally +information which might be useful to the country. + +'But 'ow do you know, Lady Eustace? You'll pardon the +persistency of my inquiries, but when you come to public +information accuracy is everything. I never trust myself to mere +report, I always travel up to the very fountain 'ead of truth.' + +'I know it,' said Lizzy Eustace oracularly. + +'Um--m! The Editor as he ejaculated the sound looked at her +ladyship with admiring eyes,--with eyes that were intended to +flatter. But Lizzie had been looked at so often in so many ways, +and was so well accustomed to admiration, that this had no effect +on her at all. 'He didn't tell you himself, did 'e now?' + +'Can you tell me the truth as to trusting him with my money?' + +'Yes, I can.' + +'Shall I be safe if I take the papers which he calls bills of +sale?' + +'One good turn deserves another, my lady.' + +'I don't want to make a secret of it, Mr Slide. Pountney found +it out. You know the Major?' + +'Yes, I know Major Pountney. He was at Gatherum 'imself, and got +a little bit of a cold shoulder,--didn't he?' + +'I dare say he did. What has that to do with it? You may be +sure that Lopez applied to the Duke for his expenses at +Silverbridge, and that the Duke sent him the money.' + +'There's no doubt about it, Mr Slide,' said Mrs Leslie. 'We got +it all from Major Pountney. There was some bet between him and +Pountney, and he had to show Pountney the cheque.' + +'Pountney saw the money,' said Lady Eustace. + +Mr Slide stroked his had over his mouth and chin as he sat +thinking of the tremendous national importance of this +communication. The man who had paid the money was the Prime +Minister of England,--and was, moreover, Mr Slide's enemy! +'When the right 'and of fellowship had been rejected, I never +forgive!' Mr Slide has been heard to say. Even Lady Eustace, +who was not particular as to the appearance of people, remarked +afterwards to her friend that Mr Slide looked like the devil as +he was stroking his face. 'It's very remarkable,' said Mr Slide; +'very remarkable.' + +'You won't tell the Major that we told you,' said her Ladyship. + +'Oh dear not. I only wanted to 'ear how it was. And as to +embarking your money, my lady, with Ferdinand Lopez,--I wouldn't +do it.' + +'Not if I get the bills of sale? It's for rum, and they say rum +will go up to any price.' + +'Don't Lady Eustace. I can't say any more,--but don't. I never +mention names. But don't.' + +Then Mr Slide went out in search of Major Pountney, and having +found the major at his club extracted from him all that he knew +about the Silverbridge payment. Pountney had really seen the +Duke's cheque for 500 pounds. 'There was some bet,--eh, Major?' +asked Mr Slide. + +'No, there wasn't. I know who had been telling you. That's +Lizzie Eustace, and just like her mischief. They way of it was +this,--Lopez, who was very angry, had boasted that he would +bring the Duke down on his marrow-bones. I was laughing at him +as we sat at dinner on day afterwards, and he took out the cheque +and showed it me. There was the Duke's own signature for 500 +pounds,--"Omnium", as plain as letters could make it.' Armed +with this full information, Mr Slide felt that he had done all +that the punctilious devotion to accuracy could demand of him, +and immediately shut himself up in his cage at the "People's +Banner" office and went to work. + +This occurred about the first week of January. The Duke was then +at Matching with his wife and a very small party. The singular +arrangement which had been effected by the Duchess in the early +autumn had passed off without any wonderful effects. It had been +done by her in pique, and the result had been apparently so +absurd that it had at first frightened her. But in the end it +answered very well. The Duke took great pleasure in Lady +Rosina's company, and enjoyed the apparent solitude which enabled +him to work all day without interruption. His wife protested +that it was just what she liked, though it must be feared that +she soon became weary of it. To Lady Rosina it was of course +Paradise on earth. In September, Phineas Finn and his wife came +to them, and in October there were other relaxations and other +business. The Prime Minister and his wife visited their +Sovereign, and he made some very useful speeches through the +country on his old favourite subject of decimal coinage. At +Christmas, for a fortnight, they went to Gatherum Castle and +entertained the neighbourhood,--the nobility and squirearchy +dining there on one day, and the tenants and other farmers on +another. All this went very smoothly, and the Duke did not +become outrageously unhappy because the "People's Banner" made +sundry severe remarks on the absence of Cabinet Councils through +the autumn. + +After Christmas they returned to Matching, and had some of their +old friends with them. There was the Duke of St Bungay and the +Duchess, and Phineas Finn and his wife, and Lord and Lady +Cantrip, Barrington Erle, and one or two others. But at this +period there came a great trouble. One morning as the Duke sat +in his own room after breakfast he read an article in the +"People's Banner", of which the following sentences are a part. +"We wish to know by whom were paid the expenses incurred by Mr +Ferdinand Lopez during the late contest at Silverbridge. It may +be that they were paid by that gentleman himself,--in which case +we shall have nothing further to say, not caring at the present +moment to inquire whether those expenses were or were not +excessive. It may be that they were paid by subscription among +his political friends,--and if so, again we shall be satisfied. +Or it is possible that funds were supplied by a new political +club of which we have lately heard much, and with the action of +such body we of course have nothing to do. If an assurance can +be given to us by Mr Lopez or his friends that such was the case +we shall be satisfied. + +"But a report has reached us, and we may say more than a report, +which makes it our duty to ask this question. Were those +expenses paid out of the private pocket of the present Prime +Minister? If so, we maintain that we have discovered a blot in +that nobleman's character which it is our duty to the public to +expose. We will go farther and say that if it be so,--if these +expenses were paid out of the private pocket of the Duke of +Omnium, it is not fit that that nobleman should any longer hold +the high office which he now fills. + +"We know that a peer should not interfere in elections for the +House of Commons. We certainly know that a Minister of the Crown +should not attempt to purchase parliamentary support. We happen +to know also the almost more than public manner,--are we not +justified in saying the ostentation?--with which at the last +election the Duke repudiated all that influence with the borough +which his predecessors, and we believe he himself, had so long +exercised. He came forward telling us that he, at least, meant +to have clean hands,--that he would not do as his forefathers +had done,--that he would not even do as he himself had done in +former years. What are we to think of the Duke of Omnium as a +Minister of this country, if, after such assurances, he has out +of is own pocket paid the electioneering expenses of a candidate +at Silverbridge?" There was much more in the article, but the +passages quoted will suffice to give the reader a sufficient idea +of the accusation made, and which the Duke read in the retirement +of his own chamber. + +He read it twice before he allowed himself to think of the +matter. The statement made was at any rate true to the letter. +He had paid the man's electioneering expenses. That he had done +so from the purest motives he knew and the reader knows,--but he +could even explain those motives without exposing his wife. +Since the cheque was sent he had never spoken of the occurrence +to any human being,--but he had thought of it very often. At +the time his private Secretary, with much hesitation, almost with +trepidation, had counselled him not to send the money. The Duke +was a man with whom it was very easy to work, whose courtesy to +all dependent on him was almost exaggerated, who never found +fault, and was anxious as far as possible to do everything for +himself. The comfort of those around him was always a matter of +interest to him. Everything he held, he held as it were in trust +for the enjoyment of others. But he was a man whom it was +difficult to advise. He did not like advice. He was so thin- +skinned that any counsel offered him took the form of criticism. +When cautioned what shoes he should wear,--as had been done by +Lady Rosina, or what wine or what horses he should buy, as was +done by his butler and coachman, he was thankful, taking no pride +to himself for knowledge as to shoes, wine, or horses. But as to +his own conduct, private or public, as to any question of +politics, as to his opinions and resolutions, he was jealous of +interference. Mr Warburton therefore had almost trembled when +asking the Duke whether he was quite sure about sending the money +to Lopez. 'Quite sure,' the Duke had answered, having at that +time made up his mind. Mr Warburton had not dared to express a +further doubt, and the money had been sent. But from the moment +of sending it doubts had repeated themselves in the Prime +Minister's mind. + +Now he sat with the newspaper in his hand thinking of it. Of +course it was open to him to take no notice of the matter,--to +go on as though he had never seen the article, and to let the +thing die if it would die. But he knew Mr Quintus Slide and his +paper well enough to be sure that it would not die. The charge +would be repeated in the "People's Banner" till it was copied +into other papers, and then the further question would be asked, +--why had the Prime Minister allowed such an accusation to remain +unanswered? But if he did notice it, what notice should he take +of it? It was true. And surely he disobeyed no law. He had +bribed no one. He had spent his money with no corrupt purpose. +His sense of honour had taught him to think the man had received +injury through his wife's imprudence, and that he therefore was +responsible as far as the pecuniary loss was concerned. He was +not ashamed that it should be discussed in public. + +Why had he allowed himself to be put into a position in which he +was subject to such grievous annoyance? Since he had held his +office he had not had a happy day, nor,--or so he told himself,-- +had he received from it any slightest gratification, nor could he +buoy himself up with the idea that he was doing good service for +his country. After a while he walked into the next room and +showed the paper to Mr Warburton. 'Perhaps you were right,' he +said, 'when you told me not to send the money.' + +'It will matter nothing,' said the private Secretary when he had +read it,--thinking, however, that it might matter much, but +wishing to spare the Duke. + +'I was obliged to repay the man as the Duchess had,--had +encouraged him. The Duchess had not quite,--quite understood my +wishes.' Mr Warburton knew the whole history, having discussed +it all with the Duchess more than once. + +'I think your Grace should take no notice of the article.' + +No notice was taken of it, but three days afterwards there +appeared a short paragraph in large type,--beginning with a +question. "Does the Duke of Omnium intend to answer the question +asked by us last Friday? Is it true that paid the expenses of Mr +Lopez when that gentleman stood for Silverbridge? The Duke may +be assured that the question will be repeated till it is +answered." This the Duke also saw and took to his private +Secretary. + +'I would do nothing at any rate till it be noticed in some other +paper,' said the private Secretary. 'The "People's Banner" is +known to be scandalous.' + +'Of course, it is scandalous. And, moreover, I know the motives +and the malice of the wretched man who is the editor. But the +paper is read, and the foul charge if repeated will become known, +and the allegation made is true. I did pay the man's election +expenses,--and moreover to tell the truth openly as I do not +scruple to do to you, I am not prepared to state publicly the +reason why I did so. And nothing but that reason could justify +me.' + +'Then I think your Grace should state it.' + +'I cannot do so.' + +'The Duke of St Bungay is here. Would it not be well to tell the +whole affair to him?' + +'I will think of it. I do not know why I should have troubled +you.' + +'Oh, my lord!' + +'Except that there is always some comfort in speaking even of +one's trouble. I will think about it. In the meantime you need +perhaps not mention it again.' + +'Who? I? Oh, certainly not.' + +'I did not mean to others,--but to myself. I will turn it in my +mind and speak of it when I have decided anything.' And he did +think about it, thinking of it so much that he could hardly get +the matter out of mind day or night. To his wife he did not +allude to it at all. Why trouble her with it? She had caused +the evil, and he had cautioned her as to the future. She could +not help him out of the difficulty she had created. He continued +to turn the matter over in his thoughts till he so magnified it, +and built it up into such proportions, that he again began to +think that he must resign. It was, he thought, true that a man +should not remain in office as Prime Minister who in such a +matter could not clear his own conduct. + +Then there was a third attack in the "People's Banner", and after +that the matter was noticed in the "Evening Pulpit". This notice +the Duke of St Bungay saw and mentioned it to Mr Warburton. 'Has +the Duke spoken to you of some allegations made in the press as +to the expenses of the late election at Silverbridge?' The old +Duke was at this time, and had been for some months, in a state +of nervous anxiety about his friend. He had almost admitted to +himself that he had been wrong in recommending a politician so +weakly organized to take the office of Prime Minister. He had +expected the man to be more manly,--had perhaps expected him to +be less conscientiously scrupulous. But now, as the thing had +been done, it must be maintained. Who else was there to take the +office? Mr Gresham would not. To keep Mr Daubney out was the +very essence of the Duke of St Bungay's life,--the turning-point +of his political creed, the one grand duty the idea of which was +always present to him. And he had, moreover, a most true and +affectionate regard for the man whom he now supported, +appreciating the sweetness of his character,--believing still in +the Minister's patriotism, intelligence, devotion, and honesty; +though he was forced to own to himself that the strength of a +man's heart was wanting. + +'Yes,' said Warburton, 'he did mention it.' + +'Does it trouble him?' + +'Perhaps you had better speak to him about it.' Both the old +Duke and the private Secretary were as fearful and nervous about +the Prime Minister as a mother is for a weakly child. They could +hardly tell their opinions to each other, but they understood one +another, and between them they coddled the Prime Minister. They +were specially nervous as to what might be done by the Prime +Minister's wife, nervous as to what was done by everyone who came +in contact with him. It had been once suggested by the private +Secretary that Lady Rosina should be sent for, as she had a +soothing effect upon the Prime Minister's spirit. + +'Has it irritated him?' asked the Duke. + +'Well;--yes, it has,--a little, you know. I think your Grace +had better speak to him;--and not perhaps mention my name.' The +Duke of St Bungay nodded his head, and said he would speak to the +great man and would not mention anyone's name. + +And he did speak. 'Has anyone said anything to you about it?' +asked the Prime Minister. + +'I saw it in the "Evening Pulpit" myself. I have not heard it +mentioned anywhere.' + +'I did pay the man's expenses.' + +'You did!' + +'Yes,--when the election was over, and, as far as I can +remember, some time after it was over. He wrote to me saying +that he had incurred such and such expenses, and asking me to +repay him. I sent him a cheque for the amount. + +'But why?' + +'I was bound in honour to do it.' + +'But why?' + +There was a short pause before this second question was answered. +'The man had been induced to stand by representations made to him +from my house. He had been, I fear, promised certain support +which certainly was not given him when the time came.' + +'You had not promised it?' + +'No;--not I.' + +'Was it the Duchess?' + +'Upon the whole, my friend, I think I would rather not discuss it +further, even with you. It is right that you should know that I +did pay the money,--and also why I paid it. It may also be +necessary that we should consider whether there may be any +further probable result from my doing so. But the money has been +paid, by me myself,--and was paid for the reason I have stated.' + +'A question might be asked in the House.' + +'If so, it must be answered as I have answered you. I certainly +shall not shirk any responsibility that may be attached to me.' + +'You would not like Warburton to write a line to the newspaper?' + +'What;--to the "People's Banner"!' + +'It began there, did it? No, not to the "People's Banner", but +to the "Evening Pulpit". He could say, you know, that the money +was paid by you, and the payment had been made because your +agents had misapprehended your instructions.' + +'It would not be true,' said the Prime Minister, slowly. + +'As far as I can understand that was what occurred,' said the +other Duke. + +'My instructions were not misapprehended. They were disobeyed. +I think that perhaps we had better say no more about it.' + +'Do not think I wish to press you,' said the old man tenderly, +'but I fear that something ought to be done;--I mean for your +own comfort.' + +'My comfort!' said the Prime Minister. 'That has vanished long +ago;--and my peace of mind, and my happiness.' + +'There has been nothing done which cannot be explained with +perfect truth. There has been no impropriety.' + +'I do not know.' + +'The money was paid simply from an over-nice sense of honour.' + +'It cannot be explained. I cannot explain it even to you; and +how then can I do it to all the gaping fools of the country who +are ready to trample upon a man simply because he is some way +conspicuous among them?' + +After that the old Duke again spoke to Mr Warburton, but Mr +Warburton was very loyal to his chief. 'Could one do anything by +speaking to the Duchess?' said the old Duke. + +'I think not.' + +'I suppose it was her Grace who did it all?' + +'I cannot say. My own impression is that he had better wait till +the Houses meet, and then, if any question is asked, let it be +answered. He himself would do it in the House of Lords, or Mr +Finn or Barrington Erle, in our House. It would be surely enough +to explain that his Grace had been made to believe that the man +had received encouragement at Silverbridge from his own agents, +which he himself had not intended should be given, and that +therefore he had thought it right to pay the money. After such +an explanation what more could anyone say?' + +'You might do it yourself.' + +'I never speak.' + +'But in such a case as that you might do so; and then there would +be no necessity for him to talk to another person on the matter.' + +So the affair was left for the present, though the allusions to +it in the "People's Banner" were still continued. Nor did any +other of the Prime Minister's colleagues dare to speak to him on +the subject. Barrington Erle and Phineas Finn talked of it among +themselves, but they did not mention it even to the Duchess. She +would have gone to her husband at once, and they were too careful +of him to risk such a proceeding. It certainly was the case that +among them they coddled the Prime Minister. + + + +CHAPTER 51 + +CODDLING THE PRIME MINISTER. + +Parliament was to meet on the 12th of February, and it was of +course necessary that there should be a Cabinet Council before +that time. The Prime Minister, about the end of the third week +in January, was prepared to name a day for this, and did so, most +unwillingly. But he was then ill, and talked both to his friend +the old Duke, and his private Secretary of having the meeting +held without him. 'Impossible,' said the old Duke. + +'If I could not go it would have to be possible.' + +'We could all come here if it were necessary.' + +'Bring fourteen or fifteen ministers out to town because a poor +creature such as I am is ill!' But in truth the Duke of St +Bungay hardly believed in this illness. The Prime Minister was +unhappy rather than ill. + +By this time everyone in the House,--and almost everybody in the +country who read the newspapers,--had heard of Mr Lopez and his +election expenses,--except the Duchess. No one had yet dared to +tell her. She saw the newspapers daily, but probably did not +read them very attentively. Nevertheless she knew that something +was wrong. Mr Warburton hovered about the Prime Minister more +tenderly than usual; the Duke of St Bungay was more concerned; +the world around her was more mysterious, and her husband more +wretched. 'What is it that's going on?' she said one day to +Phineas Finn. + +'Everything,--in the same dull way as usual.' + +'If you don't tell me, I'll never speak to you again. I know +there is something wrong.' + +'The Duke, I'm afraid, is not quite well.' + +'What makes him ill? I know well when he's ill, and when he's +well. He's troubled by something.' + +'I think he is, Duchess. But as he has not spoken to me I am +loath to make guesses. If there be anything I can only guess at +it.' + +Then she questioned Mrs Finn, and got an answer, which, if not +satisfactory, was at any rate explanatory. 'I think he is uneasy +about that Silverbridge affair.' + +'What Silverbridge affair?' + +'You know that he paid the expenses which that man Lopez says +that he incurred.' + +'Yes;--I know that.' + +'And you know that that other man Slide has found it out, and +published it all in the "People's Banner".' + +'No!' + +'Yes, indeed. And a whole army of accusations has been brought +against him. I have never liked to tell you, and yet I do not +think that you should be left in the dark.' + +'Everybody deceives me,' said the Duchess angrily. + +'Nay;--there has been no deceit.' + +'Everybody keeps things from me. I think you will kill me among +you. It was my doing. Why do they attack him? I will write to +the papers. I encouraged the man after Plantagenet had +determined that he should not be assisted,--and, because I had +done so, he paid the man his beggarly money. What is there to +hurt him in that? Let me bear it. My back is broad enough.' + +'The Duke is very sensitive.' + +'I hate people to be sensitive. It makes them cowards. A man +when he is afraid of being blamed, dares not at last even show +himself, and has to be wrapped in lamb's wool.' + +'Of course men are differently organized.' + +'Yes;--but the worst of it is, that when they suffer from this +weakness, which you call sensitiveness, they think that they are +made of finer material than other people. Men shouldn't be made +of Sevres china, but of good stone earthenware. However, I don't +want to abuse him, poor fellow.' + +'I don't think you ought.' + +'I know what that means. You do not want to abuse me. So +they've been bullying him about the money he paid to that man +Lopez. How did anybody know anything about it?' + +'Lopez must have told of it,' said Mrs Finn. + +'The worst, my dear, of trying to know a great many people is, +that you are sure to get hold of some that are very bad. Now +that man is very bad. Yet they say he has married a nice wife.' + +'That's often the case, Duchess.' + +'And the contrary;--isn't it, my dear? But I shall have it out +with Plantagenet. I have to write letters to all the newspapers +myself, I'll put it right.' She certainly coddled her husband +less than the others, and, indeed in her hearts of hearts +disapproved altogether of the coddling system. But she was wont +at this particular time to be somewhat tender to him because she +was aware that she herself had been imprudent. Since he had +discovered her interference at Silverbridge, and had made her +understand its pernicious results, she had been,--not, perhaps, +shamefaced, for that word describes a condition to which hardly +any series of misfortunes could have reduced the Duchess of +Omnium,--but inclined to quiescence by feelings of penitence. +She was less disposed than heretofore to attack him with what the +world of yesterday calls 'chaff', or with what the world of to- +day calls 'cheek'. She would not admit to herself that she was +cowed;--but the greatness of the game and the high interest +attached to her husband's position did in some degree dismay her. +Nevertheless she executed her purpose of 'having it out with +Plantagenet,' 'I have just heard,' she said, having knocked at +the door of his own room, and having found him alone,--'I have +just hear, for the first time, that there is a row about the +money you paid to Mr Lopez.' + +'Who told you?' + +'Nobody told me,--in the usual sense of the word. I presumed +that something was the matter, and then I got it from Marie. Why +had you not told me?' + +'Why should I tell you?' + +'But why not? If anything troubled me, I should tell you. That +is, if it troubled me much.' + +'You take it for granted that this does trouble me much.' He was +smiling as he said this, but the smile passed very quickly from +his face. 'I will not, however, deceive you. It does trouble +me.' + +'I knew very well that something was wrong.' + +'I have not complained.' + +'One can see as much as that without words. What is it that you +fear? What can the man do to you? What matter is it to you if +such a one as that pours out his malice on you? Let it run off +like the rain from the housetops. You are too big even to be +stung by such a reptile as that.' He looked into her face, +admiring the energy with which she spoke to him. 'As for +answering him,'she continued to say, 'that may or may not be +proper. If it should be done, there are people to do it. But I +am speaking of your own inner self. You have a shield against +your equals, and a sword to attack them with if necessary. Have +you no armour of proof against such a creature as that? Have you +nothing inside you to make you feel that he is too contemptible +to be regarded?' + +'Nothing.' + +'Oh, Plantagenet!' + +'Cora, there a different natures which have each their own +excellencies, and their own defects. I will not admit that I am +a coward, believing as I do that I could dare to face necessary +danger. But I cannot endure to have my character impugned,-- +even by Mr Lopez.' + +'What matter,--if you are in the right? Why blench if your +conscience accuses you of no fault? I would not blench if it +did. What,--is a man to be put in the front of everything, and +then to be judged as though he could give all his time to the +picking of his steps?' + +'Just so! And he must pick them more warily than another.' + +'I do not believe it. You see all this with jaundiced eyes. I +read somewhere the other day that the great ships have always +little worms attached to them, but that the great ships swim on +and know nothing of the worms.' + +'The worms conquer at last.' + +'They shouldn't conquer me! After all, what is it that they say +about the money? That you ought not to have had it?' + +'I begin to think I was wrong to pay it.' + +'You certainly were not wrong. I had led the man on. I had been +mistaken. I had thought he was a gentleman. Having led him on +at first, before you had spoken to me, I did not like to go back +from my word. I did go to the man at Silverbridge who sells the +pots, and no doubt the man, when thus encouraged, told it all to +Lopez. When Lopez went to the town he did suppose that he would +have what the people call the Castle interest.' + +'And I had done so much to prevent it.' + +'What's the use of going back on that now, unless you want me to +put my neck down to be trodden on? I am confessing my own sins +as fast as I can.' + +'God knows I would not have trodden on you.' + +'I am willing,--if it be necessary. Then came the question;-- +as I had done this evil, how was it to be rectified? Any man +with a particle of spirit would have taken his rubs and said +nothing about it. But as this man asked for the money, it was +right that he should have it. If it is all made public he won't +get very well out of it.' + +'What does that matter to me?' + +'Nor shall I;--only luckily I do not mind it.' + +'But I mind it for you.' + +'You must throw me to the whale. Let somebody say in so many +words that the Duchess did so and so. It was very wicked no +doubt; but they can't kill me,--nor yet dismiss me. And I won't +resign. In point of fact I shan't be a penny the worse for it.' + +'But I should resign.' + +'If all the Ministers of England were to give up as soon as their +wives do foolish things, that question about Queen's Government +would become very difficult.' + +'They may do foolish things, dear; and yet--' + +'And yet what?' + +'And yet not interfere in politics.' + +'That's all you know about it, Plantagenet. Doesn't everybody +know that Mrs Daubney got Dr MacFuzlem made a bishop, and that +Mrs Gresham got her husband to make that hazy speech about +women's rights, so that nobody should know which way he meant to +go? There are others just as bad as me, only I don't think they +got blown up so much. You do now as I ask you.' + +'I couldn't do it, Cora. Though the stain were but a little +spot, and the thing to be avoided political destruction, I could +not ride out of the punishment by fixing that stain upon my wife. +I will not have your name mentioned. A man's wife should be +talked about by no one.' + +'That's highfaluting, Plantagenet.' + +'Glencora, in these matters you must allow me to judge for +myself, and I will judge. I will never say that I didn't do it; +--but that it was my wife who did.' + +'Adam said so,--because he chose to tell the truth.' + +'And Adam has been despised ever since,--not because he ate the +apple, but because he imputed the eating of it to a woman. I +will not do it. We have had enough of this now.' Then she +turned to go away;--but he called her back. 'Kiss me, dear,' he +said. Then she stooped over him and kissed him. 'Do not think I +am angry with you because the thing vexes me. I am dreaming +always of some day when we may go away together with the +children, and rest in some pretty spot, and live as other people +live.' + +'It would be very stupid,' she muttered to herself as she left +the room. + +He did to up to town for the Cabinet meeting. Whatever may have +been done at that august assembly there was certainly no +resignation, or the world would have heard it. It is probable, +too, that nothing was said about these newspaper articles. +Things if left to themselves will generally die at last. The old +Duke and Phineas Finn and Barrington Erle were all of the opinion +that the best plan for the present was to do nothing. 'Has +anything been settled?' The Duchess asked Phineas when he came +back. + +'Oh yes;--the Queen's Speech. But there isn't very much in it.' + +'But about the payment of this money?' + +'I haven't heard a word about it,' said Phineas. + +'You're just as bad as all the rest, Mr Finn, with your pretended +secrecy. A girl with her sweetheart isn't half so fussy as a +young Cabinet Minister.' + +'The Cabinet Ministers get used to it sooner, I think,' said +Phineas Finn. + +Parliament had already met before Mr Slide had quite determined +in what way he would carry on the war. He could indeed go on +writing pernicious articles about the Prime Minister ad +infinitum,--from year's end to year's end. It was an occupation +in which he took delight, and for which he imagined himself to be +peculiarly well suited. But readers will become tired even of +abuse if it be not varied. And the very continuance of such +attacks would seem to imply that they were not much heeded. +Other papers had indeed taken the matter up,--but they had taken +it up only to drop it. The subject had not been their own. The +little discovery had been due not to their acumen, and did not +therefore bear with them the highest interest. It had almost +seemed as though nothing would come of it,--for Mr Slide in his +wildest ambition could have hardly imagined the vexation and +hesitation, the nervousness and serious discussion which his +words had occasioned among the great people at Matching. But +certainly the thing must not be allowed to pass away as a matter +of no moment. Mr Slide had almost worked his mind up to real +horror as he thought of it. What! A prime minister, a peer, a +great duke,--put a man forward as a candidate for a borough, +and, when the man was beaten, pay his expenses! Was this to be +done,--to be done, and found out and nothing come of it in these +days of purity, when a private member of Parliament, some mere +nobody loses his seat because he has given away a few bushels of +coals or a score or two of rabbits! Mr Slide's energetic love of +public virtue was scandalized as he thought of the probability of +such a catastrophe. To his thinking public virtue consisted in +carping at men high placed, in abusing ministers and judges and +bishops,--and especially in finding out something for which they +might be abused. His own public virtue was in this matter very +great, for it was he who had ferreted out the secret. For his +intelligence and energy in that matter the country owed him much. +But the country would pay him nothing, would give him none of the +credit he desired, would rob him of this special opportunity of +declaring a dozen times that the "People's Banner" was the surest +guardian of the people's liberty,--unless he could succeed in +forcing the matter further into public notice. 'How terrible is +the apathy of the people at large,' said Mr Slide to himself, +'when they cannot be awakened by such a revelation as this!' + +Mr Slide knew very well what ought to be the next step. Proper +notice should be given and a question should be asked in +Parliament. Some gentleman should declare that he had noticed +such and such statements in the public press, and that he thought +it right to ask whether such and such payments had been made by +the Prime Minister. In his meditations Mr Slide went to so far as +to arrange the very words which the indignant gentleman should +utter, among which words was a graceful allusion to a certain +public-spirited newspaper. He did even go so far as to arrange a +compliment to the editor,--but in doing so he knew that he was +thinking only of that which ought to be, and not of that which +would be. The time had not come as yet in which the editor of a +newspaper in this country received a tithe of the honour due to +him. But the question in any form, with or without a compliment +to the "People's Banner", would be the thing that was now +desirable. + +Who was to ask the question? If public spirit were really strong +in the country there would be not difficulty on that point. The +crime committed had been so horrible that all the great +politicians of the country ought to compete for the honour of +asking it. What greater service can be trusted to the hands of a +great man than that of exposing the sins of the rulers of the +nation? So thought Mr Slide. But he knew that he was in advance +of the people, and that the matter would not be seen in the +proper light by those who ought to see it. There might be a +difficulty in getting any peer to ask the question on the House +in which the Prime Minister himself sat, and even in the other +House there was now but little of that acrid, indignant +opposition upon which, in Mr Slide's opinion, the safety of the +nation altogether depends. + +When the statement was first made in the "People's Banner", Lopez +had come to Mr Slide at once and had demanded his authority for +making it. Lopez had found the statement to be most injurious to +himself. He had been paid his election expenses twice over, +making a clear profit of 500 pounds by the transaction, and, +thought the matter had at once time troubled his conscience, he +had already taught himself to regard it as one of those bygones +to which a wise man seldom refers. But now Mr Wharton would know +that he had been cheated, should the statement reach him. 'Who +gave you authority to publish all this?' asked Lopez, who at this +time had become intimate with Mr Slide. + +'Is it true, Lopez?' asked the editor. + +'Whatever was done was done in private,--between me and the +Duke.' + +'Dukes, my dear fellow, can't be private, and certainly not when +they are Prime Ministers.' + +'But you've no right to publish these things about me.' + +'Is it true? If it's true, I have got every right to publish it. +If it's not true, I've got the right to ask the question. If you +will 'ave to do with Prime Ministers you can't 'ide yourself +under a bushel. Tell me this;--is it true? You might as well +go 'and in 'and with me in the matter. You can't hurt yourself. +And if you oppose me,--why I shall oppose you.' + +'You can't say anything of me.' + +'Well;--I don't know about that. I can generally 'it pretty +'ard if I feel inclined. But I don't want to 'it you. As +regards you I can tell the story one way,--or the other, just as +you please.' Lopez, seeing it in a manner not inimical to +himself. The present project of his life was to leave his +troubles in England,--Sexty Parker being the worst of them,-- +and get away to Guatemala. In arranging this the good word of Mr +Slide might not benefit him, but his ill word might injure him. +And then let him do what he would, the matter must be made +public. Should Mr Wharton hear of it,--as of course he would,-- +it must be brazened out. He could not keep it from Mr Wharton's +ears by quarrelling with Quintus Slide. + +'It was true,' said Lopez. + +'I knew it before just as well as though I had seen it. I ain't +often very wrong in these things. You asked him for the money,-- +and threatened him.' + +'I don't know about threatening him.' + +''E wouldn't have sent it else.' + +'I told him that I had been deceived by his people in the +borough, and that I had been put to expense through the +misrepresentations of the Duchess. I don't think I did ask for +the money. But he sent a cheque, and of course I took it.' + +Of course;--of course. You couldn't give me a copy of the +letter?' + +'Never kept a copy.' He had a copy in his breast coat-pocket at +that moment and Slide did not for a moment believe the statement +made. But in such discussions one man hardly expects truth from +another. Mr Slide certainly never expected truth from any man. +'He sent the cheque almost without a word,' said Lopez. + +'He did write a note, I suppose?' + +'Just a few words.' + +'Could you let me 'ave that note?' + +'I destroyed it at once.' This also was in his breast pocket at +the time. + +'Did 'e write it 'imself?' + +'I think it was his private Secretary, Mr Warburton.' + +'You must be sure, you know. Which was it?' + +'It was Mr Warburton.' + +'Was it civil?' + +'Yes, it was. If it had been uncivil I should have sent it back. +I'm not the man to take impudence even from a duke.' + +'If you'll give me those two letters, Lopez, I'll stick to you +through thick and thin. By heavens I will! Think what the +"People's Banner" is. You may come to want that kind of thing +some of these days.' Lopez remained silent, looking into the +other man's eager face. 'I shouldn't publish them, you know; but +it would be so much to me to have the evidence in my hands. You +might do worse, you know, than make a friend of me.' + +'You won't publish them?' + +'Certainly not. I shall only refer to them.' + +Then Lopez pulled a bundle of papers out of his pocket. 'There +they are,' he said. + +'Well,' said Slide, when he had read them, 'it is one of the +rummiest transactions I ever 'eard of. Why did 'e send the +money? That's what I want to know. As far as the claim goes, +you 'adn't a leg to stand on.' + +'Not legally.' + +'You 'adn't a leg to stand on any way. But that doesn't much +matter. He sent the money, and the sending of the money was +corrupt. Who shall I get to ask the question. I suppose young +Arthur Fletcher wouldn't do it.' + +'They're birds of a feather,' said Lopez. + +'Birds of a feather do fall out sometimes. Or Sir Orlando +Drought? I wonder whether Sir Orlando Drought would do it. If +any man 'ated another, Sir Orlando Drought must 'ate the Duke of +Omnium.' + +'I don't think he would let himself down to that kind of thing.' + +'Let 'imself down! I don't see any letting down in it. But +those men who have been in cabinets do stick to one another even +when they are enemies. They think themselves so mighty that they +oughtn't to be 'andled like other men. But I'll let them know +that I'll 'andle them. A Cabinet Minister or a cowboy is the +same to Quintus Slide when he has got his pen in 'is hand.' + +On the next morning there came out another article in the +"People's Banner", in which the writer declared that he had in +his own possession the damnatory correspondence between the Prime +Minister and the late candidate at Silverbridge. 'The Prime +Minister may deny the fact,' said the article. 'We do not think +it probable, but it is possible. We wish to be fair and +aboveboard in everything. And therefore we at once inform the +noble Duke that the entire correspondence is in our hands.' In +saying this Mr Quintus Slide thought that he had quite kept the +promise which he made when said that he would only refer to the +letters. + + + +CHAPTER 52 + +'I CAN SLEEP HERE TO-NIGHT, I SUPPOSE?' + +That scheme of going to Guatemala had been in the first instance +propounded by Lopez with the object of frightening Mr Wharton +into terms. There had, indeed, been some previous thoughts on +the subject,--some plan projected before his marriage, but it +had been resuscitated mainly in the hope that it might be +efficacious to extract money. When by degrees the son-in-law +began to feel that even this would not be operative on his +father-in-law's purse,--when under this threat neither Wharton +nor Emily gave way,--and when, with the view of strengthening +his threat, he renewed his inquires as to Guatemala and found +that there might still an opening for him in that direction,-- +the threat took the shape of a true purpose, and he began to +think that he would in real earnest try his fortunes in a new +world. From day to day things did not go well with him, and from +day to day Sexty Parker became more unendurable. It was +impossible for him to keep from his partner this plan of +emigration,--but he endeavoured to make Parker believe that the +thing, if done at all, was not to be done till all his affairs +were settled,--or in other words all his embarrassments cleared +by downright money payments, and that Mr Wharton was to make +these payments on the condition that he thus expatriated himself. +But Mr Wharton had made no such promise. Though the threatened +day came nearer and nearer he could not bring himself to purchase +a short respite for his daughter by paying money to a scoundrel, +--which payment he felt sure would be of no permanent service. +During all this time Mr Wharton was very wretched. If he could +have freed his daughter from her marriage by half his fortune he +would have done it without a second thought. If he could have +assuredly purchased the permanent absence of her husband, he +would have done it at a large price. But let him pay what he +would, he could see his way to no security. From day to day he +became more strongly convinced of the rascality of this man who +was his son-in-law, and who was still an inmate in his own house. +Of course he had accusations enough to make within his own breast +against his daughter, who, when the choice was open to her, would +not take the altogether fitting husband provided for her, but had +declared herself to be broken-hearted for ever since she were +allowed to throw herself away upon this wretched creature. But +he blamed himself as much as he did her. Why had he allowed +himself to be so enervated by her prayers at last as to surrender +everything,--as he had done? How could he presume to think that +he should be allowed to escape, when he had done so little to +prevent the misery? + +He spoke to Emily about it,--not often, indeed, but with great +earnestness. 'I have done it myself,' she said, 'and I will bear +it.' + +'Tell him you cannot go till you know to what home you are +going.' + +'That is for him to consider. I have begged him to let me +remain, and I can say no more. If he chooses to take me, I shall +go.' + +Then he spoke to her about money. 'Of course I have money,' he +said. 'Of course I have enough both for you and Everett. If I +could do any good by giving it to him, he should have it.' + +'Papa,' she answered, 'I will never again ask you to give him a +single penny. That must be altogether between you and him. He +is what they call a speculator. Money is not safe with him.' + +'I shall have to send it to you when you are in want.' + +'When I am--dead there will be no more to be sent. Do not look +like that, papa. I know what I have done, and I must bear it. I +have thrown away my life, it is just that. If baby had lived it +would have been different.' This was about the end of January, +and then Mr Wharton heard of the great attack made by Mr Quintus +Slide against the Prime Minister, and heard, of course, of the +payment alleged to have been made to Ferdinand Lopez by the Duke +on the score of the election at Silverbridge. Some persons spoke +to him on the subject. One or two friends at the club asked him +what he supposed to be the truth in the matter, and Mrs Roby +inquired of him on the subject. 'I have asked Lopez,' she said, +'and I am sure from his manner that he did get the money.' + +'I don't know anything about it,' said Mr Wharton. + +'If he did get it I think he was very clever.' It was well known +at this time to Mrs Roby that the Lopez marriage had been a +failure, that Lopez was not a rich man, and that Emily, as well +as her father, was discontented and unhappy. She had latterly +heard of the Guatemala scheme, and had of course expressed her +horror. But she sympathized with Lopez rather than with his +wife, thinking that if Mr Wharton would only open his pockets +wide enough things might still be right. 'It was all the +Duchess's fault, you know,' she said to the old man. + +'I know nothing about it, and when I want to know I certainly +shall not come to you. The misery that he has brought upon me is +so great that it makes me wish I had never seen anyone who knew +him.' + +'It was Everett who introduced him to your house.' + +It was you who introduced him to Everett.' + +'There you are wrong,--as you often are, Mr Wharton. Everett +met him first at the club.' + +'What's the use of arguing about it? It was at your house that +Emily met him. It was you that did it. I wonder you can have +the face to mention his name to me.' + +'And the man living all the time in your house!' + +Up to this time Mr Wharton had not mentioned to a single person +the fact that he had paid his son-in-law's election expenses at +Silverbridge. He had given him the cheque without much +consideration, with the feeling that by doing so he would in some +degree benefit his daughter, and had since regretted the act, +finding that no such payment from him could be of any service to +Emily. But the thing had been done,--and there had been, so +far, an end of it. In no subsequent discussion would Mr Wharton +have alluded to it, had not circumstances now as it were driven +it back upon his mind. And since the day on which he had paid +the money he had been, as he declared to himself, swindled over +and over again by his son-in-law. There was the dinner at +Manchester Square, and after that the brougham, and the rent, and +a score of bills, some of which he had paid and some declined to +pay! And yet he had said but little to the man himself of all +these injuries. Of what use was it to say anything? Lopez would +simply reply that he had asked him to pay nothing. 'What is it +all,' Lopez had once said, 'to the fortune I had a right to +expect with your daughter?' 'You had no right to expect a +shilling,' Wharton had said. Then Lopez had shrugged his +shoulders, and there had been an end of it. + +But now, if this rumour were true, there had been a positive +dishonesty. From whichever source the man might have got the +money first, if the money had been twice got, the second payment +had been fraudulently obtained. Surely if the accusation had +been untrue Lopez would have come to him and declared it to be +false, knowing what must otherwise be his thoughts. Lately, in +the daily worry of his life, he had avoided all conversation with +the man. He would not allow his mind to contemplate clearly what +was coming. He entertained some irrational, undefined hope that +something would at last save his daughter from the threatened +banishment. It might be, if he held his own hand tight enough, +that there would not be money enough even to pay for her passage +out. As for her outfit, Lopez would of course order what he +wanted and have the bills sent to Manchester Square. Whether or +not this was being done neither he nor Emily knew. And thus +matters went on without much speech between the two men. But now +the old barrister thought that he was bound to speak. He +therefore waited on a certain morning till Lopez had come down, +having previously desired his daughter to leave the room. +'Lopez,' he asked, 'what is this that the newspapers are saying +about your expenses at Silverbridge?' + +Lopez had expected the attack and had endeavoured to prepare +himself for it. 'I should have thought, sir, that you would not +have paid much attention to such statements in a newspaper.' + +'When they concern myself, I do. I paid your electioneering +expenses. + +'You certainly subscribed 500 pounds towards them, Mr Wharton.' + +'I subscribed nothing, sir. There was no question of a +subscription,--by which you intend to imply contribution from +other sources. You told me that the contest cost you 500 pounds +and that sum I handed to you, with the full understanding on your +part, as well as on mine, that I was paying for the whole. Was +that so?' + +'Have it your own way, sir.' + +'If you are not more precise, I shall think that you have +defrauded me.' + +'Defrauded you?' + +'Yes, sir;--defrauded me to the Duke of Omnium. The money is +gone, and it matters little which. But if that be so I shall +know that either from him or from me you have raised money under +false pretences.' + +'Of course, Mr Wharton, from you I must bear whatever you may +choose to say.' + +'Is it true that you have applied to the Duke of Omnium for money +on account of your expenses at Silverbridge, and is it true that +he has paid you on that score?' + +'Mr Wharton, as I have said just now, I am bound to hear and to +bear from anything you may choose to say. Your connection with +my wife and your age alike restrain my resentment. But I am not +bound to answer your questions when they are accompanied by such +language as you have chosen to use, and I refuse to answer +further questions on this subject.' + +'Of course I know that you have taken the money from the Duke.' + +'Then why do you ask me?' + +'And of course I know you are well aware as I am of the nature of +the transaction. That you can brazen it out without a blush only +proves to me that you have got beyond the reach of shame.' + +'Very well, sir.' + +'And you have no further explanation to make?' + +'What do you expect me to say? Without knowing any of the facts +of the case,--except the one, that you contributed 500 pounds to +my election expenses, you take upon yourself to tell me that I am +a shameless, fraudulent swindler. And then you ask for a further +explanation! In such a position is it likely that I shall +explain anything;--that I can be in a humour to be explanatory? +Just turn it all over in your own mind, and ask yourself the +question.' + +'I have turned it over in my mind, and I have asked myself the +question, and I do not think it probable that you should wish to +explain anything. I shall take steps to let the Duke know that I +as your father-in-law had paid the full sum which you had stated +that you had spent at Silverbridge.' + +'Much the Duke will care about that.' + +'And after what has passed I am obliged to say that the sooner +you leave this house the better I shall be pleased.' + +'Very well, sir. Of course I shall take my wife with me.' + +'That must be as she pleases.' + +'No, Mr Wharton. That must be as I please. She belongs to me,-- +not to you or to herself. Under your influence she has forgotten +much of what belongs to the duty of a wife, but I do not think +that she will so far have forgotten herself as to give me more +trouble than to bid her come with me when I desire it.' + +'Let that be as it may. I must request that you, sir, will +absent yourself. I will not entertain as my guest a man who has +acted as you have done in this matter,--even though he be my +son-in-law.' + +'I can sleep here tonight, I suppose?' + +'Or to-morrow if it suits you. As for Emily, she can remain +here, if you will allow her to do so.' + +'That will not suit me,' said Lopez. + +'In that case, as far as I am concerned, I shall do whatever she +may ask me to do. Good morning.' + +Mr Wharton left the room, but did not leave the house. Before he +did so he would see his daughter, and, thinking it probable that +Lopez would also choose to see his wife, he prepared to wait in +his own room. But, in about ten minutes, Lopez started from the +hall door in a cab, and did so without going upstairs. Mr +Wharton had reason to believe that his son-in-law was almost +destitute of money for immediate purposes. Whatever he might +have would at any rate be serviceable for him before he started. +Any home for Emily must be expensive; and no home in their +present circumstances could be so reputable for her as one under +her father's roof. He therefore almost hoped that she might +still be left with him till that horrid day should come,--if it +ever did come,--in which she would be taken away from him for +ever. 'Of course, papa, I shall go if he bids me,' she said, +when he told her all that he thought it right to tell her of that +morning's interview. + +'I hardly know how to advise you,' said the father, meaning in +truth to bring himself round to the giving of some advice adverse +to her husband's will. + +'I want no advice, papa.' + +'Want no advice! I never knew a woman who wanted it more.' + +'No, papa. I am bound to do as he tells me. I know what I have +done. When some poor wretch has got himself into perpetual +prison by his misdeeds, no advice can serve him. So it is with +me.' + +'You can at any rate escape from your prison.' + +'No;--no. I have a feeling of pride which tells me that as I +chose to become the wife of my husband,--so I insisted on it in +opposition to all my friends,--as I would judge for myself,--I +am bound to put up with my choice. If this had come upon me +through the authority of others, if I had been constrained to +marry him, I think I could have reconciled myself to deserting +him. But I did it myself, and I will abide by it. When he bids +me to go, I shall go.' Poor Mr Wharton went to his chambers, and +sat there the whole day without taking a book or a paper into his +hands. Could there be no rescue, no protection, no relief? He +turned over in his head various plans, but in a vague and useless +manner. What if the Duke were to prosecute Lopez for the fraud! +What if he could implore Lopez to abandon his wife,--pledging +himself by some deed not to return to her,--for, say, twenty or +even thirty thousand pounds! What if he himself were carry his +daughter away to the continent, half forcing and half persuading +her to make the journey! Surely there might be some means found +by which the man might be frightened into compliance. But there +he sat,--and did nothing. And in the evening he ate a solitary +mutton chop at The Jolly Blackbird, because he could not bear to +face even his club, and then returned to his chambers,--to the +great disgust of the old woman who had them in charge at nights. +And at about midnight he crept away to his own house, a wretched +old man. + +Lopez when he left Manchester Square he did not go in search of a +new home for himself and his wife, nor during the whole of the +day did he trouble himself on that subject. He spent most of the +day at the rooms in Coleman Street of the San Juan Mining +Association, of which Mr Mills Happerton had once been Chairman. +There was now another Chairman and other Directors; but Mr Mills +Happerton's influence had so far remained with the Company as to +enable Lopez to become well-known in the Company's offices, and +acknowledged as a claimant for the office of resident Manager at +San Juan in Guatemala. Now the present project was this,--that +Lopez was to start on behalf of the Company early in May, that +the Company was to pay his own personal expenses out to +Guatemala, and that they should allow him while there a salary of +1,000 pounds a year for managing the affairs of the mine. As far +as this offer went, the thing was true enough. It was true that +Lopez had absolutely secured the place. But he done so subject +to the burden of one very serious stipulation. He was to become +the proprietor of fifty shares in the mine, and to pay up 100 +pounds each on those shares. It was considered that the man who +was to get 1,000 pounds a year in Guatemala for managing the +affair, should at any rate assist the affair, and show his +confidence in the affair, to an extent as great as that. Of +course the holder of these fifty shares would be fully entitled +as any other shareholder to that twenty per cent which those +shares who promoted the mine promised as the immediate result of +the speculation. + +At first Lopez had hoped that he might be enabled to defer the +actual payment of the 5,000 pounds till after he had sailed. +When once out in Guatemala as manager, as manager he would +doubtless remain. But by degrees he found that the payment must +actually be made in advance. Now there was nobody to whom he +could apply but Mr Wharton. He was, indeed, forced to declare at +the office that the money was to come from Mr Wharton, and had +given some excellent but fictitious reason why Mr Wharton could +not pay the money till February. + +And in spite of all that had come and gone he still did hope that +if the need to go were actually there he might even get the money +from Mr Wharton. Surely Mr Wharton would sooner pay such a sum +than be troubled at home with such a son-in-law. Should the +worst come to the worst, of course he could raise the money by +consenting to leave his wife at home. But this was not part of +his plan, if he could avoid it. 5,000 pounds would be a very low +price at which to sell his wife, and all that he might get from +his connection with her. As long as he kept her with him he was +in possession at any rate of all that Mr Wharton would do for +her. He had not therefore as yet made up his final application +to his father-in-law for the money, having found it possible to +postpone they payment till the middle of February. His quarrel +with Mr Wharton this morning he regarded as having little or no +effect upon his circumstances. Mr Wharton would not give him the +money because he loved him, nor yet from personal respect, nor +from any sense of duty as to what he might owe a son-in-law. It +would simply be given as the price by which his absence might be +purchased, and his absence would not be the less desirable +because of this morning's quarrel. + +But, even yet, he was not quite resolved as to going to +Guatemala. Sexty Parker had been sucked nearly dry, and was in +truth at this moment so violent with indignation and fear and +remorse that Lopez did not dare to show himself in Little Tankard +Yard; but still there were, even yet, certain hopes in that +direction from which greater results might come. If a certain +new spirit which had just been concocted from the bark of trees +in Central Africa, and which was called Bios, could only be made +to go up in the market, everything might be satisfactorily +arranged. The hoardings of London were already telling the +public if it wished to get drunk without any of the usual +troubles of intoxication it must drink Bios. The public no +doubt does read the literature of the hoardings, but then it +reads so slowly! This Bios had hardly been twelve months on the +boards as yet! But they were now increasing the size of the +letters in the advertisements and the jocundity of the pictures, +--and the thing might be done. There was, too, another hope,-- +another hope of instant moneys by which Guatemala might be staved +off, as to which further explanation shall be given in a further +chapter. + +'I suppose I shall find Dixon a decent sort of fellow?' said +Lopez to the Secretary of the Association in Coleman Street. + +'Rough, you know,' + +'But honest?' + +'Oh yes,--he's all that.' + +'If he's honest, and what I call loyal, I don't care a straw for +anything else. One doesn't expect West-end manners in Guatemala. +But I shall have a deal to do with him,--and I hate a fellow +that you can't depend on.' + +'Mr Happerton used to think a great deal of Dixon.' + +'That's all right,' said Lopez. Mr Dixon was the underground +manager out at the San Juan mine, and was perhaps as anxious for +a loyal and honest colleague as was Mr Lopez. If so, Mr Dixon +was very much in the way to be disappointed. + +Lopez stayed at the office all the day studying the affairs of +the San Juan mine, and then went to the Progress for dinner. +Hitherto he had taken no steps whatever as to getting lodgings +for himself or his wife. + + + +CHAPTER 53 + +MR HARTLEPOD. + +When the time came at which Lopez should have left Manchester +Square he was still there. Mr Wharton, in discussing the matter +with his daughter,--when wishing to persuade her that she might +remain in his house even in opposition to her husband,--had not +told her that he had actually desired Lopez to leave it. He had +then felt sure that the man would go and take his wife with him, +but he did not even yet know the obduracy and cleverness and the +impregnability of his son-in-law. When the time came, when he +saw his daughter in the morning after the notice had been given, +he could not bring himself even then to say to her that he had +issued an order for his banishment. Days went by and Lopez was +still there, and the old barrister had no further word on the +subject. The two men never met;--or met simply in the hall or +passages. Wharton himself studiously avoided such meetings, thus +denying himself the commonest uses of his own house. At last +Emily told him that her husband had fixed the day for her +departure. The next Indian mail-packet by which they would leave +England would start from Southampton on the 2nd of April, and she +was to be ready to go on that day. 'How is it to be till then?' +the father asked in a low, uncertain voice. + +'I suppose I may remain with you.' + +'And your husband?' + +'He will be here, too,--I suppose.' + +'Such a misery,--such a destruction of everything no man ever +heard of before!' said Mr Wharton. To this he made no reply, but +continued working at some necessary preparation for her final +departure. 'Emily,' he said. 'I will make any sacrifice to +prevent it. What can be done? Short of injuring Everett's +interests, I will do anything.' + +'I do not know,' she said. + +'You must understand something of his affairs.' + +'Nothing whatever. He has told me nothing of them. In earlier +days,--soon after our marriage,--he bade me get money from +you.' + +'When you wrote to me for money from Italy?' + +'And after that. I have refused to do anything,--to say a word. +I told him that it must be between you and him. What else could +I say? And now he tells me nothing.' + +'I cannot think that he wants you to go with him.' Then there +was again a pause. 'Is it because he loves you?' + +'Not that, papa.' + +'Why then should he burden himself with a companion? His money, +whatever he has, would go further without such impediment.' + +'Perhaps he thinks, papa, that while I am with him he has a hold +upon you.' + +'He shall have a stronger hold by leaving you. What is he to +gain? If I could only know his price.' + +'Ask him, papa.' + +'I do not know how I am to speak to him again.' + +Then again there was a pause. 'Papa,' she said after a while, 'I +have done it myself. Let me go. You will still have Everett. +And it may be that after a time I shall come back to you. He +will not kill me, and it may be that I shall not die.' + +'By God!' said Mr Wharton, rising from his chair suddenly, 'if +there was money to be made by it, I believe he would murder you +without a scruple.' Thus it was that within eighteen months of +her marriage the father spoke to his daughter of her husband. + +'What am I to take with me?' she said to her husband a few days +later. + +'You had better ask your father.' + +'Why should I ask him, Ferdinand? How should he know?' + +'And how should I?' + +'I should have thought you would interest yourself about it.' + +'Upon my word I have enough to interest me just at present, +without thinking of your finery. I suppose you mean what clothes +you should have?' + +'I was not thinking of myself only.' + +'You need think of nothing else. Ask him what he pleases to +allow you to spend, and then I will tell you what to get.' + +'I will never ask him for anything, Ferdinand.' + +'Then you may go without anything. You might as well do it at +once, for you will have to do it sooner or later. Or, if you +please, go to his tradesmen and say nothing to him about it. +They will give you credit. You see how it is, my dear. He has +cheated me in a most rascally manner. He has allowed me to marry +his daughter, and because I did not make a bargain with him as +another man would have done, he denies me the fortune I had a +right to expect with you. You know that the Israelites despoiled +the Egyptians, and it was taken as merit on their part. Your +father is a Egyptian to me, and I will despoil him. You can tell +him that I say so if you please.' + +And so the days went on till the first week of February had +passed, and Parliament had met. Both Lopez and his wife were +still living in Manchester Square. Not another word had been +said as to that notice to quit, nor an allusion made to it. It +was supposed to be a settled thing that Lopez was to start with +his wife for Guatemala in the first week of April. Mr Wharton +had himself felt that difficulty as to his daughter's outfit, and +had told her that she might get whatever it pleased her on his +credit. 'For yourself, my dear.' + +'Papa, I will get nothing till he bids me.' + +'But you can't go across the world without anything. What are +you to do in such a place as that unless you have the things you +want?' + +'What do poor people do who have to go? What should I do if you +had cast me off because of my disobedience?' + +'But I have not cast you off.' + +'Tell him that you will give him so much, and then, if he bids +me, I will spend it.' + +'Let it be so. I will tell him.' + +Upon that Mr Wharton did speak to his son-in-law;--coming upon +him suddenly one morning in the dining-room. 'Emily will want an +outfit if she is to go to this place.' + +'Like other people she wants many things that she cannot get.' + +'I will tell my tradesmen to furnish her with what she wants, up +to,--well,--suppose I say 200 pounds. I have spoken to her and +she wants your sanction.' + +'My sanction for spending money? She can have that very +quickly.' + +'You can tell her so;--or I will do so.' + +Upon that Mr Wharton was going, but Lopez stopped him. It was +now essential that the money for the shares in the San Juan mine +should be paid up, and his father-in-law's pocket was still the +source from which the enterprising son-in-law had hoped to +procure it. Lopez had fully made up his mind to demand it, +and thought that the time had now come. And he was resolved that +he would not ask it as a favour on bended knee. He was beginning +to feel his own power, and trusted that he might prevail by other +means than begging. 'Mr Wharton,' he said, 'you and I have not +been very good friends lately.' + +'No, indeed.' + +'There was a time,--a very short time,--during which I thought +that we might hit it off together, and I did my best. You do +not, I fancy, like men of my class.' + +'Well;--well! You had better go on if there be +anything to say.' + +'I have much to say, and I will go on. You are a rich man, and I +am your son-in-law.' Mr Wharton put his left hand up to his +forehead, brushing the few hairs back from his head, but he said +nothing. 'Had I received from you during the last most vital +year that assistance which I think I had a right to expect, I +also might have been a rich man now. It is no good going back to +that.' Then he paused, but still Mr Wharton said nothing. 'Now +you know what has come to me and to your daughter. We are to be +expatriated.' + +'Is that my fault?' + +'I think it is, but I mean to say nothing further of that. This +Company which is sending me out, and which probably will +be the most thriving thing of the kind which has come up within +these twenty years, is to pay me a salary of 1,000 pounds a year +as resident manager of San Juan.' + +'So I understand.' + +'The salary alone would be a beggarly thing. Guatemala, I take +it, is not the cheapest country in the world in which a man can +live. But I am to go out there as the owner of fifty shares on +which 100 pounds each must be paid up, and I am entitled to draw +another 1,000 pounds a year as dividend on the profit of those +shares.' + +'That will be twenty per cent.' + +'Exactly.' + +'And will double you salary.' + +'Just so. But there is one little ceremony to be perfected +before I can be allowed to enter upon so halcyon a state of +existence. The 100 pounds a share must be paid up.' Mr Wharton +simply stared at him. 'I must have the 5,000 pounds to invest in +the undertaking before I can start.' + +'Well!' + +'Now I have not got 5,000 pounds myself, nor any part of it. You +do not wish, I suppose, to see either me or your daughter starve. +And as for me, I hardly flatter myself when I say that you are +very anxious to be rid of me, 5,000 pounds is not very much for +me to ask of you, as I regard it.' + +'Such consummate impudence I never met in my life before!' + +'Nor perhaps so much unprevaricating downright truth. At any +rate such is the condition of my affairs. If I am to go the +money must be paid this week. I have, perhaps foolishly, put off +mentioning the matter till I was sure that I could not raise the +sum elsewhere. Though I feel my claim on you to be good, Mr +Wharton, it is not pleasant to me to make it.' + +'You are asking me for 5,000 pounds down!' + +'Certainly I am.' + +'What security am I to have?' + +'Security?' + +'Yes;--that if I pay it I shall not be troubled again by the +meanest scoundrel that it has ever been my misfortune to meet. +How am I to know that you will not come back to-morrow? How am I +to know that you will go at all? Do you think it will be +probable that I will give you 5,000 pounds on your own simple +word?' + +'Then the scoundrel will stay in England,--and will generally +find it convenient to live in Manchester Square.' + +'I'll be d-d if he does. Look here, sire. Between you and me +there can be a bargain, and nothing but a bargain. I will pay +the 5,000 pounds,--on certain conditions.' + +'I didn't doubt at all that you would pay it.' + +'I will go with you to the office of this Company, and will pay +for the shares if I can receive assurance there that the matter +is as you say, and that the shares will not be placed in your +power before you have reached Guatemala.' + +'You can come to-day, sire, and receive all that assurance.' + +'And I must have a written undertaking from you,--a document +which my daughter can show if it be necessary,--that you will +never claim her society again or trouble her with any +application.' + +'You mistake me, Mr Wharton. My wife goes with me to Guatemala.' + +'Then I will not pay one penny. Why should I? What is your +presence or absence to me except as it concerns her? Do you +think that I care for your threats of remaining here. The police +will set that right.' + +'Wherever I go, my wife goes.' + +'We'll see to that too. If you want the money, you must leave +her. Good morning.' + +Mr Wharton as he went to his chambers thought the matter over. +He was certainly willing to risk the 5,000 pounds demanded if he +could rid himself and his daughter of this terrible incubus, even +if it were only for a time. If Lopez would but once go to +Guatemala, leaving his wife behind him, it would be comparatively +easy to keep them apart should he ever return. The difficulty +now was not in him, but in her. The man's conduct had been so +outrageous, so barefaced, so cruel, that the lawyer did not doubt +but that he could turn her husband out of his house, and keep the +wife, even now, were it not that she was determined to obey the +man whom she, in opposition to all her friends, had taken as her +master. 'I have done it myself, and I will bear it,' was all the +answer she would make when her father strove to persuade her to +separate herself from her husband. 'You have got Everett,' she +would say. 'When a girl is married she is divided from her +family;--and I am divided.' But she would willingly stay if +Lopez would bid her stay. It now seemed that he could not go +without the 5,000 pounds; and, when the pressure came upon him, +surely he would go and leave his wife. + +In the course of that day Mr Wharton went to the offices of the +San Juan mine and asked to see the Director. He was shown up +into a half-furnished room, two storeys high, in Coleman Street, +where he found two clerks sitting upon stools;--and when he +asked for the Director was shown into the back room in which sat +the Secretary. The Secretary was a dark, plump little man with a +greasy face, who had the gift of assuming an air of great +importance as he twisted his chair round to face visitors who +came to inquire about the San Juan Mining Company. His name as +Hartlepod; and if the San Juan mine 'turned out trumps', as he +intended that it should, Mr Hartlepod meant to be a great man in +the city. To Mr Hartlepod Mr Wharton with considerable +embarrassment, explained as much of the joint history of himself +and Lopez as he found to be absolutely necessary. 'He has only +left the office about half an hour,' said Mr Hartlepod. + +'Of course you understand he is my son-in-law.' + +'He has mentioned your name to us, Mr Wharton, before now.' + +'And he is going to Guatemala?' + +'Oh yes;--he's going out. Has he not told you as much himself?' + +'Certainly, sir. And he has told me that he is desirous of +buying certain shares in the Company before he starts.' + +'Probably, Mr Wharton.' + +'Indeed, I believe he cannot go unless he buys them.' + +'That may be so, Mr Wharton. No doubt he has told you all that +himself.' + +'The fact is, Mr Hartlepod, I am willing, under certain +stipulations, to advance him the money.' Mr Hartlepod bowed. 'I +need not trouble you with my private affairs between myself and +my son-in-law.' Again the Secretary bowed. 'But it seems to be +for his interest that he should go.' + +'A very great opening indeed, Mr Wharton. I don't see how a man +is to have a better opening. A fine salary! His expenses are +paid! One of the very best things that has come up for many +years! And as for the capital he is to embark in the affair, he +is as safe to get twenty per cent in it,--as safe,--as safe as +the Bank of England.' + +'He'll have the shares?' + +'Oh yes;--the scrip will be handed to him at once.' + +'And,--and--' + +'If you mean about the mine, Mr Wharton, you may take my word +that it's all real. It's not one of those sham things that melt +away like snow and leave the shareholders nowhere. There's the +prospectus, Mr Wharton. Perhaps you have not seen that before. +Take it away and cast your eyes over it at your leisure.' Mr +Wharton put the somewhat lengthy pamphlet into his pocket. 'Look +at the list of Directors. We've three members of Parliament, a +baronet, and one or two City names that are as good,--as good as +the Bank of England. If that prospectus won't make a man +confident I don't know what will. Why, Mr Wharton, you don't +think that your son-in-law would get those fifty shares at par +unless he was going out as our general manager. You'll see if +you look. About a quarter of a million paid up. But it's all in +a box as one may say. It's among ourselves. The shares ain't in +the market. Of course it's not for me to say what should be done +between you and your son-in-law. Lopez is a friend of mine, and +a man I esteem, and all that. Nevertheless I shouldn't think of +advising you to do this or that,--or not to do it. But when you +talk of safety, Mr Wharton,--why, Mr Wharton, I don't scruple to +tell you as a man who knows what these things are, that this is +an opportunity that doesn't come a man's way perhaps twice in his +life.' + +Mr Wharton found he had nothing more to say, and went back to +Lincoln's Inn. He knew very well that Mr Hartlepod's assurances +were not worth much. Mr Hartlepod himself and his belongings, +the clerks in his office, the look of the rooms, and the very +nature of the praises which he had sung, all them inspired +anything but confidence. Mr Wharton was a man of the world; and, +though he knew nothing of City ways, was quite aware that no man +in his senses would lay out 5,000 pounds on the mere word of Mr +Hartlepod. But still he was inclined to make the payment. If +only he could secure the absence of Lopez,--and if could be sure +that Lopez would in truth go to Guatemala, and also if he could +induce the man to go without his wife, he would risk the money. +The money would, of course, be thrown away,--but he would throw +it away. Lopez no doubt declared that he would not go without +his wife, even though the money were paid for him. But the money +was an alluring sum! As the pressure upon the man became +greater, Mr Wharton thought he would probably consent to leave +his wife behind him. + +In his emergency the barrister went to his attorney and told him +everything. The two lawyers were closeted together for an hour, +and Mr Wharton's last words to his old friend were as follows:-- +'I will risk the money, Walker, or rather I will consent +absolutely to throw it away,--as it will be thrown away,--if it +can be managed that he shall in truth go to this place without +his wife.' + + + +CHAPTER 54 + +LIZZIE. + +It cannot be supposed that Ferdinand Lopez at this time was a +very happy man. He had, at any rate, once loved his wife, and +would have loved her still could he have trained her to think as +he thought, to share his wishes, and 'to put herself into the +same boat with him',--as he was wont to describe the unison and +sympathy which he required from her. To give him his due, he did +not know that he was a villain. When he was exhorting her to +'get round her father' he was not aware that he was giving her +lessons which must shock a well-conditioned girl. He did not +understand that everything that she had discovered of his moral +disposition since her marriage was of a nature to disgust her. +And, not understanding all this, he conceived that he was +grievously wronged by her, in that she adhered to her father +rather than to him. This made him unhappy, and doubly +disappointed him. He had neither got the wife that he had +expected nor the fortune. But he still thought that the fortune +may come if he would only hold on to the wife which he had got. + +And then everything had gone badly with him since his marriage. +He was apt, when thinking over his affairs, to attribute all this +to the fears and hesitation and parsimony of Sexty Parker. None +of his late ventures with Sexty Parker had been successful. And +now Sexty was in a bad condition, very violent, drinking hard, +declaring himself to be a ruined man, and swearing that if this +and that were not done he would have bitter revenge. Sexty still +believed in the wealth of his partner's father-in-law, and still +had some hope of salvation from that source. Lopez would declare +to him, and up to this very time persevered in protesting, that +salvation would be found in Bios. If Sexty would only risk two +or three thousand pounds more upon Bios,--or his credit to that +amount failing the immediate money,--things might still be +right. 'Bios be d-d,' said Sexty, uttering a string of heavy +imprecations. On that morning, he had been trusting to native +produce rather than to the new African spirit. But now, as the +Guatemala scheme really took form and loomed on Lopez's eyesight +as a thing that might be real, he endeavoured to keep out of +Sexty's way. But in vain, Sexty too had heard of Guatemala, and +in his misery hunted Lopez about the city. 'By G-, I believe +you're afraid to come to Little Tankard Yard,' he said on day, +having caught his victim under the equestrian statue in front of +the Exchange. + +'What is the good of my coming when you will do nothing when I am +there?' + +'I'll tell what it is, Lopez,--you're not going out of the +country about this mining business, if I know it.' + +'Who said I was?' + +'I'll put a spoke in your wheel there, my man. I'll give a +written account of the dealings between us to the Directors. By +G-, they shall know their man.' + +'You're an ass, Sexty, and always were. Look here. If I can +carry on as though I were going to this place, I can draw 5,000 +pounds from old Wharton. He has already offered it. He has +treated me with a stinginess that I never knew equalled. Had he +done what I had a right to expect, you and I would have been rich +men now. But at last I have got a hold upon him to 5,000 pounds. +As you and I stand, pretty nearly the whole of that will go to +you. But don't you spoil it all by making an ass of yourself.' + +Sexty, who was three parts drunk, looked up into his face for a +few seconds, and then made his reply. 'I'm d-d if I believe a +word of it.' Upon that Lopez affected to laugh, and then made +his escape. + +All this, as I have said, did not tend to make his life happy. +Though he had impudence enough, and callousness of conscience +enough to get his bills paid by Mr Wharton as often as he could, +he was not quite easy in his mind while he was doing so. His +ambition had never been high, but it had soared higher than that. +He had had great hopes. He had lived with some high people. He +had dined with lords and ladies. He had been the guest of a +Duchess. He had married the daughter of a gentleman. He had +nearly been a member of Parliament. He still belonged to what he +considered to be a first-rate club. From a great altitude he +looked down upon Sexty Parker and men of Sexty's class, because +of his social successes, and because he knew how to talk and to +look like a gentleman. It was unpleasant to him, therefore, to +be driven to the life he was now living. And the idea of going +to Guatemala and burying himself in a mine in Central America was +not to him a happy idea. In spite of all that he had done he had +still some hope that he might avoid the banishment. He had +spoken the truth to Sexty Parker in saying that he intended to +get the 5,000 pounds from Mr Wharton without that terrible +personal sacrifice, though he had hardly spoken the truth when he +assured his friend that the greater portion of that money would +go to him. There were many schemes fluctuating through his +brain, and all accompanied by many doubts. If he could get Mr +Wharton's money by giving up his wife, should he consent to give +her up? In either case should he stay or should he go? Should +he run one further great chance with Bios,--and if so, by whose +assistance? And if he should at least decide that he would do so +by the aid of a certain friend that was yet left to him, should +he throw himself at that friend's feet, the friend being a lady, +and propose to desert his wife and begin the world again with +her? For the lady in question was a lady in possession, as he +believed, of very large means. Or should he cut his throat and +have done with all his troubles, acknowledging to himself that +his career had been a failure, and that, therefore, it might be +brought with advantage to an end? 'After all,' said he to +himself, 'that may be the best way of winding up a bankrupt +concern.' + +Our old friend Lady Eustace, in these days, lived in a very small +house in a very small street bordering upon Mayfair; but the +street, though very small, and having disagreeable relations with +a mews, still had an air of fashion about it. And with her lived +the widow, Mrs Leslie, who had introduced Mrs Dick Roby, and +through Mrs Roby, to Ferdinand Lopez. Lady Eustace was in the +enjoyment of a handsome income, as I hope that some of my readers +may remember,--and this income, during the last year or two, she +had learned to foster, if not with much discretion, at any rate +with great zeal. During her short life she had had many +aspirations. Love, poetry, sport, religion, fashion, Bohemianism +had all been tried; but in each crisis there had been a certain +care for wealth which had saved her from the folly of squandering +what she had won by her early energies in the pursuit of her then +prevailing passion. She had given her money to no lover, had not +lost it on race-courses, or in building churches,--nor even had +she materially damaged her resources by servants and equipages. +At the present time she was still young, and still pretty,-- +though her hair and complexion took rather more time than in the +days when she won Sir Florian Eustace. She still liked a lover, +--or perhaps two,--though she had thoroughly convinced herself +that a lover may be bought too dear. She could still ride a +horse, though hunting regularly was too expensive for her. She +could talk of religion if she could find herself close to a well- +got-up clergyman,--being quite indifferent as to the +denomination of the religion. But perhaps a wild dash for a time +into fast vulgarity was what in her heart of hearts she liked +best,--only that it was so difficult to enjoy the pleasures +without risk of losing everything. And then, together with these +passions, and perhaps above them all, there had lately sprung up +in the heart of Lady Eustace a desire to multiply her means by +successful speculation. This was the friend with whom Ferdinand +Lopez had lately become intimate, and by whose aid he hoped to +extricate himself from some of his difficulties. + +Poor as he was he had contrived to bribe Mrs Leslie by handsome +presents out of Bond Street;--for, as he still lived in +Manchester Square, and was the undoubted son-in-law of Mr +Wharton, his credit was not altogether gone. In the giving of +these gifts no purport was, of course, named, but Mrs Leslie was +probably aware that her good word with her friend was expected. +'I only know what I used to hear from Mrs Roby,' Mrs Leslie had +said to her friend. 'He was mixed up with Hunky's people, who +roll in money. Old Wharton wouldn't have given him his daughter +if he had not been doing well.' + +'It's very hard to be sure,' said Lizzie Eustace. + +'He looks like a man who'd know how to feather his own nest,' +said Mrs Leslie. 'Don't you think he's very handsome?' + +'I don't know that he's likely to do the better for that.' + +'Well; no; but there are men of whom you are sure, when you look +at them, that they'll be successful. I don't suppose he was +anything to begin with, but see where he is now!' + +'I believe you are in love with him, my dear,' said Lizzie +Eustace. + +'Not exactly. I don't know that he has given me any provocation. +But I don't see why a woman shouldn't be in love with him if she +likes. He is deal nicer than those fair-headed men who haven't +got a word to say to you, and yet look as though you ought to +jump down their mouths:--like that fellow you were trying to +talk to last night,--that Mr Fletcher. He could just jerk out +three words at a time, and yet he was proud as Lucifer. I like a +man who if he likes me is neither ashamed nor afraid to say so.' + +'There's a romance there, you know. Mr Fletcher was in love with +Emily Wharton, and she threw him over for Ferdinand Lopez. They +say he has not held his head up since.' + +'She was quite right,' said Mrs Leslie. 'But she is one of those +stiff-necked creatures who are set up with pride though they have +nothing to be proud of. I suppose she had a lot of money. Lopez +would never have taken her without.' + +When, therefore, Lopez called one day at the little house in the +little street he was not an unwelcome visitor. Mrs Leslie was in +the drawing-room, but soon left it after his arrival. He had of +late been often there, and when he at once introduced the subject +on which he was himself intent it was not unexpected. 'Seven +thousand five hundred pounds!' said Lizzie, after listening to +the proposition which he had come to make. 'That is a very large +sum of money!' + +'Yes;--it's a large sum of money. It's a large affair. I'm in +it to rather more than that, I believe.' + +'How are you going to get people to drink it?' she asked after a +pause. + +'By telling them that they ought to drink it. Advertise it. It +has become a certainty now that if you will only advertise +sufficiently you may make a fortune by selling anything. Only +the interest on the money expended increases in so large a ratio +in accordance with the magnitude of the operation! If you spend +a few hundreds in advertising you throw them away. A hundred +thousand pounds well laid out makes a certainty of anything.' + +'What am I to get to show for my money;--I mean immediately, you +know?' + +'Registered shares in the Company.' + +'The Bios Company?' + +'No;--we did propose to call ourselves Parker and Co., limited. +I think we shall change the name. They will probably use my +name. Lopez and Co., limited.' + +'But it's all for Bios?' + +'Oh yes;--all for Bios.' + +'And it's to come from Central Africa?' + +'It will be rectified in London, you know. Some English spirit +will perhaps be mixed. But I must not tell you the secrets of +the trade till you join us. That Bios is distilled from the +bark of the Duffer-tree is a certainty.' + +'Have you drank any?' + +'I've tasted it.' + +'Is it nice?' + +'Very nice;--rather sweet, you know, and will be the better for +mixing.' + +'Gin?' suggested her ladyship. + +'Perhaps so,--or whisky. I think I may say that you can't do +very much better with your money. You know I would not say this +to you were it not true. In such a matter I treat you as if,-- +as if you were my sister.' + +'I know how good you are,--but seven thousand five hundred! I +couldn't raise so much as that just at present.' + +'There are to be six shares,' said Lopez, 'making 45,000 pounds +capital. Would you consent to take a share jointly with me? +That would be three thousand seven hundred and fifty.' + +'But you have a share already,' said Lizzie suspiciously. + +'I should then divide that with Mr Parker. We intend to register +at any rate as many as nine partners. Would you object to hold +it with me?' Lopez, as he asked this question, looked at her as +though he were offering her half his heart. + +'No,' said Lizzie slowly, 'I don't suppose I should object to +that.' + +'I should be doubly eager about the affair if I were in +partnership with you.' + +'It's such a venture.' + +'Nothing venture nothing have.' + +'But I've got something as it is, Mr Lopez, and I don't want to +lose it all.' + +'There's no chance of that if you join us.' + +'You think Bios is so sure?' + +'Quite safe,' said Lopez. + +'You must give me a little more time to think about it,' said +Lady Eustace at last, panting with anxiety, struggling with +herself, anxious for the excitement which would come to her from +dealing in Bios, but still fearing to risk the money. + +This had taken place immediately after Mr Wharton's offer of the +5,000 pounds in making which he had stipulated that Emily should +be left at home. Then a few days went by, and Lopez was pressed +for his money, at the office of the San Juan mine. Did he or did +he not mean to take up the mining shares allotted to him? If he +did mean to do so, he must do it at once. He swore by all his +gods that of course he meant to take them up. Had not Mr Wharton +himself been at the office, saying that he intended to pay for +them? Was not that a sufficient guarantee? They knew well +enough that Mr Wharton was a man to whom the raising of 5,000 +pounds could be a matter of no difficulty. But they did not +know, never could know, how impossible it was to get anything +done by Mr Wharton. But Mr Wharton had promised to pay for the +shares, and when money was concerned his word would surely +suffice. Mr Hartlepod, backed by two of the Directors, said if +the thing was to go on at all, the money must really be paid at +once. But the conference was ended by allowing the new local +manager another fortnight in which to complete the arrangement. + +Lopez allowed four days to pass by, during each of which he was +closeted for a time with Lady Eustace, and then made an attempt +to get at Mr Wharton through his wife. 'Your father has said +that he will pay the money for me,' said Lopez. + +'If he has said it he certainly will do it.' + +'But he has promised it on the condition that you should remain +at home. Do you wish to desert your husband?' To this she made +no immediate answer. 'Are you already anxious to be rid of me?' + +'I should prefer to remain at home,' she said in a very low +voice. + +'Then you do wish to desert your husband?' + +'What is the use of all this, Ferdinand? You do not love me. +You did not marry me because I loved you.' + +'By heaven I did;--for that and that only.' + +'And how have you treated me?' + +'What have I done to you?' + +'But I do not mean to make accusations, Ferdinand. I should only +add to our miseries by that. We should be happier apart.' + +'Not I. Nor is that my idea of marriage. Tell your father that +you wish to go with me, and then he will let us have the money.' + +'I will tell him no lie, Ferdinand. If you bid me go, I will go. +Where you find a home I must find one too if it be your pleasure +to take me. But I will not ask my father to give you money +because it is my pleasure to go. Were I to say so he would not +believe me.' + +'It is you who have told him to give it me only on the condition +of your staying.' + +'I have told him nothing. He knows that I do not wish to go. He +cannot but know that. But he knows that I mean to go if you +require it.' + +'And you will do nothing for me?' + +'Nothing;--in regard to my father.' He raised his fist with the +thought of striking her, and she saw the motion. But his arm +fell again to his side. He had not quite come to that yet. +'Surely you will have the charity to tell me whether I am to go, +if it be fixed,' she said. + +'Have I not told you twenty times?' + +'Then it is fixed.' + +Yes;--it is fixed. Your father will tell you about your things. +He has promised some beggarly sum,--about as much as a tallow- +chandler would give his daughter.' + +'Whatever he does for me will be sufficient for me. I am not +afraid of my father, Ferdinand.' + +'You shall be afraid of me before I have done with you,' said he, +leaving the room. + +Then as he sat at his club, dining there alone, there came across +his mind what the world would be like to him if he could leave +his wife at home and take Lizzie Eustace with him to Guatemala. +Guatemala was very distant, and it would matter little there +whether the woman he brought with him was his wife or no. It was +clear enough to him that his wife desired no more of his company. +What were the conventions of the world to him? This other woman +had money at her own command. He could not make it his own +because he could not marry her, but he fancied that it might be +possible to bring her so far under his control as to make the +money almost as good as his own. Mr Wharton's money was very +hard to reach, and would be as hard to reach,--perhaps harder,-- +when Mr Wharton was dead, as now, during his life. He had said a +good deal to the lady since the interview of which a report has +been given. She had declared herself to be afraid of Bios. She +did not in the least doubt that great things might be ultimately +done with Bios, but she did not quite see the way with her small +capital,--thus humbly did she speak of her wealth,--to be one +of those who should take the initiative in the matter. Bios +evidently required a great deal of advertisement, and Lizzie +Eustace had a short-sighted objection to expend what money she +had saved on the hoardings of London. Then he opened to her the +glories of Guatemala, not contenting himself with describing the +certainty of twenty per cent, but enlarging on the luxurious +happiness of life in a country so golden, so green, so gorgeous, +and so grand. It had been the very apple of the eye of the old +Spaniards. In Guatemala, he said, Cortez and Pizzaro had met and +embraced. They might have done so for anything as far as Lizzie +Eustace knew to the contrary. And here our hero took advantage +of his name. Don Diego di Lopez had been the first to raise the +banner of freedom in Guatemala when the kings of Spain became +tyrants to their American subjects. All is fair in love and war, +and Lizzie amidst the hard business of her life still loved a +dash of romance. Yet, he was about to change the scene and try +his fortune in that golden, green, and gorgeous country. 'You +will take your wife of course,' Lady Eustace had said. Then +Lopez had smiled, and shrugging his shoulders had left the room. + +It was certainly the fact that she could not eat him. Other men +before Lopez have had to pick up what courage they could in their +attacks upon women by remembering that fact. She had flirted +with him in a very pleasant way, mixing up her prettiness and her +percentages in a manner that was peculiar to herself. He did not +know her, and he knew that he did not know her;--but still there +was the chance. She had thrown his wife more than once in his +face, after the fashion women do when they are wooed by married +men since the days of Cleopatra downwards. But he had taken that +simply as encouragement. He had already let her know that his +wife was a vixen who troubled his life. Lizzie had given him her +sympathy, and had almost given him a tear. 'But I am not a man +to be broken-hearted because I have made a mistake,' said Lopez. +'Marriage vows are very well, but they shall never bind me to +misery.' 'Marriage vows are not very well. They may be very +ill,' Lizzie had replied, remembering certain passages in her own +life. + +There was no doubt about her money, and certainly she could not +eat him. The fortnight allowed him by the San Juan Company had +nearly gone by when he called at the little house in the little +street, resolved to push his fortune in that direction without +fear and without hesitation. Mrs Leslie again took her +departure, leaving them together, and Lizzie allowed her friend +to go, although the last words that Lopez had spoken had been, as +he thought, a fair prelude to the words he intended to speak to- +day. 'And what do you think of it?' he said, taking both her +hands in his. + +'Think of what?' + +'Of our Spanish venture.' + +'Have you given up Bios, my friend?' + +'No; certainly not,' said Lopez, seating himself beside her. 'I +have not taken the other half share, but I have kept my old +venture in the scheme. I believe in Bios, you know.' + +'Ah;--it is nice to believe.' + +'But I believe more firmly in the country to which I am going.' + +'You are going then?' + +'Yes; my friend;--I am going. The allurements are too strong to +be resisted. Think of that climate and of this.' He probably +had not heard of the mosquitoes of Central America when he so +spoke. 'Remember that an income that gives you comfort here will +there produce every luxury which wealth can purchase. It is to +be a king there, or to be but very common among commoners here.' + +'And yet England is a dear old country.' + +'Have you found it so? Think of the wrongs which you have +endured;--of the injuries you have suffered.' + +'Yes indeed.' For Lizzie Eustace had gone through hard days in +her time. + +'I certainly will fly from such a country to those golden shores +on which man may be free and unshackled.' + +'And your wife?' + +'Oh, Lizzie!' It was the first time he had called her Lizzie, +and she was apparently neither shocked nor abashed. Perhaps he +thought too much of this, not knowing how many men had called her +Lizzie in her time. 'Do not you at least understand that a man +or a woman may undergo a tie, and yet be justified in +disregarding it altogether?' + +'Oh yes;--if there has been bigamy, or divorce, or anything of +that kind.' Now Lizzie had convicted her second husband of +bigamy, and had freed herself after that fashion. + +'To h--with their prurient laws,' said Lopez, rising suddenly +from his chair. 'I will neither appeal to them nor will I obey +them. And I expect from you as little subservience as I myself +am prepared to pay. Lizzy Eustace, will you go with me to that +land of the sun, + + Where the rage of the vulture, the love of the turtle + Now melt into sorrow, now madden to crime? + +Will you dare to escape with me from the cold conventionalities, +from the miserable thraldom of this country bound in swaddling +cloths? Lizzie Eustace, if you will say the word, I will take +you to that land of glorious happiness.' + +But Lizzie Eustace had 4,000 pounds a year and a balance at her +banker's. 'Mr Lopez,' she said. + +'What answer have you to make me?' + +'Mr Lopez, I think you must be a fool.' + +He did at last succeed in getting himself into the street, and at +any rate she had not eaten him. + + + +CHAPTER 55 + +MRS PARKER'S SORROWS. + +The end of February had come, and as far as Mrs Lopez knew she +was to start for Guatemala in a month's time. And yet there was +so much indecision in her husband's manner, and apparently so +little done by him in regard to personal preparation, that she +could hardly bring herself to feel certain that she would have to +make the journey. From day to day her father would ask her +whether she had made her intended purchases, and she would tell +him that she had still postponed the work. Then he would say no +more, for he himself was hesitating, doubtful what he would do, +and still thinking that when at last the time should come, he +would buy his daughter's release at any price that might be +demanded. He had seen Lopez more than once, and had also seen Mr +Hartlepod. Mr Hartlepod had simply told him that he would be +very happy to register the shares on behalf of Lopez as soon as +the money was paid. Lopez had been almost insolent in his +bearing. 'Did Mr Wharton think,' he asked, 'that he was going to +sell his wife for 5,000 pounds?' 'I think you will have to raise +your offer,' Mr Walker had said to Mr Wharton. That was all very +well. Mr Wharton was willing enough to raise the offer. He +would have doubled the offer could he thereby have secured the +annihilation of Lopez. 'I will raise it if he will go without +his wife, and give her a written assurance that he would never +trouble her again.' But the arrangement was one which Mr Walker +found it very difficult to carry out. So things went on till the +end of February had come. + +And during all this time Lopez was still a resident in Mr +Wharton's house. 'Papa,' she said to him one day, 'this is the +cruellest thing of all. Why don't you tell him he must go?' + +'Because he would take you with him.' + +'It would be better so. I could come and see you.' + +'I did tell him to go--in my passion. I repented of it +instantly, because I should have lost you. But what did my +telling matter to him? He was very indignant, and yet he is +still here.' + +'You told him to go?' + +'Yes;--but I am glad that he did not obey me. There must be an +end of it soon, I suppose.' + +'I do not know, papa.' + +'Do you think he will not go?' + +'I feel that I know nothing, papa. You must not let him stay +always, you know.' + +'And what will become of you when he goes?' + +'I must go with him. Why should you be sacrificed also? I will +tell him that he must leave the house. I am not afraid of him, +papa.' + +'Not yet, my dear;--not yet. We will see.' + +At this time Lopez declared his purpose one day of dining at the +Progress, and Mr Wharton took advantage of the occasion to remain +at home with his daughter. Everett was now expected, and there +was a probability that he might come on this evening. Mr Wharton +therefore returned from his chambers early; but when he reached +the house he was told that there was a woman in the dining-room +with Mrs Lopez. The servant did not know what woman. She had +asked to see Mrs Lopez, and Mrs Lopez had gone down to her. + +The woman in the dining-room was Mrs Parker. She had called at +the house about half-past five, and Emily had at once come down +when summoned by tidings that a "lady" wanted to see her. +Servants have a way of announcing a woman a lady, which clearly +expresses their own opinion that the person in question was not a +lady. So it had been on the present occasion, but Mrs Lopez had +at once gone to her visitor. 'Oh, Mrs Parker, I am so glad to +see you. I hope you are well.' + +'Indeed then, Mrs Lopez, I am very far from well. No poor woman, +who is the mother of five children, was ever farther from being +well than I am.' + +'Is anything wrong?' + +'Wrong, ma'am. Everything is wrong. When is Mr Lopez going to +pay my husband all the money he has took from him?' + +'Has he taken money?' + +'Taken! he has taken everything. He has shorn my husband as +bare as a board. We're ruined, Mrs Lopez, and it's your husband +has done it. When we were at Dovercourt, I told you how it was +going to be. His business has left him, and now there is +nothing. What are we to do?' The woman was seated on a chair, +leaning forward with her two hands on her knees. The day was +wet, the streets were half mud and half snow, and the poor woman, +who had made her way through the slush, was soiled and wet. 'I +look to you to tell me what me and my children is to do. He's +your husband, Mrs Lopez.' + +'Yes, Mrs Parker, he is my husband.' + +'Why couldn't he let Sexty alone? Why should the like of him be +taking the bread out of my children's mouths? What had we ever +done to him? You're rich.' + +'Indeed I am not, Mrs Parker.' + +'Yes, you are. You're living here in a grand house, and your +father's made of money. You'll know nothing of want, let the +worst come to the worst. What are we to do, Mrs Lopez? I'm the +wife of that poor creature, and you're the wife of the man that +has ruined him. What are we to do, Mrs Lopez?' + +'I do not understand my husband's business, Mrs Parker.' + +'You're one with him, ain't you? If anybody has ever come to me +and said my husband had robbed him, I'd never have stopped till I +knew the truth of it. If any woman had ever said to me that +Parker had taken the bread out of her children's mouths, do you +think that I'd sit as you are sitting? I tell that Lopez has +robbed us,--has robbed us, and taken everything.' + +'What can I say, Mrs Parker;--what can I do?' + +'Where is he?' + +'He is not here. He is dining at his club.' + +'Where is that? I will go there and shame him before them all. +Don't you feel no shame? Because you've got things comfortable +here, I suppose it's all nothing to you. You don't care, though +my children were starving in the gutter,--as they will do.' + +'If you knew me, Mrs Parker, you wouldn't speak to me like that.' + +'Know you! Of course I know you. You're a lady, and your +father's a rich man, and your husband thinks no end of himself. +And we're poor people, so it don't matter whether we're robbed +and ruined or not. That's about it.' + +'If I had anything, I'd give you all that I had.' + +'And he's taken to drinking that hard that he's never rightly +sober from morning to night.' As she told this story of her +husband's disgrace, the poor woman burst into tears. 'Who's to +trust him with business now? He's that broken-hearted that he +don't know which way to turn,--only to the bottle. And Lopez +has done it all,--done it all! I haven't got a father, ma'am, +who has got a house over his head for me and my babies. Only +think if you was turned out into the street with your baby, as I +am like to be.' + +'I have no baby,' said the wretched woman through her tears and +sobs. + +'Haven't you, Mrs Lopez? Oh dear!' exclaimed the soft-hearted +woman, reduced at once to pity. 'How was it then?' + +'He died, Mrs Parker,--just a few days after he was born.' + +'Did he now? Well, well. We all have our troubles, I suppose.' + +'I have mine, I know,' said Emily, 'and very, very heavy they +are. I cannot tell you what I have had to suffer.' + +'Isn't he good to you?' + +'I cannot talk about it, Mrs Parker. What you tell me about +yourself has added greatly to my sorrows. My husband is talking +of going away--to live out of England.' + +'Yes, at a place they call,--I forgot what they call it, but I +heard it.' + +'Guatemala,--in America.' + +'I know. Sexty told me. He has no business to go anywhere, +while he owes Sexty such a lot of money. He has taken +everything, and now he is going to Kattymaly!' At this moment Mr +Wharton knocked at the door and entered the room. As he did so +Mrs Parker got up and curtsied. + +'This is my father, Mrs Parker,' said Emily. 'Papa, this is Mrs +Parker. She is the wife of Mr Parker, who is Ferdinand's +partner. She has come here with bad news.' + +'Very bad news, indeed, sir,' said Mrs Parker, curtseying again. +Mr Wharton frowned, not as being angry with the woman, but +feeling that some further horror was to be told him of his son- +in-law. 'I can't help coming, sir,' continued Mrs Parker. +'Where am I to go if I don't come? Mr Lopez, sir, has ruined us +root and branch,--root and branch.' + +'That at any rate is not my fault,' said Mr Wharton, + +'But she is his wife, sir. Where am I to go if not to where he +lives? Am I to put up with everything gone, and my poor husband +in the right way to go to Bedlam, and not to say a word about it +to the grand relations of him who did it all?' + +'He is a bad man,' said Mr Wharton. 'I cannot make him +otherwise.' + +'Will he do nothing for us?' + +'I will tell you all I know about him.' Then Mr Wharton did tell +her all that he knew, as to the appointment at Guatemala and the +amount of salary which was to be attached to it. 'Whether he +will do anything for you, I cannot say;--I should think not, +unless he be forced. I should advise you to go to the offices of +the Company in Coleman Street and try to make some terms there. +But I fear,--I fear that it will all be useless.' + +'Then we may starve.' + +'It is not her fault,' said Mr Wharton, pointing to his daughter. +'She has had no hand in it. She knows less of it than you do.' + +'It is my fault,' said Emily, bursting out in self-reproach,-- +'my fault that I married him.' + +'Whether married or single he would have preyed upon Mr Parker to +the same extent.' + +'Like enough,' said the poor wife. 'He'd prey upon anybody as he +could get hold of. And so, Mr Wharton, you think that you can do +nothing for me.' + +'If your want be immediate I can relieve it,' said the barrister. +Mrs Parker did not like the idea of accepting direct charity, +but, nevertheless, on going away did take the five sovereigns +which Mr Wharton offered to her. + +After such an interview as that the evening between the father +and the daughter was not very happy. She was eaten up by +remorse. Gradually she had learned how frightful was the thing +she had done in giving herself to a man of whom she had known +nothing. And it was not only that she had degraded herself by +loving such a man, but that she had been persistent in clinging +to him though her father and all his friends had told her of the +danger which she was running. And now it seemed that she had +destroyed her father as well as herself! All that she could do +was to be persistent in her prayer that he would let her go. 'I +have done it,' she said that night, 'and I could bear it better, +if you would let me bear it alone.' But he only kissed her, and +sobbed over her, and held her close to his heart with his +clinging arms,--in a manner in which he had never held her in +their old happy days. + +He took himself to his own rooms before Lopez returned, but she +of course had to bear her husband's presence. As she had +declared to her father more than once, she was not afraid of him. +Even though he should strike her,--though he should kill her,-- +she would not be afraid of him. He had already done worse to her +than anything that could follow. 'Mrs Parker has been here to- +day,' she said to him that night. + +'And what did Mrs Parker have to say?' + +'That you ruined her husband.' + +'Exactly. When a man speculates and doesn't win of course he +throws the blame on someone else. And when he is too much of a +cur to come himself, he sends his wife.' + +'She says you owe him money.' + +'What business have you to listen to what she says? If she comes +again, do not see her. Do you understand me?' + +'Yes, I understand. She saw papa also. If you owe him money, +should it not be paid?' + +'My dearest love, everybody who owes anything to anybody should +always pay it. That is so self-evident that one would almost +suppose that it might be understood without being enunciated. +But the virtue of paying debts is incompatible with an absence of +money. Now, if you please, we will not say anything more about +Mrs Parker. She is not at any rate a fit companion for you.' + +'It was you who introduced her.' + +'Hold your tongue about her,--and let that be an end of it. I +little knew what a world of torment I was preparing for myself +when I allowed you to come and live in your father's house.' + + + +CHAPTER 56 + +WHAT THE DUCHESS THOUGHT OF HER HUSBAND. + +When the session began it was understood in the political world +that a very strong opposition was to be organized against the +Government under the guidance of Sir Orlando Drought, and that +the great sin to be imputed to the Cabinet was an utter +indifference to the safety and honour of Great Britain, as +manifested by their neglect of the navy. All the world knew that +Sir Orlando had deserted the Coalition because he was not allowed +to build new ships, and of course Sir Orlando would make the most +of his grievance. With him was joined Mr Boffin, the patriotic +Conservative who had never listened to the voice of the seducer, +and the staunch remainder of the Tory party. And with them the +more violent of the Radicals were prepared to act, not desirous, +indeed, that new ships should be built, or that a Conservative +Government should be established,--or, indeed, that anything +should be done,--but animated by intense disgust that so mild a +politician as the Duke of Omnium should be Prime Minister. The +fight began at once, Sir Orlando objecting violently to certain +passages in the Queen's Speech. It was all very well to say that +the country was at present at peace with all the world; but how +was peace to be maintained without a fleet? Then Sir Orlando +paid a great many compliments to the Duke, and ended his speech +by declaring him to be the most absolutely faineant minister that +had disgraced the country since the Duke of Newcastle. Mr Monk +defended the Coalition, and assured the House that the navy was +not only the most powerful navy existing, but that it was the +most powerful that ever had existed in the possession of this or +any other country, and was probably in absolute efficiency +superior to the combined navies of all the world. The House was +not shocked by statements absolutely at variance with each other, +coming from two gentlemen who had lately been members of the same +Government, and who must be supposed to know what they are +talking about, but seemed to think that upon the whole Sir +Orlando had done his duty. For though there was complete +confidence in the navy as a navy, and though a very small +minority would have voted for any considerably increased expense, +still it was well that there should be an opposition. And how +can there be an opposition without a subject for grumbling,-- +some matter on which a minister can be attacked? No one really +thought that the Prussians and French combined would invade our +shores and devastate our fields, and plunder London, and carry +our daughters away into captivity. The state of the funds showed +very plainly that there was no such fear. But a good cry was a +very good thing,--and it is always well to rub up the officials +of the Admiralty by a little wholesome abuse. Sir Orlando was +thought to have done his business well. Of course he did not +risk a division upon the address. Had he done so he would have +been 'nowhere'. But, as it was, he was proud of his achievement. + +The ministers generally would have been indifferent to the very +hard words that were said of them, knowing what they were worth, +and feeling aware that a ministry which had everything too easy +was very sore on the subject. The old Duke's work at this time +consisted almost all together in nursing the younger Duke. It +did sometimes occur to his elder Grace that it might be well to +let his brother retire, and that a Prime Minister, malgre lui, +could not be a successful Prime Minister, or a useful one. But +if the Duke of Omnium went the Coalition must go too, and the +Coalition had been the offspring of the old statesman. The +country was thriving under the Coalition, and there was no real +reason why it should not last for the next ten years. He +continued, therefore, his system of coddling, and was ready at +any moment, or at every moment, to pour, if not comfort, at any +rate consolation into the ears of his unhappy friend. In the +present emergency, it was the falsehood and general baseness of +Sir Orlando which nearly broke the heart of the Prime Minister. +'How is one to live,' he said, 'if one has to do with men of that +kind?' + +'But you haven't to do with him any longer,' said the Duke of St +Bungay. + +'When I see a man who is supposed to have earned the name of +statesman, and been high in the councils of his sovereign, +induced by personal jealousy to do as he is doing, it makes me +feel that an honest man should not place himself where he may +have to deal with such persons.' + +'According to that the honest men are to desert their country in +order that the dishonest men may have everything their own way.' +Our Duke could not answer this, and therefore for the moment he +yielded. But he was unhappy, saturnine, and generally silent +except when closeted with his ancient mentor. And he knew that +he was saturnine and silent, and that it behoved him as a leader +of men to be genial and communicative,--listening to counsel +even if he did not follow it, and at any rate appearing to have +confidence in his colleagues. + +During this time Mr Slide was not inactive, and in his heart of +hearts the Prime Minister was more afraid of Mr Slide's attacks +than of those made upon him by Sir Orlando Drought. Now that +Parliament was sitting, and the minds of men were stirred to +political feeling by the renewed energy of the House, a great +deal was being said in many quarters about the Silverbridge +election. The papers had taken the matter up generally, some +accusing the Prime Minister and some defending. But the defence +was almost as unpalatable to him as the accusation. It was +admitted on all sides that the Duke, both as a peer and as a +Prime Minister, should have abstained from any interference +whatever in the election. And it was also admitted on all sides +that he had not so abstained;--if there was any truth at all in +the allegation that he had paid the money for Mr Lopez. But it +was pleaded on his behalf that the Duke of Omnium had always +interfered in Silverbridge, and that no Reform Bill had ever had +any effect in reducing their influence in that borough. Frequent +allusion was made to the cautious Dod, who, year after year, had +reported that the Duke of Omnium exercised considerable influence +in the borough. And then the friendly newspapers went on to +explain that the Duke had in this instance stayed his hand, and +that the money, if paid at all, had been paid because the +candidate who was to have been his nominee had been thrown over, +when the Duke at the last moment made up his mind that he would +abandon the privilege which had hitherto been always exercised by +the head of his family, and which had been exercised more than +once or twice in his own favour. But Mr Slide, day after day, +repeated his question, 'We want to know whether the Prime +Minister did or did not pay the election expenses of Mr Lopez at +the last Silverbridge election; and if so, why he paid them. We +shall continue to ask this question till it has been answered, +and when asking it we again say that the actual correspondence on +the subject between the Duke and Mr Lopez is in our hands.' And +then, after a while, allusions were made to the Duchess,--for Mr +Slide had learned all the facts of the case from Lopez himself. +When Mr Slide found how hard it was 'to draw his badger', as he +expressed himself concerning his own operations, he at last +openly alluded to the Duchess, running the risk of any punishment +that might fall upon him by action for libel or by severe +reprehension from his colleagues of the Press. 'We have as yet,' +he said, 'received no answers to the questions which we have felt +ourselves called upon to ask in reference to the conduct of the +Prime Minister at the Silverbridge election. We are of the +opinion that all interference by peers with the constituencies of +the country should be put down by the strong hand of the law as +thoroughly and unmercifully as we are putting down ordinary +bribery. But when the offending peer is also the Prime Minister +of this great country, it becomes doubly the duty of those who +watch over the public safety,'--Mr Slide always speaks of +himself as watching over the public safety,--'to animadvert upon +his crime till it has been assoiled, or at any rate repented. +From what we now hear we have reason to believe that the crime is +acknowledged. Had the payment on behalf of Mr Lopez not been +made,--as it certainly was made, or the letters in our hand +would be impudent forgeries,--the charge would long since have +been denied. Silence in such a matter amounts to a confession. +But we understand that the Duke intends to escape under the plea +that he has a second self, powerful as he is to exercise the +baneful influence which his territorial wealth unfortunately +gives him, but for the actions of which second self he, as a Peer +of Parliament and as Prime Minister, is not responsible. In +other words we are informed that the privilege belonging to the +Palliser family at Silverbridge was exercised, not by the Duke +himself, but by the Duchess;--and that the Duke paid the money +when he found out that the Duchess had promised more than she +could perform. We should hardly have thought that even a man so +notoriously weak as the Duke of Omnium would have endeavoured to +ride out the responsibility by throwing the blame upon his wife; +but he will certainly find that the attempt, if made, will fail.' + +'Against the Duchess herself we wish to say not a word. She is +known as exercising a wide if not discriminate hospitality. We +believe her to be a kind-hearted, bustling, ambitious lady, to +whom any little faults may be easily forgiven on account of her +good-nature and generosity. But we cannot accept her +indiscretion as an excuse for a most unconstitutional act +performed by the Prime Minister of this country.' + +Latterly the Duchess had taken her own copy of the "People's +Banner". Since she had found those around her were endeavouring +to keep from her what was being said of her husband in regard to +the borough, she had been determined to see it all. She +therefore read the article from which two or three paragraphs +have just been given,--and having read it she handed it to her +friend Mrs Finn. 'I wonder that you trouble yourself with such +trash,' her friend said to her. + +'That is all very well, my dear, for you, but we poor wretches +who are the slaves of the people have to regard what is said of +us in the "People's Banner". + +'It would be much better for you to neglect it.' + +'Just as authors are told not to read the criticisms;--but I +never would believe any author who told me that he didn't read +what was said about him. I wonder when the man found out that I +was good-natured. He wouldn't find me good-natured if I could +get hold of him.' + +'You are not going to allow it to torment you?' + +'For my own sake, not a moment. I fancy that if I might be +permitted to have my own way, I could answer him very easily. +Indeed with these dregs of the newspapers, these gutter- +slanderers, if one would be open and say all the truth aloud what +would one have to fear? After all, what is it that I did? I +disobeyed my husband because I thought that he was too +scrupulous. Let me say as much, out loud to the public,--saying +also that I am sorry for it, as I am,--and who would be against +me? Who would have a word to say after that? I should be the +most popular woman in England for a month,--and, as regards +Plantagenet, Mr Slide and his articles would all sink into +silence. But even though he were to continue this from day to +day for a twelvemonth it would not hurt me,--but then I know how +it scorches him. This mention of my name will make it more +intolerable to him than ever. I doubt that you know him even +yet.' + +'I thought that I did.' + +'Though in manner he is as dry as a stick, though all his +pursuits are opposite to the very idea of romance, though he +passes his days and nights thinking how he may take a halfpenny +in the pound off the taxes of the people without robbing the +revenue, there is a dash of chivalry about him worthy of the old +poets. To him a woman, particularly his own woman, is a thing so +fine and so precious that the winds of heaven should hardly be +allowed to blow upon her. He cannot bear to think that people +should even talk of his wife. And yet, heaven knows, poor +fellow, I have given people occasion enough to talk of me. And +he has a much higher chivalry than that of the old poets. They, +or their heroes, watched their women because they did not want to +have trouble about them,--shut them up in castles, kept them in +ignorance, and held them as far as they could out of harm's way.' + +'I hardly think they succeeded,' said Mrs Finn. + +'But in pure selfishness they tried all they could. But he is +too proud to watch. If you and I were hatching treason against +him in the dark, and chance brought him there, he would stop his +ears with his fingers. He is all trust, even when he knows that +he is being deceived. He is honour complete from head to foot. +Ah, it was before you knew me when I tried him the hardest. I +never could quite tell you the story, and I won't try it now; but +he behaved like a god. I could never tell him what I felt,--but +I felt it.' + +'You ought to love him.' + +'I do;--but what's the use of it? He is a god, but I am not a +goddess;--and then, though he is a god, he is a dry, silent, +uncongenial and uncomfortable god. It would have suited me much +better to have married a sinner. But then the sinner that I +would have married was so irredeemable a scapegrace.' + +'I do not believe in a woman marrying a bad man in the hope of +making him good.' + +'Especially not when the woman is naturally inclined to evil +herself. It will half kill him when he reads all this about me. +He has read it already, and it has already half killed him. For +myself I do not mind it in the least, but for his sake I mind it +much. It will rob him of his only possible answer to the +accusation. The very thing which this wretch in the newspaper +says he will say, and that he will be disgraced by saying it, is +the very thing that he ought to say. And there would be no +disgrace in it,--beyond what I might well bear for my little +fault, and which I could bear so easily.' + +'Shall you speak to him about it?' + +'No; I dare not. In this matter it has gone beyond speaking. I +suppose he does talk it over with the old Duke; but he will say +nothing to me about it,--unless he were to tell me that he had +resigned, and that we were to start off and live at Matching for +the next ten years. I was so proud when they made him Prime +Minister, but I think that I am beginning to regret it now.' +Then there was a pause, and the Duchess went on, with her +newspapers; but she soon resumed her discourse. Her heart was +full, and out of a full heart the mouth speaks. 'They should +have made me Prime Minister, and have let him be Chancellor of +the Exchequer. I begin to see the ways of Government now. I +could have done all the dirty work. I could have given away +garters and ribbons, and made my bargains while giving them. I +could select sleek, easy bishops who wouldn't be troublesome. I +could give pensions or withhold them, and make the stupid men +into peers. I could have the big noblemen at my feet, praying to +be Lieutenants of Counties. I could dole out secretaryships and +lordships, and never a one without getting something in return. +I could brazen out a job and let the "People's Banner" and the +Slides make their worst of it. And I think I could make myself +popular with my party, and do the high-flowing patriotic talk for +the benefit of the Provinces. A man at a regular office has to +work. That's what Plantagenet is fit for. He wants always to be +doing something that shall be really useful, and a man has to +toil at that and really to know things. But a Prime Minister +should never go beyond generalities about commerce, agriculture, +peace, and general philanthropy. Of course he should have the +gift of the gab, and that Plantagenet hasn't got. He never wants +to say anything unless he has got something to say. I could do a +Mansion House dinner to a marvel!' + +'I don't doubt that you could speak at all times, Lady Glen.' + +'Oh, I do so wish that I had the opportunity,' said the Duchess. + +Of course the Duke had read the article in the privacy of his own +room, and of course the article had nearly maddened him with +anger and grief. As the Duchess had said, the article had taken +from him the very ground on which his friends had told him that +he could stand. He had never consented, and never would consent, +to lay the blame publicly on his wife; but he had begun to think +that he must take notice of the charge made against him, and +depute someone to explain for him in the House of Commons that +the injury had been done at Silverbridge by the indiscretion of +an agent who had not fulfilled his employer's intentions, and +that the Duke had thought it right afterwards pay the money in +consequence of the indiscretion. He had not agreed to this, but +had brought himself to think that he must agree to it. But now, +of course, the questions would follow:--Who was the indiscreet +agent? Was the Duchess the person for whose indiscretions he had +had to pay 500 pounds to Mr Lopez? And in this matter did he not +find himself in accord even with Mr Slide? 'We should hardly +have thought that even a man so notoriously weak as the Duke of +Omnium would have endeavoured to ride out of the responsibility +by throwing the blame on his wife.' He read and reread those +words till he knew them by heart. For a few moments it seemed to +him to be an evil in the Constitution that the Prime Minister +should not have the power of instantly crucifying so foul a +slanderer;--and yet it was the very truth of the words that +crushed him. He was weak,--he told himself,--notoriously weak, +it must be, and it would be most mean in him to ride out of +responsibility by throwing the blame upon his wife. But what +else was he to do? There seemed to him to be but one course,-- +to get up in the House of Lords and declared that he paid the +money because he thought it right to do under the circumstances +which he could not explain, and to declare that it was not his +intention to say another word on the subject, or to have another +word said on his behalf. + +There was a Cabinet Council held that day, but no one ventured to +speak to the Prime Minister as to the accusation. Though he +considered himself to be weak, his colleagues were all more or +less afraid of him. There was a certain silent dignity about the +man which saved him from the evils, as it also debarred him from +the advantages, of familiarity. He had spoken on the subject to +Mr Monk and to Phineas Finn, and, as the reader knows, very often +to his old mentor. He had also mentioned it to his friend Lord +Cantrip, who was not in the Cabinet. Coming away from the +Cabinet he took Mr Monk's arm, and led him away to his own room +in the Treasury Chambers. 'Have you happened to see an article +in the "People's Banner" this morning?' he asked. + +'I never see the "People's Banner",' said Mr Monk. + +'There it is;--just look at that.' Whereupon Mr Monk read the +article. 'You understand what people call constitutional +practice as well as anyone I know. As I told you before, I did +pay that man's expenses. Did I do anything unconstitutional?' + +'That would depend, Duke, on the circumstances. If you were to +back a man up by your wealth in an expensive contest, I think it +would be unconstitutional. If you set yourself to work in that +way, ,and cared not what you spent, you might materially +influence the elections, and buy parliamentary support for +yourself.' + +'But in this case the payment was made after the man had failed, +and certainly had not been promised either by me or by anyone on +my behalf.' + +'I think it was unfortunate,' said Mr Monk. + +'Certainly; certainly; but I am not asking as to that,' said the +Duke impatiently. 'The man had been injured by indiscreet +persons acting on my behalf and in opposition to my wishes.' He +said not a word about the Duchess; but Mr Monk no doubt knew that +her Grace had been at any rate one of the indiscreet persons. +'He applied to me for the money, alleging that he had been +injured by my agents. That being so,--presuming that my story +be correct,--did I act unconstitutionally?' + +'I think not,' said Mr Monk, 'and I think that the circumstances, +when explained, will bear you harmless.' + +'Thank you; thank you. I did not want to trouble you about that +just at present.' + + + +CHAPTER 57 + +THE EXPLANATION. + +Mr Monk had been altogether unable to decipher the Duke's purpose +in the question he had asked. About an hour afterwards they +walked down to the Houses together. Mr Monk having been kept at +his office. 'I hope I wasn't a little short with you just now,' +said the Duke. + +'I did not find it out,' said Mr Monk, smiling. + +'You read what was in the papers, and you may imagine that it is +of a nature to irritate a man. I knew that no one could answer +my question so correctly as you, and therefore I was rather a +little eager to keep directly to the question. It occurred to me +afterwards that I had been--perhaps uncourteous.' + +'Not at all, Duke.' + +'If I was, your goodness will excuse an irritated man. If a +question were asked about it in the House of Commons who would be +the best man to answer it? Would you do it?' + +Mr Monk considered a while. 'I think,' he said, 'that Mr Finn +would do it with better grace. Of course I will do it if you +wish it. But he has tact in such matters, and it is known that +his wife is much regarded by her Grace.' + +'I will not have the Duchess's name mentioned,' said the Duke, +turning short upon his companion. + +'I did not allude to that, but I thought that the intimacy which +existed might make it pleasant to you to employ Mr Finn as the +exponent of your wishes.' + +'I have the greatest confidence in Mr Finn, certainly, and am on +most friendly personal terms with him. It shall be so, if I +decide on answering any questions in your House on a matter so +purely personal to myself.' + +'I would suggest that you should have the question asked in a +friendly way. Get some independent member, such as Mr Beverley +or Sir James Deering, to ask it. The matter would then be +brought forward in no carping spirit, and you would be enabled, +through Mr Finn, to set the matter at rest. You have probably +spoken to the Duke about it.' + +'I have mentioned it to him.' + +'Is not that what would recommend?' + +The old Duke had recommended that the entire truth should be +told, and that the Duchess's operations should be made public. +Here was our poor Prime Minister's great difficulty. He and his +Mentor were at variance. His Mentor was advising that the real +naked truth should be told, whereas Telemachus was intent on +keeping the name of the actual culprit in the background. 'I +will think it all over,' said the Prime Minister as the two +parted company at Palace Yard. + +That evening he spoke to Lord Cantrip on the subject. Though the +matter was odious to him, he could not keep his mind from it for +a moment. Had Lord Cantrip seen the article in the "People's +Banner"? Lord Cantrip, like Mr Monk, declared that the paper in +question did not constitute part of his usual morning's +recreation. 'I won't ask you to read it,'said the Duke;--'but +it contains a very bitter attack upon me,--the bitterest that +has yet been made. I suppose I ought to notice the matter?' + +'If I were you,' said the Lord Cantrip, 'I should put myself into +the hands of the Duke of St Bungay, and do exactly what he +advises. There is no man in England knows so well as he does +what should be done in such a case as this.' The Prime Minister +frowned and said nothing. 'My dear Duke,' continued Lord +Cantrip, 'I can give you no other advice. Who is there that has +your personal interest and your honour at heart so entirely as +his Grace;--and what man can be a more sagacious or more +experienced adviser?' + +'I was thinking that you might ask a question about it in our +House.' + +'I?' + +'You would do it for me in the manner that--that would be free +from all offence.' + +'If I did it all, I should certainly strive to do that. But it +has never occurred to me that you would make such a suggestion. +Would you give me a few minutes to think about it?' 'I couldn't +do it,' Lord Cantrip said afterwards. 'By taking such a step, +even at your request, I should certainly express an opinion that +the matter was one which Parliament was entitled to expect that +you should make an explanation. But my own opinion is that +Parliament has no business to meddle in the matter. I do not +think that every action of a minister's life should be made +matter of inquiry because a newspaper may choose to make allusion +to it. At any rate, if any word is said about it, it should, I +think, be said in the other house.' + +'The Duke of St Bungay thinks that something should be said.' + +'I could not,myself consent even to appear to desire information on +a matter so entirely personal to yourself.' The Duke bowed, and +smiled with a cold, glittering, uncomfortable smile which would +sometimes cross his face when he was not pleased, and no more was +then said on the subject. + +Attempts were made to have the question asked in a far different +spirit by some hostile member of the House of Commons. Sir +Orlando Drought was sounded, and he for a while did give ear to +the suggestion. But, as he came to have the matter full before +him, he could not do it. The Duke had spurned his advice as a +minister, and had refused to sanction a measure which he, as the +head of a branch of the Government, had proposed. The Duke had +so offended him that he conceived himself bound to regard the +Duke as his enemy. But he knew,--and he could not escape from +the knowledge,--that England did not contain a more honourable +man than the Duke. He was delighted that the Duke should be +vexed and thwarted, and called ill names in the matter. To be +gratified at this discomfiture of his enemy was in the nature of +parliamentary opposition. Any blow that might weaken his +opponent was a blow in his favour. But his was a blow which he +could not strike with his own hands. There were things in +parliamentary tactics which even Sir Orlando could not do. +Arthur Fletcher was also asked to undertake the task. He was the +successful candidate, the man who opposed Lopez, and who was +declared by the "People's Banner" to have emancipated that +borough by his noble conduct from the tyranny of the House of +Palliser. And it was thought that he might like an opportunity +of making himself known in the House. But he was simply +indignant when the suggestion was made to him. 'What is it to +me,' he said, 'who paid the blackguard's expenses?' + +This went on for some weeks after Parliament had met, and for +some days even after the article in which direct allusion was +made to the Duchess. The Prime Minister could not be got to +consent that no notice should be taken of the matter, let the +papers or the public say what they would, nor could he be induced +to let the matter be handled in a manner proposed by the elder +Duke. And during this time he was in such a fever that those +about him felt that something must be done. Mr Monk suggested +that if everybody held his tongue,--meaning all the Duke's +friends,--the thing would wear itself out. But it was apparent +to those who were nearest to the minister, to Mr Warburton, for +instance, and the Duke of St Bungay, that the man himself would be +worn out first. The happy professor of a thick skin can hardly +understand how one not so blessed may be hurt by the thong of a +little whip! At last the matter was arranged. At the +instigation of Mr Monk, Sir James Deering, who was really the +father of the House, an independent member, but one who generally +voted with the Coalition, consented to ask the question in the +House of Commons. And Phineas Finn was instructed by the Duke as +to the answer that was to be given. The Duke of Omnium in giving +these instructions made a mystery of the matter which he by no +means himself intended. But he was so sore that he could not be +simple in what he said. 'Mr Finn,' he said, 'you must promise me +this;--that the name of the Duchess shall not be mentioned.' + +'Certainly not by me, if you will tell me that I am not to +mention it.' + +'No one else can do so. The matter will take the form of a +simple question, and though the conduct of the minister may no +doubt be made the subject of debate,--and it is not improbable +that any conduct may do so in this instance,--it is, I think, +impossible that any member should make an allusion to my wife. +The privilege or power of returning a member for the borough has +undoubtedly been exercised by our family since as well as +previous to both the Reform Bills. At the last election I +thought it right to abandon that privilege, and notified to those +about my intention. But that which a man has the power of doing +he cannot always do without interference of those around him. +There was a misconception, and among my,--my adherents,--there +were some who injudiciously advised Mr Lopez to stand on my +interest. But he did not get my interest, and was beaten;--and +therefore when he asked me for the money which he had spent, I +paid it to him. That is all. I think the House can hardly avoid +to see that my effort was made to discontinue an unconstitutional +proceeding.' + +Sir James Deering asked the question. 'He trusted,' he said, +'that the House would not think that the question of which he had +given notice and which he was about to ask was instigated by any +personal desire on his part to inquire into the conduct of the +Prime Minister. He was one who believed that the Duke of Omnium +was as little likely as any man in England to offend by +unconstitutional practice on his own part. But a great deal had +been talked and written lately about the late election at +Silverbridge, and there were those who thought,--and he was one +of them,--that something should be said to stop the mouths of +cavillers. With this object he would ask the Right Honourable +Gentleman who led the House, and who was perhaps first in +standing among the Duke's colleagues in that House, whether the +noble Duke was prepared to have any statement on the subject +made.' + +The house was full to the very corners of the galleries. Of +course it was known to everybody that the question was to be +asked and to be answered. There were some who thought the matter +was so serious that the Prime Minister could not get over it. +Others had heard the details in the clubs that Lady Glen, as the +Duchess was still called, was to be made the scapegoat. Men of +all classes were open-mouthed in the denunciation and meanness of +Lopez--though no one but Mr Wharton knew half his villainy, as +he alone knew that the expenses had been paid twice over. In one +corner of the reporter's gallery sat Mr Slide, pencil in hand, +prepared to revert to his old work on so momentous an occasion. +It was a great day for him. He by his own unassisted energy had +brought the Prime Minister to book, and had created all this +turmoil. It might be his happy lot to be the means of turning +the Prime Minister out of office. It was he who had watched over +the nation! The Duchess had been most anxious to be present,-- +but had not ventured to come without asking her husband's leave, +which he had most peremptorily refused to give. 'I cannot +understand, Glencora, how you can suggest such a thing,' he had +said. + +'You make so much of everything,' she had replied petulantly; but +she had remained at home. The ladies' gallery was, however, +quite full. Mrs Finn was there, of course, anxious not only for +her friend, but eager to hear how her husband would acquit +himself in his task. The wives and daughters of all the +ministers were there,--excepting the wife of the Prime Minister. +There never had been, in the memory of them all, a matter that +was so interesting to them for it was the only matter thy +remembered in which a woman's conduct might probably be called +into question in the House of Commons. And the seats +appropriated to peers were so crammed that above a dozen grey- +headed old lords were standing in the passage which divides them +from the common strangers. After all it was not, in truth, much +of an affair. A very little man indeed had calumniated the +conduct of a minister of the Crown, till it had been thought well +that the minister should defend himself. No one really believed +that the Duke had committed any great offence. At the worst it +was no more than indiscretion, which was noticeable only because +a Prime Minister should never be indiscreet. Had the taxation of +the whole country for the next year been in dispute there would +have been no such interest felt. Had the welfare of the Indian +Empire occupied the House, the House would have been empty. But +the hope that a certain woman's name would have to be mentioned, +crammed it from floor to ceiling. + +The reader need not be told that the name was not mentioned. Our +old friend Phineas, on rising to his legs, first apologized for +doing so in place of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. But +perhaps the House would accept a statement from him, as +the noble Duke at the head of the Government had asked him to +make it. Then he made his statement. 'Perhaps,' he said, 'no +falser accusation than this had ever been brought forward against +a Minister of the Crown, for it specially charged his noble +friend with resorting to the employment of unconstitutional +practices to bolster up his parliamentary support, whereas it was +known by everybody that there would have been no matter for +accusation at all had not the Duke of his own motion abandoned a +recognized privilege, because, in his opinion, the exercise of +that privilege was opposed to the spirit of the Constitution. +Had the noble Duke simply nominated a candidate, as candidate had +been nominated at Silverbridge for centuries past, that candidate +would have been returned with absolute certainty, and there would +have been no word spoken on the subject. It was not, perhaps, +for him, who had the honour of serving under his Grace, and who, +as being part of his Grace's Government, was for the time one +with his Grace, to expiate at length on the nobility of the +sacrifice here made. But they all knew there at what rate was +valued a seat in that House. Thank God that privilege which his +noble friend had so magnanimously resigned from purely patriotic +motives, was, he believed, still in existence, and he would ask +those few who were still in the happy, or perhaps, he had better +say in the envied position of being able to send their friends to +that House, what was their estimation of the conduct of the Duke +in this matter? It might be that there were one or two such +present, and who now heard him,--or perhaps, one or two who owed +their seats to the exercise of such a privilege. They might +marvel at the magnitude of the surrender. They might even +question the sagacity of the man who could abandon so much +without a price. But he hardly thought that even they would +regard it as unconstitutional. + +'This was what the Prime Minister had done,--acting not as Prime +Minister, but as an English gentleman, in the management of his +own property and privileges. And now he would come to the gist +of the accusation made; in making which, the thing which the Duke +had really done had been altogether ignored. When the vacancy +had been declared by the acceptance of the Chiltern Hundreds by a +gentleman whose absence from the House they all regretted, the +Duke had signified to his agents his intention of retiring +altogether from the exercise of any privilege or power in the +matter. But the Duke was then, as he was also now, and would, it +was to be hoped, long continue to be Prime Minister of England. +He need hardly remind gentlemen in that House that the Prime +Minister was not in a position to devote his undivided time to +the management of his own property, or even to the interests of +the Borough of Silverbridge. That his Grace had been earnest in +his instructions to his agents, the sequel fully proved; but that +earnestness his agents had misinterpreted.' + +Then there was a voice heard in the House, 'What agents?' and +from another voice, 'Name them.' For there were present some who +thought it to be shameful that the excitement of the occasion +should be lowered by keeping back the allusion to the Duchess. + +'I have not distinguished,' said Phineas, assuming an indignant +tone, 'the honourable gentlemen from whom those questions have +come, and therefore I have the less compunction in telling them +that it is not part of my duty on this occasion to gratify a +morbid and an indecent curiosity.' Then there was a cry of +'Order', and an appeal to the Speaker. Certain gentlemen wished +to know whether indecent was parliamentary. The Speaker, with +some hesitation, expressed his opinion that the word, as then +used, was not open to objection from him. He thought that it was +within the scope of a member's rights to charge another member +with indecent curiosity. 'If,' said Phineas, rising again to his +legs, for he had sat down for a moment, 'the gentleman who called +for a name will rise in his place and repeat the demand, I will +recall the word indecent and substitute another,--or others. I +will tell him that he is one who, regardless of the real conduct +of the Prime Minister, either as a man or as a servant of the +Crown, is only anxious to inflict unmanly wound in order that he +may be gratified by seeing the pain he inflicts.' Then he +paused, but as no further question was asked, he continued his +statement. 'A candidate had been brought forward,' he said, 'by +those interested in the Duke's affairs. A man whom he would not +name, but who, he trusted, would never succeed in his ambition to +occupy a seat in that House, had been brought forward, and +certain tradesmen in Silverbridge had been asked to support him +as the Duke's nominee. There was no doubt about it. The House +perhaps could understand that the local adherents and neighbours +of a man so high in rank and wealth as the Duke of Omnium would +not gladly see the privileges of their lord diminished. Perhaps, +too, it occurred to them that a Prime Minister could not have his +eye everywhere. There would always be worthy men in boroughs who +liked to exercise some second-hand authority. At any rate it was +the case that this candidate was encouraged. Then the Duke had +heard it, and had put his foot upon the little mutiny, and had +stamped it out at once. He might perhaps here,' he said, +'congratulate the House on the acquisition it had received, by +the failure of that candidate. So far, at any rate,' he thought, +'it must be admitted that the Duke had been free from blame;-- +but now he came to the gravamen of the charge. The gravamen of +the charge is so well known to the reader that the simple account +of it by Phineas gave of it need not be repeated. The Duke had +paid the money, when asked for it, because he felt that the man +had been injured by incorrect misrepresentations made to him. 'I +need hardly pause to stigmatize the meanness of that +application,' said Phineas, 'but I may perhaps conclude by saying +that whether the last act done by the Duke in this matter was or +was not indiscreet, I shall probably have the House with me when +I say that it savours much more strongly of nobility than +indiscretion.' + +When Phineas Finn sat down no one arose to say another word on +the subject. It was afterwards felt that it could only have been +graceful had Sir Orlando risen and expressed his opinion that the +House had heard the statement just made with perfect +satisfaction. But he did not do so, and after a short pause the +ordinary business of the day was recommenced. Then there was a +speedy descent from the galleries, and the ladies trooped out of +their cage, and the grey-headed old peers went back to their own +chamber, and the members themselves quickly jostled out through +the doors, and Mr Monk was left to explain his proposed +alteration in the dog tax to a thin House of seventy or eighty +members. + +The thing was then over, and people were astonished that so great +a thing should be over with so little fuss. It really seemed +that after Phineas Finn's speech there was nothing more to be +said on the matter. Everybody of course knew that the Duchess +had been the chief of the agents to whom he had alluded, but they +had known as much as that before. It was, however, felt by +everybody that the matter had been brought to an end. The game, +such as it was, had been played out. Perhaps the only person who +heard Mr Finn's speech throughout, and still hoped that the spark +could be again fanned into a flame, was Quintus Slide. He went +out and wrote another article about the Duchess. If a man was so +unable to rule his affairs at home, he was certainly unfit to be +Prime Minister. But even Quintus Slide, as he wrote his article, +felt that he was hoping against hope. The charge might be +referred to hereafter as one that had never been satisfactorily +cleared up. The game is always open to the opponents of a +minister. After the lapse of a few months an old accusation can +be serviceably used, whether at the time it was proved or +disproved. Mr Slide published his article; but he felt that for +the present the Silverbridge election papers had better be put by +among the properties of the "People's Banner" and brought out, if +necessary, for further use at some future time. + +'Mr Finn,' said the Duke, 'I feel indebted to you for the trouble +you have taken.' + +'It was only a pleasant duty.' + +'I am grateful to you for the manner in which it was performed.' +This was all the Duke said, and Phineas felt it to be cold. The +Duke, in truth, was grateful, but gratitude with him always +failed to exhibit itself readily. From the world at large +Phineas Finn received great praise for the manner in which he had +performed his task. + + + +CHAPTER 58 + +'QUITE SETTLED.' + +The abuse which was now publicly heaped on the name of Ferdinand +Lopez hit the man very hard; but not so hard perhaps as his +rejection by Lady Eustace. That was an episode in his life of +which even he felt ashamed, and of which he was unable to shake +the disgrace from his memory. He had no inner appreciation +whatsoever of what was really good or was what really bad in a +man's conduct. He did not know that he had done evil in applying +to the Duke for money. He had only meant to attack the Duke; and +when the money had come it had been regarded as justifiable prey. +And when after receiving the Duke's money, he had kept also Mr +Wharton's money, he had justified himself again by reminding +himself that Mr Wharton certainly owed him much more than that. +In a sense he was what is called a gentleman. He knew how to +speak, and how to look, how to use a knife and fork, how to dress +himself, and how to walk. But he had not the faintest notion of +the feelings of a gentleman. He had, however, a very keen +conception of the evil of being generally ill spoken of. Even +now, though he was making his mind up to leave England for a long +term of years, he understood the disadvantage of leaving it under +so heavy a cloud;--and he understood also that the cloud might +possibly impede his going altogether. Even in Coleman Street +they were looking black upon him, and Mr Hartlepod went so far as +to say to Lopez himself, that, 'by Jove, he had put his foot in +it.' He had endeavoured to be courageous under his burden, and +every day walked into the offices of the Mining Company, +endeavouring to look as though he had committed no fault of which +he had to be ashamed. But after the second day he found that +nothing was said to him of the affairs of the Company, and on the +fourth day Mr Hartlepod informed him that the time allowed for +paying up his shares had passed by, and that another local +manager would be appointed. 'The time is not over till to- +morrow,'said Lopez angrily. 'I tell you what I am told to tell +you,' said Mr Hartlepod. 'You will only waste your time by +coming here any more.' + +He had not once seen Mr Wharton since the statement made in the +Parliament, although he had lived in the same house with him. +Everett Wharton had come home, and they two had met;--but the +meeting had been stormy. 'It seems to me, Lopez, that you are a +scoundrel,' Everett said to him on day, after having heard the +whole story,--or rather many stories,--from his father. This +took place not in Manchester Square, but at the club, where +Everett had endeavoured to cut his brother-in-law. It need +hardly be said that at this time Lopez was not popular at his +club. On the next day a meeting of the whole club was to be held +that the propriety of expelling him might be discussed. But he +had resolved that he would not be cowed, that he would still show +himself, and still defend his conduct. He did not know, however, +that Everett Wharton had already made known to the Committee of +the club all the facts of the double payment. + +He had addressed Everett in that solicitude to which a man should +never be reduced of seeking to be recognized by at any rate one +acquaintance,--and now his brother-in-law had called him a +scoundrel in the presence of other men. He raised his arm as +though to use the cane in his hand, but he was cowed by the +feeling that all there were his adversaries. 'How dare you use +that language to me!' he said very weakly. + +'It is the language I must use if you speak to me.' + +'I am your brother-in-law, and that restrains me.' + +'Unfortunately you are.' + +'And am living in your father's house.' + +'That, again, is a misfortune which it appears difficult to +remedy. You have been told to go, and you won't go.' + +'Your ingratitude, sir, is marvellous! Who saved your life when +you were attacked in the park, and were too drunk to take care of +yourself? Who has stood your friend with your close-fisted old +father when you have lost money at play that you could not pay? +But you are one of those who would turn away from any benefactor +in his misfortune.' + +'I must certainly turn away from a man who has disgraced himself +as you have done,' said Everett, leaving the room. Lopez threw +himself into an easy-chair, and rang the bell loudly for a cup of +coffee, and lit a cigar. He had not been turned out of the club +as yet, and the servant at any rate was bound to attend to him. + +That night he waited up for his father-in-law in Manchester +Square. He would certainly go to Guatemala now,--if it were not +too late. He would go though he were forced to leave his wife +behind him, and thus surrender any further hope for money from Mr +Wharton beyond the sum which he would receive as the price of his +banishment. It was true that the fortnight allowed to him by the +Company was only at an end that day, and that, therefore, the +following morning might be taken as the last day named for the +payment of the money. No doubt, also, Mr Wharton's bill at a few +days' date would be accepted if that gentleman could not at the +moment give a cheque for so large a sum as was required. And the +appointment had been distinctly promised to him with no other +stipulation than that the money required for the shares should be +paid. He did not believe in Mr Hartlepod's threat. It was +impossible, he thought, that he should be treated in so infamous +a manner merely because he had had his election expenses repaid +him by the Duke of Omnium! He would, therefore, ask for the +money, and--renounce the society of his wife. + +As he made this resolve, something like real love returned to his +heart, and he became for a while sick with regret. He assured +himself that he had loved her, and that he could love her still; +--but why had she not been true to him? Why had she clung to her +father instead of clinging to her husband? Why had she not +learnt his ways,--as a wife is bound to learn the ways of the +man she marries? Why had she not helped him in his devices, +fallen into his plans, been regardful of his fortunes, and made +herself one with him? There had been present to him at times an +idea that if he could take her away with him to that distant +country to which he thought to go, and thus remove her from the +upas influence of her father's roof-tree, she would then fall +into his views and become his wife indeed. Then he would again +be tender to her, again love her, again endeavour to make the +world soft to her. But it was too late now for that. He had +failed in everything as far as England was concerned, and it was +chiefly by her fault that he had failed. He would consent to +leave her;--but, as he thought of it in solitude, his eyes +became moist with regret. + +In these days Mr Wharton never came home till about midnight, and +then passed rapidly through the hall to his own room,--and in +the morning had his breakfast brought to him in the same room, so +that he might not even see his son-in-law. His daughter would go +to him when at breakfast, and there, together for some half-hour, +they would endeavour to look forward to their future fate. But +hitherto they had never been able to look forward in accord, as +she still persisted in declaring that if her husband bade her to +go with him,--she would go. On this night Lopez sat up in the +dining-room, and as soon as he heard Mr Wharton's key in the +door, he placed himself in the hall. 'I wish to speak to you to- +night, sir,' he said. 'Would you object to come in for a few +moments?' Then Mr Wharton followed him into the room. 'As we +live now,' continued Lopez, 'I have not had much opportunity of +speaking to you, even on business.' + +'Well, sir; you can speak now,--if you have anything to say.' + +'The 5,000 pounds you promised me must be paid to-morrow. It is +the last day.' + +'I promised it only on certain conditions. Had you complied with +them the money would have been paid before.' + +'Just so. The conditions were very hard, Mr Wharton. It +surprises me that such a one as you should think it right to +separate a husband from his wife.' + +'I think it right, sir, to separate my daughter from such a one +as you are. I thought so before, but I think so doubly now. If +I can secure your absence in Guatemala by the payment of this +money, and if you will give me a document that shall be prepared +by Mr Walker and signed by yourself, assuring your wife that you +will not hereafter call upon her to live with you, the money +shall be paid.' + +'All that will take time, Mr Wharton.' + +'I will not pay a penny without it. I can meet you at the office +in Coleman Street to-morrow, and doubtless they will accept my +written assurance to pay the money as soon as those stipulations +shall be complied with.' + +'That would disgrace me in the office, Mr Wharton.' + +'And are you not disgraced there already? Can you tell me that +they have not heard of your conduct in Coleman Street, or that +hearing it they disregard it?' His son-in-law stood frowning at +him, but did not at the moment say a word. 'Nevertheless, I will +meet you there if you please, at any time that you may name, and +if they do not object to employ such a man as their manager, I +shall not object on their behalf.' + +'To the last you are hard and cruel to me,' said Lopez;--'but I +will meet you at Coleman Street at eleven to-morrow.' Then Mr +Wharton left the room, and Lopez was there alone amidst the gloom +of the heavy curtains and the dark paper. A London dining-room +at night is always dark, cavernous, and unlovely. The very +pictures on the walls lacked brightness, and the furniture is +black and heavy. This room was large, but old-fashioned and very +dark. Here Lopez walked up and down after Mr Wharton had left +him, trying to think how far Fate and how far he himself were +responsible for his present misfortunes. No doubt he had begun +the world well. His father had been little better than a +travelling pedlar, but had made some money by selling jewellery, +and had educated his son. Lopez could on no score impute blame +to his father for what had happened to him. And, when he thought +of the means at his disposal in his early youth, he felt that he +had a right to boast of some success. He had worked hard, and +had won his way upwards, and had almost lodged himself securely +among those people with whom it had been his ambition to live. +Early in life he had found himself among those who were called +gentlemen and ladies. He had been able to assume their manners, +and had lived with them on equal terms. When thinking of his +past life he never forgot to remind himself that he had been a +guest at the house of the Duke of Omnium! And yet how far was it +with him now? He was penniless. He was rejected by his father- +in-law. He was feared, and, as he thought, detested, by his +wife. He was expelled from his club. He was cut by his old +friends. And he had been told very plainly by the Secretary in +Coleman Street that his presence there was no longer desired. +What should he do with himself if Mr Wharton's money were now +refused, and if the appointment in Guatemala were denied to him? +And then he thought of Sexty Parker and his family. He was not +naturally an ill-natured man. Though he could upbraid his wife +for alluding to Mrs Parker's misery, declaring that Mrs Parker +must take the rubs of the world just as others took them, still +the misfortunes which he had brought on her and on her children +did add something to the weight of his own misfortunes. If he +could not go to Guatemala, what should he do with himself;-- +where should he go? Thus he walked up and down the room for an +hour. Would not a pistol or a razor give him the best solution +for all his difficulties? + +On the following morning he kept his appointment at the office in +Coleman Street, as did Mr Wharton also. The latter was there +first by some minutes, and explained to Mr Hartlepod that he had +come there to meet his son-in-law. Mr Hartlepod was civil, but +very cold. Mr Wharton saw at the first glance that the services +of Ferdinand Lopez were no longer in request by the San Juan +Mining Company; but he sat down and waited. Now that he was +there, however painful the interview would be, he would go +through it. At ten minutes past eleven me made up his mind that +he would wait until the half hour,--and then go, with the fixed +resolution that he would never willingly spend another shilling +on behalf of that wretched man. But at a quarter past eleven the +wretched man came,--swaggering into the office, though it had +not, hitherto, been his custom to swagger. But misfortune +masters all but the great men, and upsets her best-learned lesson +of even a long life. 'I hope I have not kept you waiting, Mr +Wharton. Well, Hartlepod, how are you to-day? So this little +affair is going to be settled at last, and now these shares shall +be bought and paid for.' Mr Wharton did not say a word, not even +rising from his chair, or greeting his son-in-law by a word. 'I +dare say Mr Wharton has already explained himself,' said Lopez. + +'I don't know that there is any necessity,' said Mr Hartlepod. + +'Well,--I suppose it's simple enough,' continued Lopez. 'Mr +Wharton, I believe I am right in saying that you are ready to pay +the money at once.' + +'Yes;--I am ready to pay the money as soon as I am assured that +you are on your route to Guatemala. I will not pay a penny till +I know that as a fact.' + +The Mr Hartlepod rose from his seat and spoke. 'Gentlemen,' he +said, 'the matter within the last few days has assumed a +different complexion.' + +'As how?' exclaimed Lopez. + +'The Directors have changed their mind as to sending out Mr Lopez +as their local manager. The Directors intend to appoint another +gentleman. I had already acquainted Mr Lopez with the Directors' +intention.' + +'Then the matter is settled?' said Mr Wharton. + +'Quite settled,' said Mr Hartlepod. + +As a matter of course Lopez began to fume and to be furious. +What!--after all that had been done, and the Directors mean to +go back from their word? After he had been induced to abandon +his business in his own country, was he to be thrown over in that +way? If the Company intended to treat him like that, the Company +would very soon hear from him. Thank God there were laws in the +land. 'Yesterday was the last day fixed for the payment of the +money,'said Mr Hartlepod. + +'It is at any rate certain that Mr Lopez is not to go to +Guatemala?' asked Mr Wharton. + +'Quite certain,' said Mr Hartlepod. Then Mr Wharton rose from +his chair and quitted the room. + +'By G-, you have ruined me among you,'said Lopez;--'ruined me in +the most shameful manner. There is no mercy, no friendship, no +kindness, no forbearance anywhere! Why am I to be treated in +this manner?' + +'If you have any complaint to make,' said Mr Hartlepod,' you had +better write to the Directors. I have nothing to do but my +duty.' + +'By heavens, the Directors shall hear of it!' said Lopez as he +left the office. + +Mr Wharton went to his chambers and endeavoured to make up his +mind what step he must now take in reference to this dreadful +incubus. Of course he could turn the man out of his house, but +in so doing it might well be that he would also turn out his own +daughter. He believed Lopez to be utterly without means, and a +man so destitute would generally be glad to be relieved from the +burden of his wife's support. But this man would care nothing +for his wife's comfort; nothing even, as Mr Wharton believed, for +his wife's life. He would simply use his wife as best he might +as a means for obtaining money. There was nothing to be done but +to buy him off, by so much money down and by so much at stated +intervals as long as he should keep away. Mr Walker must manage +it, but it was quite clear to Mr Wharton that the Guatemala +scheme was altogether at an end. In the meantime a certain sum +must be offered to the man at once, on condition that he would +leave the house and do so without taking his wife with him. + +So far Mr Wharton had a plan, and a plan that was at least +feasible. Wretched as he was, miserable, as he thought the fate +which had befallen his daughter,--there was still a prospect of +some relief. But Lopez as he walked out of the office had nothing +to which he could look for comfort. He slowly made his way to +Little Tankard Yard and there he found Sexty Parker balancing +himself on the back legs of his chair, with a small decanter of +public-house sherry before him. 'What; you here?' he said. + +'Yes;--I have come to say good-bye.' + +'Where are you going then? You shan't start to Guatemala if I +know it.' + +'That's all over, my boy,' said Lopez, smiling. + +'What is it you mean?' said Sexty, sitting square on his chair +and looking very serious. + +'I am not going to Guatemala or anywhere else. I though I'd just +look in to tell you that I'm done for,--that I haven't a hope of +a shilling now or hereafter. You told me the other day that I +was afraid to come here. You see that as soon as anything is +fixed, I come and tell you everything at once.' + +'What is fixed?' + +'That I am ruined. That there isn't a penny to come from any +source.' + +'Wharton has got money,' said Sexty. + +'And there is money in the Bank of England,--but I cannot get at +it.' + +'What are you going to do, Lopez?' + +'Ah; that's the question. What am I going to do? I can say +nothing about that, but I can say, Sexty, that our affairs are at +an end. I'm very sorry for it, old boy. We ought to have made +fortunes, but we didn't. As far as the work went, I did my best. +Good-bye, old fellow. You'll do well some of these days yet, I +don't doubt. Don't teach the bairns to curse me. As for Mrs P. +I have not hope there, I know.' Then he went, leaving Sexty +Parker quite aghast. + + + +CHAPTER 59 + +THE FIRST AND THE LAST. + +When Mr Wharton was in Coleman Street, having his final interview +with Mr Hartlepod, there came a visitor to Mrs Lopez in +Manchester Square. Up to this date there had been great doubt +with Mr Wharton whether at last the banishment to Guatemala would +become a fact. From day to day his mind had changed. It had +been an infinite benefit that Lopez should go, if he could be got +to go alone, but as great an evil if at last he should take his +wife with him. But the father had never dared to express these +doubts to her, and she had taught herself to think that absolute +banishment with a man whom she certainly no longer loved, was the +punishment she had to pay for the evil she had done. It was now +March, and the second or third of April had been fixed for her +departure. Of course, she had endeavoured from time to time to +learn all that was to be learned from her husband. Sometimes he +would be almost communicative to her; at other times she could +hardly get a word from him. But, through it all, he gave her to +believe that she would have to go. Nor did her father make any +great effort to turn his mind the other way. If it must be so, +of what use would be such false kindness on his part? She had +therefore gone to work to make her purchases, studying that +economy which must henceforth be the great duty of her life, and +reminding herself as to everything she bought that it would have +to be worn with tears and used in sorrow. + +And then she sent a message to Arthur Fletcher. It so happened +that Sir Alured Wharton was up in London at this time with his +daughter Mary. Sir Alured did not come to Manchester Square. +There was nothing the old baronet could say in the midst of all +this misery,--no comfort that he could give. It was well known +now to all the Whartons and the Fletchers that this Lopez, who +had married her who was to have been the pearl of the two +families, had proved himself to be a scoundrel. The two old +Whartons met no doubt at some club, or perhaps the Stone +Buildings, and spoke some few bitter words to each other; but Sir +Alured did not see the unfortunate young woman who had disgraced +herself by so wretched a marriage. But Mary came, and by her a +message was sent to Arthur Fletcher. 'Tell him that I am going,' +said Emily. 'Tell him not to come, but give him my love. He was +always one of my kindest friends.' + +'Why;--why;--why did you not take him?' said Mary, moved by the +excitement of the moment to suggestions which were quite at +variance with the fixed propriety of her general idea. + +'Why should you speak of that?' said the other. 'I never speak +of him,--never think of him. But, if you see him, tell him what +I say.' Arthur Fletcher was of course in the Square on the +following day,--on that very day on which Mr Wharton learned +that, whatever might be his daughter's fate, she would not, at +any rate, be taken to Guatemala. They two had never met since +the day on which they had been brought together for a moment at +the Duchess's party at Richmond. It had of course been +understood by both of them that they were not to be allowed to +see each other. Her husband had made a pretext of an act of +friendship on his part to establish a quarrel, and both of them +had been bound by that quarrel. When a husband declares that his +wife shall not know a man, that edict must be obeyed,--or, if +disobeyed, must be subverted by intrigue. In this case there had +been no inclination to intrigue on either side. The order had +been obeyed, and as far as the wife was concerned, had been only +a small part of the terrible punishment which had come upon her +as a result of her marriage. But, now, when Arthur Fletcher had +sent up his name, she did not hesitate as to seeing him. No +doubt she had thought it probable that she might see him when she +gave her message to her cousin. + +'I could not let you go without coming to you,' he said. + +'It is very good of you. Yes;--I suppose we are going. +Guatemala sounds a long way off, Arthur, does it not? But they +tell me it is a beautiful country.' She spoke with a cheerful +voice, almost as though she liked the idea of her journey; but he +looked at her with beseeching, anxious, sorrow-laden eyes. +'After all, what is a journey of a few weeks? Why should I not +be as happy in Guatemala as in London? As to friends, I do not +know that it will make much difference,--except papa.' + +'It seems to me to make a difference,' said he. + +'I never see anybody now,--neither your people, nor the Wharton +Whartons. Indeed, I see nobody. If it were not for papa I +should be glad to go. I am told that it is a charming country. +I have not found Manchester Square very charming. I am inclined +to think that all the world is very much alike, and that it does +not matter very much where one lives,--or, perhaps, what one +does. But at any rate I am going, and I am very glad to be able +to say good-bye to you before I start.' All this she said +rapidly, in a manner unlike herself. She was forcing herself to +speak so that she might save herself, if possible, from breaking +down in his presence. + +'Of course I came when Mary told me.' + +'Yes;--she was here. Sir Alured did not come. I don't wonder +at that, however. And your mother in town some time ago,--but I +didn't expect her to come. Why should they come? I don't know +whether you might not have better stayed away. Of course I am a +Pariah now; but Pariah as I am, I shall be as good as anyone else +in Guatemala. You have seen Everett since he has been in town, +perhaps?' + +Yes;--I have seen him.' + +'I hope they won't quarrel with Everett because of what I have +done. I have felt that more than all;--that both papa and he +have suffered because of it. Do you know, I think people are +hard. They might have thrown me off without being unkind to +them. It is that that has killed me, Arthur;--that they should +have suffered.' He sat looking at her, not knowing how to +interrupt her, or what to say. There was much that he meant to +say, but he did not know how to begin it, or how to frame his +words. 'When I am gone, perhaps it will be all right,' she +continued. 'When he told me that I was to go, that was my +comfort. I think I have taught myself to think nothing of +myself, to bear it all as a necessity, to put up with it, +whatever it may be, as men bear the thirst in the desert. Thank +God, Arthur, I have no baby to suffer with me. Here,--here, it +is still very bad. When I think of papa creeping in and out of +his house, I sometimes feel that I must kill myself. But our +going will put an end to all that. It is much better that we +should go. I wish we might start to-morrow.' Then she looked up +at him, and saw that tears were running down his face, and as she +looked she heard his sobs. 'Why should you cry, Arthur? He +never cries,--nor do I. When baby died I cried,--but very +little. Tears are vain, foolish things. It has to be borne, and +there is an end of it. When one makes up one's mind to that, one +does not cry. There was a poor woman her the other day whose +husband he had ruined. She wept and bewailed herself till I +pitied her almost more than myself;--but then she had children.' + +'Oh, Emily!' + +'You mustn't call me by my name, because he would be angry. I +have to do, you know, as he tells me. And I do so strive to do +it! Through it all I have an idea that if I do my duty it will +be better for me. There are things, you know, which a husband +may tell you to do, but you cannot do. If he tells me to rob, I +am not to rob;--am I? And now I think of it, you ought not to +be here. He would be very angry, much displeased. But it has +been so pleasant once more to see and old friend.' + +'I care nothing for his anger,' said Arthur moodily. + +'Ah, but I do. I have to care for it.' + +'Leave him! Why don't you leave him?' + +'What!' + +'You cannot deceive me. You do not try to deceive me. You know +that he is altogether unworthy of you.' + +'I will hear nothing of the kind, sir.' + +'How can I speak otherwise when you yourself tell me of your own +misery? Is it possible that I should not know what he is? Would +you have me pretend to think well of him?' + +'You can hold your tongue, Arthur.' + +'No;--I cannot hold my tongue. Have I not held my tongue ever +since you married? And if I am to speak at all, must I not speak +now?' + +'There is nothing to be said that can serve us at all.' + +'Then it shall be said without serving. When I bid you leave +him, it is not that you may come to me. Though I love you better +than all the world put together, I do not mean that at all.' + +'Oh, Arthur! Arthur!' + +'But let your father save you. Only tell him that you will stay +with him, and he will do it. Though I should never see you +again, I could help protect you. Of course, I know,--and you +know. He is--a scoundrel!' + +'I will not hear it,' said she rising from her seat on the sofa +with her hands up to her forehead, but still coming nearer to him +as she moved. + +'Does not your father say the same thing? I will advise nothing +that he does not advise. I would not say a word to you that he +might not hear. I do love you, I have always loved you. But do +you think that I would hurt you with my love?' + +'No;--no;--no!' + +'No, indeed;--but I would have you feel that those who loved you +of old are still anxious for your welfare. You said just now +that you had been neglected.' + +'I spoke of papa and Everett. For myself,--of course, I have +separated myself from everybody.' + +'Never from me. You may be ten times his wife, but you cannot +separate yourself from me. Getting up in the morning and going +to bed at night I still tell myself that you are the one woman +that I love. Stay with us, and you shall be honoured,--as that +man's wife of course, but still as the dearest friend we have.' + +'I cannot stay,' she said. 'He has told me that I am to go, and +I am in his hands. When you have a wife, Arthur, you will wish +her to do your bidding. I hope she will for your sake, without +that pain I have in doing it. Good-bye, dear friend.' + +She put her hand out and he grasped it, and stood for a moment +looking at her. Then he seized her in his arms and kissed her +brow and her lips. 'Oh, Emily, why were you not my wife? My +darling, my darling!' + +She had hardly extricated herself when the door opened, and Lopez +stood in the room. 'Mr Fletcher,' he said, very calmly, 'what is +the meaning of this?' + +'He has come to bid me farewell,' said Emily. 'When going on so +long a journey one likes to see one's old friends,--perhaps for +the last time.' There was something of indifference to his anger +in her tone, and something also of scorn. + +Lopez looked from one to the other, affecting an air of great +displeasure. 'You know, sir,' he said, 'that you cannot be +welcome here.' + +'But he has been welcome,' said his wife. + +'And I look upon your coming as a base act. You are here with +the intention of creating discord between me and my wife.' + +'I am here to tell her that she has a friend to trust to, if she +ever wants a friend,' said Fletcher. + +'And you think that such trust as that would be safer than trust +in her husband? I cannot turn you out of this house, sir, +because it does not belong to me, but I desire you to leave at +once the room which is occupied by my wife.' Fletcher paused a +moment to say good-bye to the poor woman, while Lopez continued +with increased indignation. 'If you do not go at once you will +force me to desire her to retire. She shall not remain in the +same room with you.' + +'Good-bye, Mr Fletcher,' she said, again putting out her hand. + +But Lopez struck it up, not violently, so as to hurt her, but +still with eager roughness. 'Not in my presence,' he said. 'Go, +sire, when I desire you.' + +'God bless you, my friend,' said Arthur Fletcher. 'I pray that I +might live to see you back in the old country.' + +'He was--kissing you,' said Lopez, as soon as the door was shut. + +'He was,' said Emily. + +'And you tell me so to my face, with such an air as that!' + +'What am I to tell you when you ask me? I did not bid him kiss +me.' + +'But afterwards you took his part as his friend.' + +'Why not? I should lie to you if I pretended that I was angry +with him for what he did.' + +'Perhaps you will tell me that you love him.' + +'Of course I love him. There are different kinds of love, +Ferdinand. There is that which a woman gives to a man when she +would fain mate with him. It is the sweetest love of all, if it +would only last. And there is another love,--which is not +given, but which is won, perhaps through long years, by old +friends. I have none older than Arthur Fletcher, and none who +are dearer to me.' + +'And you think it right that he should take you in his arms and +kiss you?' + +'On such an occasion, I could not blame him.' + +'You were ready enough to receive it, perhaps.' + +'Well, I was. He has loved me well, and I shall never see him +again. He is very dear to me, and I was parting from him for +ever. It was the first and the last, and I did not grudge it to +him. You must remember, Ferdinand, that you are taking me across +the world from all my friends.' + +'Psha,' he said, 'that is all over. You are not going anywhere +that I know of,--unless it be out onto the streets when your +father shuts his door on you.' And so saying he left the room +without another word. + + + +CHAPTER 60 + +THE TENWAY JUNCTION. + +And thus the knowledge was conveyed to Mrs Lopez that her fate in +life was not to carry her to Guatemala. At the very moment in +which she had been summoned to meet Arthur Fletcher she had been +busy with her needle preparing that almost endless collection of +garments necessary for a journey of many days at sea. And now +she was informed, by a chance expression, by a word aside, as it +were, that the journey was not to be made. 'That is all over,' +he had said,--and then had left her, telling her nothing +further. Of course she stayed her needle. Whether the last word +had been true or false, she could not work again, at any rate +till it had been contradicted. If it were so, what was to be her +fate? One thing was certain to her,--that she could not remain +under her father's roof. It was impossible that an arrangement +so utterly distasteful as the present one, both on to her father +and to herself, should be continued. But where then should they +live,--and of what nature would her life be should she be +separated from her father? + +That evening she saw her father, and he corroborated her +husband's statement. 'It is all over now,' he said,--'that +scheme of his of going to superintend the mines. The mines don't +want him, and won't have him. I can't say I wonder at it.' + +'What are we to do, papa?' + +'Ah;--that I cannot say. I suppose he will condescend still to +honour me with his company. I do not know why he should wish to +go to Guatemala or elsewhere. He has everything here that he can +want.' + +'You know, papa, that that is impossible.' + +'I cannot say what with him is possible or impossible. He is +bound by none of the ordinary rules of mankind.' + +That evening Lopez returned to his dinner at Manchester Square, +which was still regularly served for him and his wife, though the +servants who attended upon him did so under silent and oft- +repeated protest. He said not a word more as to Arthur Fletcher, +nor did her seek any ground of quarrel with his wife. But that +he continued melancholy and dejection made anything like good- +humour impossible, even on his part, he would have been good- +humoured. When they were alone, she asked him as to their future +destiny. 'Papa tells me you are not going,' she began saying. + +'Did I not tell you so this morning?' + +'Yes; you said so. But I did not know you were in earnest. Is +it all over?' + +'All over;--I suppose.' + +'I should have thought that you would have told me with more,-- +more seriousness.' + +'I don't know what you would have. I was serious enough. The +fact is, that your father has delayed so long the payment of the +promised money that the thing has fallen through of necessity. I +do not know that I can blame the Company.' + +Then there was a pause. 'And now,' she said, 'what do you mean +to do?' + +'Upon my word I cannot say. I am quite as much in the dark as +you can be.' + +'That is nonsense, Ferdinand.' + +'Thank you! Let it be nonsense if you will. It seems to me that +there is a great deal of nonsense going on in the world; but very +little of it as true as what I say now.' + +'But it is your duty to know. Of course you cannot stay here.' + +'Nor you, I suppose,--without me.' + +'I am not speaking of myself. If you choose, I can remain here.' + +'And--just throw me overboard altogether.' + +'If you provide another home for me, I will go to it. However +poor it may be I will go to it, if you bid me. But for you,--of +course you cannot stay here.' + +'Has your father told you to say so to me?' + +'No;--but I can say so without his telling me. You are +banishing him from his own house. He has put up with it while he +thought that you were going to this foreign country; but there +must be an end of that now. You must have some scheme of life.' + +'Upon my soul I have none.' + +'You must have some intentions for the future.' + +'None in the least. I have had intentions, and they have failed; +--from want of that support which I had a right to expect. I +have struggled and I have failed, and now I have got no +intention. What are yours?' + +'It is not my duty to have any purpose, as what I do must depend +on your commands.' Then again there was a silence, during which +he lit a cigar, although he was sitting in the drawing-room. +This was a profanation of the room on which he had never ventured +before, but at the present moment she was unable to notice it by +any words. 'I must tell papa,' she said after a while, 'what our +plans are.' + +'You can tell him what you please. I have literally nothing to +say to him. If he will settle an adequate income on us, payable +of course to me, I will go and live elsewhere. If he turns me +out in the street without provision, he must turn you out too. +That is all I have got to say. It will come better from you than +from me. I am sorry, of course, that things have gone wrong with +me. When I found myself the son-in-law of a very rich man I +thought that I might spread my wings a bit. But my rich father- +in-law threw me over, and now I am helpless. You are not very +cheerful, and I think I'll go down to the club.' + +He went out of the house and did go down to the Progress. The +committee which was to be held with the view of judging whether +he was or was not a proper person to remain a member of that +assemblage had not yet been held, and there was nothing to impede +his entrance to the club, or the execution of the command which +he gave for tea and buttered toast. But no one spoke to him; +nor, though he affected a look of comfort, did he find himself +much at his ease. Among the members of the club there was a much +divided opinion whether he should be expelled or not. There was +a strong party who declared that his conduct socially, morally, +and politically, had been so bad that nothing short of expulsion +would meet the case. But there were others who said that no act +had been proved against him which the club ought to notice. He +had, no doubt, shown himself to be a blackguard, a man without a +spark of honour or honesty. But then,--as they said who thought +his position in the club to be unassailable,--what had the club +to do with that? 'If you turn out all the blackguards and all +the dishonourable men, where will the club be?' was a question +asked with a great deal of vigour by one middle-aged gentleman +who was supposed to know the club-world very thoroughly. He had +committed no offence which the law could recognize and punish, +nor had he sinned against the club rules. 'He is not required to +be a man of honour by any regulation of which I am aware,' said +the middle-aged gentleman. The general opinion seemed to be that +he should be asked to go, and that, if he declined, no one should +speak to him. This penalty was already inflicted on him, for on +the evening in question no one did speak to him. + +He drank his tea and ate his toast and read a magazine, striving +to look as comfortable and as much at his ease as men at their +clubs generally are. He was not a bad actor, and those who saw +him and made reports as to his conduct on the following day +declared that he had apparently been quite indifferent to the +disagreeable incident of his position. But his indifference had +been mere acting. His careless manner with his wife had been all +assumed. Selfish as he was, void as he was of all principle, +utterly unmanly and even unconscious of the worth of manliness, +still he was alive to the opinions of others. He thought that +the world did not understand the facts of his case, and that the +world generally would have done as he had done in similar +circumstances. He did not know that there was such a quality as +honesty, nor did he understand what the word meant. But he did +know that some men, an unfortunate class, became subject to evil +report from others who were more successful, and he was aware +that he had become one of those unfortunates. Nor could he see +any remedy for his position. It was all blank and black before +him. It may be doubted whether he got much instruction or +amusement from the pages of the magazine which he turned. + +At about twelve o'clock he left the club and took his way +homewards. But he did not go straight home. It was a nasty cold +March night, with a catching wind, and occasional short showers +of something between snow and rain,--as disagreeable a night for +a gentleman to walk in as one could well conceive. But he went +round by Trafalgar Square, and along the Strand, and up some +dirty streets by the small theatres, and so on to Holborn and by +Bloomsbury Square up to Tottenham Court Road, and then through +some unused street into Portland Place, along the Marylebone +Road, and back to Manchester Square by Baker Street. He had more +than doubled the distance,--apparently without any object. He +had been spoken to frequently by unfortunates of both sexes, but +had answered a word to no one. He had trudged on and on with his +umbrella over his head, but almost unconscious of the cold and +wet. And yet he was a man sedulously attentive to his own +personal comfort and health, who had at any rate shown this +virtue in his mode of living, that he had never subjected himself +to danger by imprudence. But now the working of his mind kept +him warm, and, if not dry, at least indifferent to the damp. He +had thrown aside with affected nonchalance those questions which +his wife had asked him, but still it was necessary that he should +answer them. He did not suppose that he could continue to live +in Manchester Square in his present condition. Nor, if it was +necessary that he should wander forth into the world, could he +force his wife to wander with him. If he would consent to leave +her, his father-in-law would probably give him something,--some +allowance on which he might exist. But then of what sort would be +his life? + +He did not fail to remind himself over and over again that he had +nearly succeeded. He had been the guest of the Prime Minister, +and had been the nominee chosen by a Duchess to represent her +husband's borough in Parliament. He had been intimate with Mills +Happerton who was fast becoming a millionaire. He had married +much above himself in every way. He had achieved a certain +popularity and was conscious of intellect. But at the present +moment two or three sovereigns in his pocket were the extent of +his worldly wealth and his character was utterly ruined. He +regarded his fate as does a card-player who day after day holds +sixes and sevens when other men have aces and kings. Fate was +against him. He saw no reason why he should not have had he aces +and kings continually, especially as fate had given him perhaps +more than his share of them at first. He had, however, lost +rubber after rubber,--not paying his stakes for some of the last +rubbers lost,--till the players would play with him no longer. +The misfortune might have happened to any man;--but it had +happened to him. There was no beginning again. A possible small +allowance and some very retired and solitary life, in which there +would be no show of honour, no flattery coming to him, was all +that was left to him. + +He let himself in at the house, and found his wife still awake. +'I am wet to the skin,' he said, 'I made up my mind to walk, and +I would do it;--but I am a fool for my pains.' She made him +some feeble answer, affecting to be half asleep, and merely +turned in her bed. 'I must be out early in the morning. Mind +you made them dry my things. They never do anything for my +telling.' + +'You don't want them dried to-night?' + +'Not to-night, of course;--but after I am gone to-morrow. +They'll leave them there without putting a hand to them, if you +don't speak. I must be off before breakfast to-morrow.' + +'Where are you going? Do you want anything packed?' + +'No; nothing. I shall be back for dinner. But I must go down to +Birmingham, to see a friend of Happerton's on business. I will +breakfast at the station. As you said to-day, something must be +done. If it's necessary to sweep a crossing, I must sweep it.' + +As she lay awake while he slept, she thought that those last +words were the best she had heard from him since they were +married. There seemed to be some indication of purpose in them. +If he would only sweep a crossing as a man should sweep it, she +would stand by him, and at any rate do her duty to him, in spite +of all that had happened. Alas! she was not old enough to have +learned that a dishonest man cannot begin even to sweep a +crossing honestly till he have in very truth repented of his +former dishonesty. The lazy man may become lazy no longer, but +there must have been first a process through his mind whereby his +laziness has become odious to him. And that process can hardly +be the immediate result of misfortune arising from misconduct. +Had Lopez found his crossing at Birmingham he would hardly have +swept it well. + +Early on the following morning he was up, and before he left his +room he kissed his wife. 'Good-bye, old girl,' he said, 'don't +be down-hearted.' + +'If you have anything before you to do, I will not be down- +hearted,' she said. + +'I shall have something to do before night, I think. Tell your +father, when you see him, that I shall not trouble him here much +longer. But tell him also, that I have no thanks to give him for +his hospitality.' + +'I will not tell him that, Ferdinand.' + +'He shall know it though. But I do not mean to be cross to you. +Good-bye, love.' Then he stooped over and kissed her again;-- +and so he took his leave of her. + +It was raining hard, and when he got into the street he looked +about for a cab, but there was none to be found. In Baker Street +he got an omnibus which took him down to the underground railway, +and by that he went to Gower Street. Through the rain he walked +up to the Euston Station, and there he ordered breakfast. Could +he have a mutton chop and some tea? And he was very particular +that the mutton chop should be well cooked. He was a good- +looking man, of fashionable appearance, and the young lady who +attended him noticed him and was courteous to him. He +condescended even to have a little light conversation with her, +and, on the whole, he seemed to enjoy his breakfast. 'Upon my +word. I should like to breakfast here every say of my life,' he +said. The young lady assured him that, as far as she could see, +there was no objection to such an arrangement. 'Only it's a +bore, you know, coming out in the rain when there are no cabs,' +he said. Then there were various little jokes between them, till +the young lady was quite impressed with the gentleman's pleasant +affability. + +After a while he went back into the hall and took a first-class +return ticket not for Birmingham, but for the Tenway Junction, as +everybody knows it. From this spot, some six or seven miles +distant from London, lines diverge east, west, and north, north- +east, and north-west, round the metropolis in every direction, +and with direct communication with every other line in and out of +London. It is marvellous place, quite unintelligible to the +uninitiated, and yet daily used by thousands who only know that +when they get there, they are to do what someone tells them. The +space occupied by the convergent rails seems to be sufficient for +a large farm. And these rails always run into one another with +sloping points, and cross passages, and mysterious meandering +sidings, till it seems to the thoughtful stranger to be +impossible that the best-trained engine should know its own line. +Here and there and around there is ever a wilderness of waggons, +some loaded, some empty, some smoking with close-packed oxen, and +others furlongs in length black with coals, which look as though +they had been stranded there by chance, and were never destined +to get again into the right path of traffic. Not a minute passes +without a train going here or there, some rushing by without +noticing Tenway in the least, crashing through like flashes of +substantial lightning, and others stopping, disgorging and taking +up passengers by the hundreds. Men and women,--especially the +men, for the women knowing their ignorance are generally willing +to trust to the pundits of the place,--look doubtful, uneasy, +and bewildered. But they all do get properly placed and +unplaced, so that the spectator at last acknowledges that over +all this apparent chaos there is presiding a great genius of +order. From dusky morn to dark night, and indeed almost +throughout the night, the air is loaded with a succession of +shrieks. The theory goes that each separate shriek,--if there +can be any separation where the sound is so nearly continuous,-- +is a separate notice to separate ears of the coming or going of a +separate train. The stranger, as he speculates on these +pandemoniac noises, is able to realize the idea that were they +discontinued the excitement necessary for the minds of the +pundits might be lowered, and that activity might be lessened, +and evil results might follow. But he cannot bring himself to +credit that theory of individual notices. + +At Tenway Junction there are a half-a-dozen long platforms, on +which men and women and luggage are crowded. On one of these for +a while Ferdinand Lopez walked backwards and forwards as though +waiting for the coming of some especial train. The crowd is ever +so great that a man might be supposed to walk there from morning +to nigh without exciting special notice. But the pundits are +very clever, and have much experience in men and women. A well- +taught pundit, who has exercised authority for a year or two at +such a station as that of Tenway, will know within a minute of +the appearance of each stranger what is his purpose there,-- +whether he be going or has just come, whether he is himself on +the way or waiting for others, whether he should be treated with +civility or with some curt command,--so that if his purport be +honest all necessary assistance may be rendered him. As Lopez +was walking up and down, with a smiling face and leisurely pace, +now reading an advertisement and now watching the contortions of +some amazed passenger, a certain pundit asked him his business. +He was waiting, he said, for a train from Liverpool, intending, +when his friend arrived, to go with him to Dulwich by a train +which went round the west of London. It was all feasible, and +the pundit told him that the stopping train from Liverpool was +due there in six minutes, but that the express from the north +would pass first. Lopez thanked the pundit and gave him +sixpence,--which made the pundit suspicious. A pundit hopes to +be paid when he handles luggage, but has no such expectation when +he merely gives information. + +The pundit still had his eye on our friend when the shriek and +the whirr of the express from the north was heard. Lopez walked +quickly up towards the edge of the platform, when the pundit +followed him, telling him that this was not his train. Lopez +then ran a few yards along the platform, not noticing the man, +reaching a spot that was unoccupied:--and there he stood fixed. +And as he stood the express flashed by. 'I am fond of seeing +them pass like that,' said Lopez to the man who had followed him. + +'But you shouldn't do it, sir,' said the suspicious pundit. 'No +one isn't allowed to stand near like that. The very hair of it +might take you off your legs when you're not used to it.' + +'All right, old fellow,' said Lopez retreating. The next train +was the Liverpool train; and it seemed that our friend's friend +had not come, for when the Liverpool passengers had cleared +themselves off, he was still walking up and down the platform. +'He'll come by the next,' said Lopez to the pundit, who now +followed him about and kept an eye on him. + +'There ain't another from Liverpool stopping here till the 2.20,' +said the pundit. 'You had better come again if you mean to meet +him by that.' + +'He has come part of the way, and will reach this by some other +train,' said Lopez. + +'There ain't nothing he can come by,' said the pundit. +'Gentlemen can't wait here all day, sir. The horders is against +waiting on the platform.' + +'All right,' said Lopez, moving away as though to make exit +through the station. + +Now, Tenway Junction is so big a place, and so scattered, that it +is impossible that all the pundits should by any combined +activity maintain to the letter the order of which our special +pundit had spoken. Lopez, departing from the platform which he +had hitherto occupied, was soon to be seen on another, walking up +and down, and again waiting. But the old pundit had his eye on +him, and had followed him round. At that moment there came a +shriek louder than all the other shrieks, and the morning express +down from Euston to Inverness was seen coming round the curve at +a thousand miles an hour. Lopez turned round and looked at it, +and again walked towards the edge of the platform but now it was +not exactly the edge that he neared, but a descent to a pathway, +--an inclined plane leading down to the level of the rails, and +made there for certain purposes of traffic. As he did so the +pundit called to him, and then made a rush at him,--for our +friend's back was turned to the coming train. But Lopez heeded +not the call, and the rush was too late. With quick, but still +with gentle and apparently unhurried steps, he walked down before +the flying engine--and in a moment had been knocked into bloody +atoms. + + + + + +VOLUME III + + + +CHAPTER 61 + +THE WIDOW AND HER FRIENDS. + +The catastrophe described in the last chapter had taken place +during the first week in March. By the end of that month old Mr +Wharton had probably reconciled himself to the tragedy, although +in fact it had affected him very deeply. In the first days after +the news had reached him he seemed to be bowed to the ground. +Stone Buildings were neglected, and the Eldon saw nothing of him. +Indeed, he barely left the house from which he had been so long +banished by the presence of his son-in-law. It seemed to +Everett, who now came to live with him and his sister, as though +his father was overcome by the horror of the affair. But after a +while he recovered himself, and appeared one morning in court +with his wig and gown, and argued a case,--which was now unusual +with him,--as though to show the world that a dreadful episode +in his life was passed, and should be thought of no more. At +this period, three or four weeks after the occurrence,--he +rarely spoke to his daughter about Lopez; but to Everett the +man's name would often be on his tongue. 'I do not know that +there could have been any other deliverance,' he said to his son +one day. 'I thought it would have killed me when I first heard +it, and it nearly killed her. But, at any rate, now there is +peace.' + +But the widow seemed to feel it more as time went on. At first +she was stunned, and for a while absolutely senseless. It was +not till two days after the occurrence that the fact became known +to her,--not known as a certainty to her father and brother. It +seemed as though the man had been careful to carry with him no +record of identity, the nature of which would permit it to +outlive the crush of the train. No card was found, no scrap of +paper with his name; and it was discovered at last that when he +left the house on the fatal morning he had been careful to dress +himself in shirt and socks, with handkerchief and collar that had +been newly purchased for his proposed journey and which bore no +mark. The fragments of his body set identity at defiance, and +even his watch had been crumpled into ashes. Of course the fact +became certain with no great delay. The man himself was missing, +and was accurately described both by the young lady from the +refreshment room, and by the suspicious pundit who had actually +seen the thing done. There was first belief that it was so, +which was not communicated to Emily,--and then certainty. + +There was an inquest held of course,--well, we will say on the +body,--and, singularly enough, great difference of opinion as to +the manner, though of course none as to the immediate cause of +the death. Had it been accidental, or premeditated? The pundit, +who in the performance of his duties on the Tenway platform was +so efficient and valuable, gave half-a-dozen opinions in half-a- +dozen minutes when subjected to the questions of the Coroner. In +his own mind he had not the least doubt in the world as to what +had happened. But he was made to believe that he was not to +speak his own mind. The gentleman, he said, certainly might have +walked down by accident. The gentleman's back was turned, and it +was possible that the gentleman did not hear the train. He was +quite certain that the gentleman knew of the train; but yet he +could not say. The gentleman walked down before the train +o'purpose; but perhaps he didn't mean to do himself an injury. +There was a deal of this, till the Coroner, putting all his wrath +into his brow, told the man that he was a disgrace to the +service, and expressed a hope that the Company would no longer +employ a man so evidently unfit for his position. But the man +was in truth a conscientious and useful pundit, with a large +family, and evident capabilities for his business. At last a +verdict was given,--that the man's name was Ferdinand Lopez, +that he had been crushed by an express train on the London and +North Western Line, and that there was no evidence to show how +his presence on the line had been occasioned. Of course, Mr +Wharton had employed counsel, and of course the counsel's object +had been to avoid a verdict of felo de se. Appended to the +verdict was a recommendation from the jury that the Railway +Company should be advised to signalize their express trains at +the Tenway Junction Station. + +When these tidings were told to the widow she had already given +way to many fears. Lopez had gone, purporting, as he said,--to +be back to dinner. He had not come then, nor on the following +morning, nor had he written. Then she remembered all that he had +done and said;--how he had kissed her, and left a parting +malediction for her father. She did not at first imagine that he +had destroyed himself, but that he had gone away, intending to +vanish as other men before now had vanished. As she thought of +this something almost like love came back upon her heart. Of +course he was bad. Even in her sorrow, even when alarmed as to +his fate, she could not deny that. But her oath to him had not +been to love him only while he was good. She had made herself a +part of him, and was she not bound to be true to him, whether +good or bad? She implored her father and she implored her +brother to be ceaseless in their endeavours to trace him,-- +sometimes seeming almost to fear that in this respect she could +not fully trust them. Then she discerned from their manner a +doubt as to her husband's fate. 'Oh, papa, if you think +anything, tell me what you think,' she said late on the evening +of the second day. He was then nearly sure that the man who had +been killed at Tenway was Ferdinand Lopez;--but he was not quite +sure, and he would not tell her. But on the following morning, +somewhat before noon, having himself gone out early to Euston +Square, he came back to his own house,--and then he told her +all. For the first hour she did not shed a tear or lose her +consciousness of the horror of the thing;--but sat still and +silent, gazing at nothing, casting back her mind over the history +of her life, and the misery which she had brought to all who +belonged to her. Then at last she gave way, fell into tears, +hysteric sobbings, convulsions so violent as for a time to take +the appearance of epileptic fits, and was at last exhausted and, +happily for herself, unconscious. + +After that she was ill for many weeks,--so ill that at times +both her father and her brother thought that she would die. When +the first month or six weeks had passed by she would often speak +of her husband, especially to her father, and always speaking of +him as though she had brought him to his untimely fate. Nor +could she endure at this time that her father should say a word +against him, even when she obliged the old man to speak of one +whose conduct had been so infamous. It had all been her doing! +Had she not married him there would have been no misfortune! She +did not say that he had been noble, true, or honest,--but she +asserted that all the evils which had come upon him had been +produced by herself. 'My dear,' her father said to her one +evening, 'it is a matter which we cannot forget, but on which it +is well that we should be silent.' + +'I shall always know what that silence means,' she replied. + +'It will never mean condemnation of you by me,' said he. + +'But I have destroyed your life,--and his, I know. I ought not +to have married him, because you bade me not. And I know that I +should have been gentler with him, and more obedient when I was +his wife. I sometimes wish that I were a Catholic, and that I +could go into a convent, and bury it all amidst sackcloths and +ashes.' + +'That would not bury it,' said her father. + +'But I should at least be buried. If I were out of sight, you +might forget it all.' + +She once stirred Everett up to speak more plainly than her father +ever dared to do, and then also she herself used language that +was very plain. 'My darling,' said her brother once, when she +had been trying to make out that her husband had been more sinned +against than sinning,--'he was a bad man. It is better that the +truth should be said.' + +'And who is a good man?' she said, raising herself in her bed and +looking at him full in the face with her deep-sunken eyes. 'If +there be any truth in our religion, are we not all bad? Who is +to tell the shades of difference of badness? He was not a +drunkard, or a gambler. Through it all he was true to his wife.' +She, poor creature, was ignorant of the little scene in the +little street near Mayfair, in which Lopez had offered to carry +Lizzie Eustace away with him to Guatemala. 'He was industrious. +His ideas about money were not the same as yours or papa's. How +was he worse than others? It happened that his faults were +distasteful to you--and so, perhaps, his virtues.' + +'His faults, such as they were, brought all these miseries.' + +'He would have been successful now if he had never seen me. But +why should we talk of it? We shall never agree. And you, +Everett, can never understand all that has passed through my mind +during the last two years.' + +There were two or three persons who attempted to see her at this +period, but she avoided them all. First came Mrs Roby, who as +her nearest neighbour, as her aunt, and as an aunt who had been +so nearly allied to her, had almost a right to demand admittance. +But she would not see Mrs Roby. She sent down word to say that +she was too ill. And when Mrs Roby wrote to her, she got her +father to answer the note. 'You had better let it drop,' the old +man said at last to his sister-in-law. 'Of course she remembers +that it was you who brought them together.' + +'But I didn't bring them together, Mr Wharton. How often am I to +tell you so? It was Everett brought Mr Lopez here.' + +'The marriage was made up in your house, and it has destroyed me +and my child. I will not quarrel with my wife's sister if I can +help it, but at present you had better keep apart.' Then he had +left her abruptly, and Mrs Roby had not dared either to write or +call again. + +At this time Arthur Fletcher saw both Everett and Mr Wharton +frequently, but he did not go to the Square, contenting himself +with asking whether he might be allowed to do so. 'Not yet, +Arthur,' said the old man. 'I am sure she thinks you one of her +best friends, but she could not see you yet.' + +'She would have nothing to fear,' said Arthur. 'We knew each +other when we were children, and I should be now only as I was +then.' + +'Not yet, Arthur, not yet,' said the barrister. + +Then there came a letter, or rather two letters from Mary +Wharton;--one to Mr Wharton and the other to Emily. To tell the +truth as to these letters, they contained the combined wisdom and +tenderness of Wharton Hall and Longbarns. As soon as the fate of +Lopez had been ascertained and thoroughly discussed in +Hertfordshire, there went forth an edict that Emily had suffered +punishment sufficient and was to be forgiven. Old Mrs Fletcher +did not come to this at once,--having some deep-seated feeling +which she did not dare to express even to her son, though she +muttered it to her daughter-in-law, that Arthur would be +disgraced for ever if he were to marry the widow of such a man as +Ferdinand Lopez. But when this question of receiving Emily back +into family favour was mooted in the Longbarns Parliament no one +alluded to the possibility of such a marriage. There was the +fact that she whom they all had loved had been freed by a great +tragedy from the husband whom they all had condemned,--and also +the knowledge that the poor victim had suffered greatly during +the period of her married life. Mrs Fletcher had frowned, and +shaken her head, and made a little speech about the duties of +women, and the necessarily fatal consequences when those duties +are neglected. There were present there, with the old lady, John +Fletcher and his wife, Sir Alured and Lady Wharton, and Mary +Wharton. Arthur was not in the county, nor could the discussion +have been held in his presence. 'I can only say,' said John, +getting up and looking away from his mother, 'that she shall +always find a home at Longbarns when she chooses to come here, +and I hope Sir Alured will say the same as to Wharton Hall.' +After all, John Fletcher was king in these parts, and Mrs +Fletcher, with many noddings and some sobbing, had to give way to +King John. The end of all this was that Mary Wharton wrote her +letters. In that to Mr Wharton she asked whether it would not be +better that her cousin should change the scene and come at once +into the country. Let her come and stay a month at Wharton, then +go onto Longbarns. She might be sure that there would be no +company at either house. In June the Fletchers would go to town +for a week, and then Emily might return to Wharton Hall. It was +a long letter, and Mary gave many reasons why the poor sufferer +would be better in the country than in town. The letter to Emily +herself was shorter, but full of affection. 'Do, do do come. +You know how we all love you. Let it be as it used to be. You +always liked the country. I will devote myself to try and +comfort you.' But Emily could not as yet submit to receive +devotion even from her cousin Mary. Through it all, and under it +all,--though she would ever defend her husband because he was +dead,--she knew that she had disgraced the Whartons and brought +a load of sorrow upon the Fletchers, and she was too proud to be +forgiven so quickly. + +Then she received another tender of affection from a quarter +whence she certainly did not expect it. The Duchess of Omnium +wrote to her. The Duchess, though she had lately been +considerably restrained by the condition of the Duke's mind, and +by the effects of her own political and social mistakes, still +from time to time made renewed efforts to keep together the +Coalition by giving dinners, balls, and garden parties, and by +binding to herself the gratitude and worship of young +parliamentary aspirants. In carrying out her plans, she had +lately showered her courtesies upon Arthur Fletcher, who had been +made welcome even by the Duke as the sitting member for +Silverbridge. With Arthur she had of course discussed the +conduct of Lopez as to the election bills, and had been very loud +in condemning him. And from Arthur also she had heard something +of the sorrows of Emily Lopez. Arthur had been very desirous +that the Duchess, who had received them both at her house, should +distinguish between the husband and the wife. Then had come the +tragedy, to which the notoriety of the man's conduct of course +gave additional interest. It was believed that Lopez had +destroyed himself because of the disgrace which had fallen upon +him from the Silverbridge affair. And for much of that +Silverbridge affair the Duchess herself was responsible. She +waited till a couple of months had gone by, and then, in the +beginning of May, sent to the widow what was intended to be, and +indeed was, a very kind note. The Duchess had heard the sad +story with the greatest grief. She hoped that Mrs Lopez would +permit her to avail herself of a short acquaintance to express +her sincere sympathy. She would not venture to call as yet, but +hoped that before long she might be allowed to come to Manchester +Square. + +This note touched the poor woman to whom it was written, not +because she herself was solicitous to be acquainted with the +Duchess of Omnium, but because the application seemed to her to +contain something like an acquittal, or at any rate a pardon, of +her husband. His sin in that measure of the Silverbridge +election,--a sin which her father had been loud in denouncing +before the wretch had destroyed himself,--had been specially +against the Duke of Omnium. And now the Duchess came forward to +say that it should be forgiven and forgotten. When she showed +the letter to her father, and asked him what she should say in +answer to it, he only shook his head. 'It is meant for kindness, +papa.' + +'Yes;--I think it is. There are people who have no right to be +kind to me. If a man stopped me in the street and offered me a +half-a-crown it might be kindness,--but I don't want the man's +half--crown.' + +'I don't think it is the same, papa. There is a reason here.' + +'Perhaps so, my dear, but I do not see the reason.' + +She became very red, but even to him she would not explain her +ideas. 'I think I shall answer it.' + +'Certainly answer it. Your compliments to the Duchess and thank +her for her kind inquiries.' + +'But she says she will come here.' + +'I should not notice that.' + +'Very well, papa. If you think so, of course I will not. +Perhaps it would be an inconvenience, if she were really to +come.' On the next day she did write a note, not quite so cold +as that which her father proposed, but still saying nothing as to +the offered visit. She felt, she said, very grateful for the +Duchess's kind remembrance of her. The Duchess would perhaps +understand that at present her sorrow overwhelmed her. + +And there was one other tender of kindness which was more +surprising than even that from the Duchess. The reader may +perhaps remember that Ferdinand Lopez and Lady Eustace had not +parted when they last saw each other on the pleasantest terms. +He had been very affectionate; but when he had proposed to devote +his whole life to her and to carry her off to Guatemala she had +simply told him that he was--a fool. Then he had escaped from +her house and had never again seen Lizzie Eustace. She had not +thought very much about it. Had he returned to her the next day +with some more tempting proposition for making money she would +have listened to him,--and had he begged her pardon for what had +taken place on the former day she would have merely laughed. She +was not more offended than she would have been had he asked her +for half her fortune instead of her person and her honour. But, +as it was, he had escaped and had never again shown himself in +the little street near May Fair. Then she had the tidings of his +death, first seeing the account in a very sensational article +from the pen of Mr Quintus Slide himself. She was immediately +filled with an intense interest which was infinitely increased by +the fact that the man had but a few days before declared himself +to be her lover. It was bringing her almost as near the event as +though she had seen it! She was, perhaps, entitled to think that +she had caused it! Nay;--in one sense she had caused it, for he +certainly would not have destroyed himself had she consented to +go with him to Guatemala or elsewhere. And she knew his wife. +An uninteresting, dowdy creature she had called her. But, +nevertheless, they had been in company together more than once. +So she presented her compliments, and expressed her sorrow, and +hoped that she might be allowed to call. There had been no one +for whom she had felt more sincere respect and esteem than for +her late friend Mr Ferdinand Lopez. To this note there was an +answer written by Mr Wharton himself. + + MADAM, + My daughter is too ill to see even her own friends. +I am, Madam, +Your obedient servant +ABEL WHARTON + +After this, life went on in a very quiet way at Manchester Square +for many weeks. Gradually Mrs Lopez recovered her capability of +attending to the duties of life. Gradually she became again able +to interest herself in her brother's pursuits and in her father's +comforts, and the house returned to its old form as it had been +before these terrible two years, in which the happiness of the +Wharton and Fletcher families had been marred, and scotched, and +almost destroyed for ever by the interference of Ferdinand Lopez. +But Mrs Lopez never for a moment forgot that she had done the +mischief,--and that the black enduring cloud had been created +solely by her own perversity and self-will. Though she would +still defend her late husband if any attack were made upon his +memory, not the less did she feel that hers had been the fault, +though the punishment had come upon them all. + + + +CHAPTER 62 + +PHINEAS FINN HAS A BOOK TO READ. + +The sensation created by the man's death was by no means confined +to Manchester Square, but was very general in the metropolis, +and, indeed, throughout the country. As the catastrophe became +the subject of general conversation, may people learned that the +Silverbridge affair had not, in truth, had much to do with it. +The man had killed himself, as many other men have done before +him, because he had run through his money and had no chance left +of redeeming himself. But to the world at large, the disgrace +brought upon him by the explanation given in Parliament was the +apparent cause of his self-immolation, and there were not wanting +those who felt and expressed a sympathy for a man who could feel +so acutely the affect of his own wrong-doing. No doubt he had +done wrong in asking the Duke for the money. But the request, +though wrong, might almost be justified. There could be no +doubt, these apologists said, that he had been ill-treated +between the Duke and Duchess. No doubt Phineas Finn, who was now +described by some opponents as the Duke's creature, had been able +to make out a story in the Duke's favour. But all the world knew +what was the worth and what was the truth of ministerial +explanations! The Coalition was very strong; and even the +question in the House, which should have been hostile, had been +asked in a friendly spirit. In this way there came to be a +party who spoke and wrote of Ferdinand Lopez as though he had +been a martyr. + +Of course Mr Quintus Slide was in the front rank of these +accusers. He may be said to have led the army which made this +matter a pretext for a special attack on the Ministry. Mr Slide +was especially hostile to the Prime Minister, but he was not less +hotly the enemy of Phineas Finn. Against Phineas Finn he had old +grudges, which, however, age had never cooled. He could, +therefore, write with a most powerful pen when discussing the +death of the unfortunate man, the late candidate for +Silverbridge, crushing his two foes in the single grasp of his +journalistic fist. Phineas had certainly said some hard things +against Lopez, though he had not mentioned the man's name. He +had congratulated the House that it had not been contaminated by +the presence of so base a creature, and he had said that he would +not pause to stigmatize the meanness of the application for money +which Lopez had made. Had Lopez continued to live and to endure +the 'slings and arrows of outrageous fortune', no one would have +ventured to say that these words would have inflicted too severe +a punishment. But death wipes out many faults, and a self- +inflicted death caused by remorse, will, in the minds of many, +wash a blackamoor almost white. Thus it came to pass that some +heavy weapons were hurled at Phineas Finn, but none so heavy as +those hurled by Quintus Slide. Should not this Irish knight, who +was so ready with his lance in the defence of the Prime Minister, +asked Mr Slide, have remembered past events of his own rather +peculiar life? Had not he, too, been poor, and driven in his +poverty to rather questionable straits? Had he not been abject +in his petition for office,--and in what degree were such +petitions less disgraceful than a request for money which had +been hopelessly expended on an impossible object, attempted at +the instance of the great Croesus who, when asked to pay it, had +at once acknowledged the necessity of doing so? Could not Mr +Finn remember that he himself had stood in danger of his life +before a British jury, and that, though he had been, no doubt +properly, acquitted of the crime imputed to him, circumstances +had come out against him during the trial which, if not as +criminal, were at any rate almost as disgraceful? Could he not +have had some mercy on a broken political adventurer who, in his +aspirations for public life, had shown none of that greed by +which Mr Phineas Finn had been characterized in all the relations +of life. As for the Prime Minister, 'We,' as Mr Quintus Slide +always described himself,--'We do not wish to add to the agony +which the fate of Mr Lopez must have brought upon him. He has +hounded that poor man to his death in revenge for the trifling +sum of money which he was called upon to pay for him. It may be +that the first blame lay not with the Prime Minister himself, but +with the Prime Minister's wife. With that we have nothing to do. +The whole thing lies in a nutshell. The bare mention of the name +of her Grace the Duchess in Parliament would have saved the Duke, +at any rate as effectually as he had been saved by his man-of- +all-work, Phineas Finn, and would have saved him without driving +poor Ferdinand Lopez to insanity. But rather than do this he +allowed his servant to make statements about mysterious agents, +which we are justified in stigmatizing as untrue, and to throw +the whole blame where but the least of the blame was due. We all +know the result. It was found in those gory shreds and tatters +of a poor human being with which the Tenway Railway Station was +bespattered.' + +Of course such an article had considerable effect. It was +apparent at once that there was ample room for an action of libel +against the newspaper on the part of Phineas Finn if not on that +of the Duke. But it was equally apparent that Mr Quintus Slide +must have been very well aware of this when he wrote the article. +Such an action, even if successful, may bring with it to the man +punished more of good than evil. Any pecuniary penalty might be +more than recouped by the largeness of advertisement which such +an action would produce. Mr Slide no doubt calculated that he +would carry with him a great body of public feeling by the mere +fact that he had attacked a Prime Minister and a Duke. If he +could only get all the publicans in London to take his paper +because of his patriotic and bold conduct, the fortune of the +paper would be made. There is no better trade than that of +martyrdom, if the would-be martyr knows how far he may +judiciously go, and in what direction. All this Mr Quintus Slide +was supposed to have considered very well. + +And Mr Phineas Finn knew that his enemy had also considered the +nature of the matters which he would have been able to drag into +court if there should be a trial. Allusions, very strong +allusions, had been made to former periods of Mr Finn's life. +And though there was but little, if anything, in the past +circumstances of which he was ashamed,--but little, if anything, +which he thought would subject him personally to the odium of +good men, could they be made accurately known in all their +details,--it would, he was well aware, be impossible that such +accuracy should be achieved. And the story if told inaccurately +would not suit him. And then, there was a reason against any +public proceeding much stronger even than this. Whether the +telling of the story would or would not suit him, it certainly +would not suit others. As has been before remarked, there are +former chronicles respecting Phineas Finn, and in them may be +found adequate cause for this conviction on his part. To no +outsider was this history known better than to Mr Quintus Slide, +and therefore Mr Quintus Slide could dare almost to defy the law. + +But not the less on this account were there many who told Phineas +that he ought to bring the action. Among these none were more +eager than his old friend Lord Chiltern, the Master of the Brake +hounds, a man who really loved Phineas, who also loved the +abstract idea of justice, and who could not endure the thought +that a miscreant should go unpunished. Hunting was over for the +season in the Brake country, and Lord Chiltern rushed up to +London, having this object among others of a very pressing nature +on his mind. His saddler had to be seen,--and threatened,--on +a certain matter touching the horses' backs. A draught of hounds +were being sent down to a friend in Scotland. And there was a +Committee of Masters to sit on the moot question concerning a +neutral covert in the XXX country, of which Committed he was one. +But the desire to punish Slide was almost as strong in his +indignant mind as those other matters referring more especially +to the profession of his life. 'Phineas,' he said, 'you are +bound to do it. If you will allow a fellow like that to say such +things of you, by heaven, any man may say anything of anybody.' + +Now Phineas could hardly explain to Lord Chiltern his objection +to the proposed action. A lady was closely concerned, and that +lady was Lord Chiltern's sister. 'I certainly shall not,' said +Phineas. + +'And why?' + +'Just because he wishes me to do it. I should be falling into +the little pit he has dug for me.' + +'He couldn't hurt you. What have you to be afraid of? Ruat +coelum.' + +'There are certain angels, Chiltern, living up in that heaven +which you wish me to pull about our ears, as to whom, if all +their heart and all their wishes and all their doings could be +known, nothing but praise could be spoken; but who would still be +dragged with soiled wings through the dirt if this man were +empowered to bring witness after witness into court. My wife +would be named. For aught I know your wife.' + +'By G-, he'd find himself wrong there.' + +'Leave a chimney-sweep alone when you see him, Chiltern. Should +he run against you, then remember that it is one of the necessary +penalties of clean linen that it is apt to be soiled.' + +'I'm d-d if I'd let him off.' + +'Yes you would, old fellow. When you come to see clearly what +you would gain and what you would lose, you would not meddle with +him.' + +His wife was at first inclined to think an action should be +taken, but she was more easily convinced than Lord Chiltern. 'I +had not thought,' she said, 'of poor Lady Laura. But is it not +horrible that a man should be able to go on like that, and that +there should be no punishment?' in answer to this he only +shrugged his shoulders. + +But the greatest pressure came upon him from another source. He +did not in truth suffer much himself from what was said in the +"People's Banner". He had become used to the "People's Banner", +and had found out that in no relation of life was he less +pleasantly situated because of the maledictions heaped upon him +in the columns of that newspaper. His position in public life +did not seem to be weakened by them. His personal friends did +not fall off because of them. Those who loved him did not love +him less. It had not been so with him always, but now, at last, +he was hardened against Mr Quintus Slide. But the poor Duke was +by no means equally strong. This attack upon him, this +denunciation of his cruelty, this assurance that he had caused +the death of Ferdinand Lopez, was very grievous to him. It was +not that he really felt himself to be guilty of the man's blood, +but that anyone should say he was guilty. It was of no use to +point out to him that other newspapers had sufficiently +vindicated his conduct in that respect, that it was already +publicly known that Lopez had received payment for those election +expenses from Mr Wharton before the application had been made to +him, and that therefore the man's dishonesty was patent to all +the world. It was equally futile to explain to him that the +man's last act had been in no degree caused by what had been said +in Parliament, but had been the result of continued failures in +life and the final absolute ruin. He fretted and fumed and was +very wretched,--and at last expressed his opinion that legal +steps should be taken to punish the "People's Banner". Now it +had already been acknowledged, on the dictum of no less a man +than Sir Gregory Grogram, the Attorney-General, that the action +for libel, if taken at all, must be taken, not on the part of the +Prime Minister, but on that of Phineas Finn. Sir Timothy Beeswax +had indeed doubted, but it had come to be understood by all the +members of the Coalition that Sir Timothy Beeswax always did +doubt whatever was said by Sir Gregory Grogram. 'The Duke thinks +that something should be done,' said Mr Warburton, the Duke's +private Secretary, to Phineas Finn. + +'Not by me, I hope,' said Phineas Finn. + +'Nobody else can do it. That is to say it must be done in your +name. Of course it would be a Government matter, as far as the +expense goes, and all that.' + +'I am sorry the Duke should think so.' + +'I don't see that it could hurt you.' + +'I am sorry the Duke should think so,' repeated Phineas,-- +'because nothing can be done in my name. I have made up my mind +about it. I think the Duke is wrong in wishing it, and I believe +that were any action taken, we should only be playing into the +hands of that wretched fellow, Quintus Slide. I have long been +conversant with Mr Quintus Slide, and have quite made up my mind +that I will never play upon his pipe. And you may tell the Duke +that there are other reasons. The man referred to my past life, +and in seeking to justify those remarks he would be enabled to +drag before the public circumstances and stories, and perhaps +persons, in a manner that I personally should disregard, but +which, for the sake of others, I am bound to prevent it. You +will explain all this to the Duke?' + +'I am afraid you will find the Duke very urgent.' + +'I must express my great sorrow that I cannot oblige the Duke. I +trust I need hardly say that the Duke has no colleague more +devoted to his interest than I am. Were he to wish me to change +my office, or to abandon it, or to undertake any political duty +within the compass of my small powers, he would find me ready to +obey his behest. But in this matter others are concerned, and I +cannot make my judgement subordinate to his.' The private +Secretary looked very serious, and simply said that he would do +his best to explain these objections to his Grace. + +That the Duke would take his refusal in bad part Phineas felt +nearly certain. He had been a little surprised at the coldness +of the Minister's manner to him after the statement he had made +in the House, and had mentioned the matter to his wife. 'You +hardly know him,' she had said, 'as well as I do.' + +'Certainly not. You ought to know him very intimately, and I +have had but little personal friendship with him. But it was a +moment in which the man might, for the moment, been cordial.' + +'It was not a moment for his cordiality. The Duchess says that +if you want to get a really genial smile from him you must talk +to him about cork soles. I know exactly what she means. He +loves to be simple, but he does not know how to show people that +he likes it. Lady Rosina found him out by accident.' + +'Don't suppose that I am in the least aggrieved,' he had said. +And now he spoke again to his wife in the same spirit. +'Warburton clearly thinks he will be offended, and Warburton, I +suppose, knows his mind.' + +'I don't see why he should. I have been reading it longer, and I +still find it very difficult. Lady Glen has been at work for the +last fifteen years, and sometimes owns that there are passages +she has not mastered yet. I fancy Mr Warburton is afraid of him, +and is a little given to fancy that everybody should bow down to +him. Now if there is anything certain about the Duke it is this, +--that he doesn't want anyone to bow down to him. He hates all +bowing down. + +'I don't think he loves those who oppose him.' + +'It is not the opposition he hates, but the cause in the man's +mind which may produce it. When Sir Orlando opposed him, and he +thought that Sir Orlando's opposition was founded on jealousy, +then he despised Sir Orlando. But had he believed in Sir +Orlando's belief in the new ships, he would have been capable of +pressing Sir Orlando to his bosom, although he might have been +forced to oppose Sir Orlando's ships in the Cabinet.' + +'He is a Sir Bayard to you,' said Phineas, laughing. + +'Rather a Don Quixote, whom I take to have been the better man of +the two. I'll tell you what he is, Phineas, and how he is better +than all the real knights of whom I have read in story. He is a +man altogether without guile, and entirely devoted to his +country. Do not quarrel with him, if you can help it.' + +Phineas had not the slightest desire to quarrel with his chief, +but he did think it to be not improbable that his chief would +quarrel with him. It was notorious to him as a member of the +Cabinet,--as a colleague living with other colleagues by whom +the Prime Minister was coddled, and especially as the husband of +his wife, who lived almost continually with the Prime Minister's +wife,--that the Duke was cut to the quick by the accusation that +he had hounded Ferdinand Lopez to his death. The Prime Minister +had defended himself in the House against the first change by +means of Phineas Finn, and now required Phineas to defend him +from the second charge in another way. This he was obliged to +refuse to do. And then the Minister's private Secretary looked +very grave, and left him with the impression that the Duke would +be much annoyed, if not offended. And already there had grown up +an idea that the Duke would have on the list of his colleagues +none who were personally disagreeable to himself. Though he was +by no means a strong Minister in regard to political measures, or +the proper dominion of his party, still men were afraid of him. +It was not that he would call upon them to resign, but that, if +aggrieved, he would resign himself. Sir Orlando Drought had +rebelled and had tried a fall with the Prime Minister,--and had +greatly failed. Phineas determined that if frowned upon he would +resign, but that he certainly would bring no action for libel +against the "People's Banner". + +A week passed after he had seen Warburton before he by chance +found himself alone with the Prime Minister. This occurred at +the house in Carlton Gardens, at which he was a frequent visitor, +--and could hardly have ceased to be so without being noticed, as +his wife spent half her time there. It was evident to him then +that the occasion was sought for by the Duke. 'Mr Finn,' said +the Duke, 'I wanted to have a word with you.' + +'Certainly,' said Phineas, arresting his steps. + +'Warburton spoke to you about that--that newspaper.' + +'Yes, Duke. He seemed to think that there should be an action +for libel.' + +'I thought so too. It was very bad, you know.' + +'Yes;--it was bad. I have known the "People's Banner" for some +time, and it is always bad.' + +'No doubt;--no doubt. It is bad, very bad. Is it not sad that +there should be such dishonesty, and that nothing can be done to +stop it? Warburton says that you won't hear of an action in your +name?' + +'There are reasons, Duke.' + +'No doubt;--no doubt. Well;--there's an end of it. I own I +think the man should be punished. I am not often vindictive, but +I think that he should be punished. However, I suppose it cannot +be.' + +'I don't see the way.' + +'So be it. So be it. It must be entirely for you to judge. Are +you not longing to get into the country, Mr Finn?' + +'Hardly yet,' said Phineas, surprised. 'It's only June, and we +have two months more of it. What is the use of longing yet?' + +'Two months more!' said the Duke. 'Two months certainly. But +even two months will come to an end. We go down to Matching +quietly,--very quietly,--when the time does come. You must +promise me that you'll come with us. Eh? I make a point of it +Mr Finn.' + +Phineas did promise, and thought that he had succeeded in +mastering one of the difficult passages in that book. + + + +CHAPTER 63 + +THE DUCHESS AND HER FRIEND. + +But the Duke, though he was by far too magnanimous to be angry +with Phineas Finn because Phineas would not fall into his views +respecting the proposed action, was not the less tormented and +goaded by what the newspaper said. The assertion that he had +hounded Ferdinand Lopez to death, that by his defence of himself +he had brought the man's blood on his head, was made and repeated +till those round him did not dare to mention the name of Lopez in +his hearing. Even his wife was restrained and became fearful, +and in her heart of hearts began almost to wish for that +retirement to which he occasionally alluded as a distant Elysium +which he should never be allowed to reach. He was beginning to +have the worn look of an old man. His scanty hair was turning +grey, and his long thin cheeks longer and thinner. Of what he +did when sitting alone in his chamber, either at home or at the +Treasury Chamber, she knew less and less from day to day, and she +began to think that much of the sorrow arose from the fact that +among them they would allow him to do nothing. There was no +special subject now which stirred him to eagerness and brought +upon herself explanations which were tedious and unintelligible +to her, but evidently delightful to him. There were no quints or +semi-tenths now, no aspirations for decimal perfection, no +delightfully fatiguing hours spent in the manipulation of the +multiplication table. And she could not but observe that the old +Duke now spoke to her much less frequently of her husband's +political position than had been his habit. He still came +frequently to the house, but did not often see her. And when he +did see her he seemed to avoid all allusion either to the +political successes or the political reverses of the Coalition. +And even her other special allies seemed to labour under unusual +restraint with her. Barrington Erle seldom told her any news. +Mr Rattler never had a word for her. Warburton, who had ever +been discreet, became almost petrified by discretion. And even +Phineas Finn had grown to be solemn, silent and uncommunicative. +'Have you heard who is the new Prime Minister?' she said to Mrs +Finn one day. + +'Has there been a change?' + +'I suppose so. Everything has become so quiet that I cannot +imagine that Plantagenet is still in office. Do you know what +anybody is doing?' + +'The world is going on very smoothly, I take it.' + +'I hate smoothness. It always means treachery and danger. I +feel sure that there will be a great blow up before long. I +smell it in the air. Don't you tremble for your husband?' + +'Why should I? He likes being in office because it gives him +something to do; but he would never be an idle man. As long as +he has a seat in Parliament, I shall be contented.' + +'To have been Prime Minister is something after all, and they +can't rob him of that,' said the Duchess recurring again to her +own husband. 'I half fancy sometimes that the charm of the thing +is growing up on him.' + +'Upon the Duke?' + +'Yes. He is always talking of the delight he will have in giving +it up. He is always Cincinnatus, going back to his peaches +and his ploughs. But I fear he is beginning to feel that the +salt would be gone out of his life if he ceased to be the first +man in the kingdom. He has never said so, but there is a +nervousness about him when I suggest to him the name of this or +that man as his successor which alarms me. And I think he is +becoming a tyrant with his own men. He spoke the other day of +Lord Drummond almost as though he meant to have him whipped. It +isn't what one expected from him,--is it?' + +'The weight of the load on his mind makes him irritable.' + +'Either that, or having no load. If he had really much to do he +wouldn't surely have time to think so much of that poor wretch +who destroyed himself. Such sensitiveness is simply a disease. +One can never punish any fault in the world if the sinner can +revenge himself upon us by rushing into eternity. Sometimes I +see him shiver and shudder, and then I know he is thinking of +Lopez.' + +'I can understand all that, Lady Glen.' + +'It isn't as it should be, though you can understand it. I'll +bet you a guinea that Sir Timothy Beeswax has to go out before +the beginning of the next Session.' + +'I've no objection. But why Sir Timothy?' + +'He mentioned Lopez's name the other day before Plantagenet. I +heard him. Plantagenet pulled that long face of his, looking as +though he meant to impose silence on the whole world for the next +six weeks. But Sir Timothy is brass itself, a sounding cymbal of +brass that nothing can silence. He went on to declare with that +loud voice of his that the death of Lopez was a good riddance to +bad rubbish. Plantagenet turned away and left the room and shut +himself up. He didn't declare to himself that he would dismiss +Sir Timothy, because that's not the way of his mind. But you'll +see that Sir Timothy will have to go.' + +'That, at any rate, will be a good riddance of bad rubbish' said +Mrs Finn, who did not love Sir Timothy Beeswax. + +Soon after that the Duchess made up her mind that she would +interrogate the Duke of St Bungay as to the present state of +affairs. It was then the end of June, and nearly one of those +long and tedious months had gone by of which the Duke spoke so +feelingly when he asked Phineas Finn to come down to Matching. +Hope had been expressed in more than one quarter that this would +be a short Session. Such hopes are more common in June than in +July, and, though rarely verified, serve to keep up the drooping +spirits of languid senators. 'I suppose we shall be early out of +town, Duke,' she said one day. + +'I think so. I don't see what there is to keep us. It often +happens that ministers are a great deal better in the country +than in London, and I fancy it will be so this year.' + +'You never think of the poor girls who haven't got their husbands +yet.' + +'They should make better use of their time. Besides, they can +get their husbands in the country.' + +'It's quite true that they never get to the end of their labours. +They are not like you members of Parliament who can shut up your +portfolios and go and shoot grouse. They have to keep at their +work spring and summer, autumn and winter,--year after year! +How they must hate the men they persecute!' + +'I don't think we can put off going for their sake.' + +'Men are always selfish, I know. What do you think of +Plantagenet lately?' The question was put very abruptly, without +a moment's notice, and there was no avoiding it. + +'Think of him!' + +'Yes;--what do you think of his condition;--of his happiness, +his health, his capacity of endurance? Will he be able to go on +much longer? Now, my dear Duke, don't stare at me like that. +You know, and I know, that you haven't spoken a word to me for +the last two months. And you know, I know, how many things there +are of which we are both thinking in common. You haven't +quarrelled with Plantagenet?' + +'Quarrelled with him! Good heavens no.' + +'Of course I know you still call him your noble colleague, and +your noble friend, and make one of the same team with him and all +that. But it used to be so much more than that.' + +'It is still much more than that;--much more.' + +'It was you who made him Prime Minister.' + +'No, no, no;--and again no. He made himself Prime Minister by +obtaining the confidence of the House of Commons. There is no +other possible way in which a man can become Prime Minister in +this country.' + +'If I were not very serious at this moment, Duke, I should make +an allusion to the--Marines.' No other human being could have +said this to the Duke of St Bungay, except the young woman whom +he had petted all his life as Lady Glencora. 'But I am very +serious,' she continued, 'and I may say I am not very happy. Of +course the big wigs of a party have to settle among themselves +who shall be their leader, and when this party was formed they +settled, at your advice, that Plantagenet should be the man.' + +'My dear Lady Glencora, I cannot allow that to pass without +contradiction.' + +'Do not suppose that I am finding fault, or ever that I am +ungrateful. No one rejoiced as I rejoiced. No one still feels +so much pride in it as I feel. I would have given ten years of +my life to keep him so. It is like it was to be king, when men +struggled among themselves who should be king. Whatever he may +be, I am ambitious. I love to think that other men should look +at him as being above them, and that something of this should +come down upon me as his wife. I do not know whether it was not +the happiest moment of my life when he told me that the Queen had +sent for him.' + +'It was not so with him.' + +'No, Duke,--no! He and I are very different. He only wants to +be useful. At any rate, that was all he did want.' + +'He is still the same.' + +'A man cannot always be carrying a huge load up a hill without +having his back bent.' + +'I don't know that the load need be so heavy, Duchess.' + +'Ah, but what is the load? It is not going to the Treasury +Chambers at eleven or twelve in the morning and sitting four or +five times a week in the House of Lords till seven or eight +o'clock. He was never ill when he would remain in the House of +Commons till two in the morning, and not have a decent dinner +above twice in the week. The load I speak of isn't work.' + +'What is it then?' said the Duke, who in truth understood it all +nearly as well as the Duchess herself. + +'It is hard to explain, but it is very heavy.' + +'Responsibility, my dear, will always be very heavy.' + +'But it is hardly that;--certainly not that alone. It is the +feeling that so many people blame him for so many things, and the +doubt in his own mind whether he may not deserve it. And then he +becomes fretful, and conscious that such fretfulness is beneath +him, and injurious to his honour. He condemns men in his mind, +and condemns himself for condescending to condemn them. He +spends one quarter of an hour thinking that as he is Prime +Minister he will be Prime Minister down to his fingers' ends, and +the next in resolving that he never ought to have been Prime +Minister at all.' Here something like a frown passed across the +old man's brow, which was, however, no indication of anger. +'Dear Duke,' she said, 'you must not be angry with me. Who is +there to whom I can speak but you?' + +'Angry, my dear! No, indeed!' + +'Because you looked as though you would scold me.' At this he +smiled. 'And of course all this tells upon his health.' + +'Do you think he is ill?' + +'He never says so. There is no special illness. But he is thin +and wan and careworn. He does not eat and he does not sleep. Of +course I watch him.' + +'Does his doctor see him?' + +'Never. When I asked him once to say a word to Sir James Thorax, +--for he was getting hoarse, you know,--he only shook his head +and turned on his heels. When he was in the other House, and +speaking every night, he would see Thorax constantly, and do just +what he was told. He used to like opening his mouth and having +Sir James look down it. But now he won't let anyone touch him.' + +'What would you have me do, Lady Glen?' + +'I don't know.' + +'Do you think that he is so far out of his health that he ought +to give it up?' + +'I don't say that. I don't dare say that. I don't dare to +recommend anything. No consideration of health would tell with +him at all. If he were to die to-morrow as the penalty of doing +something useful to-night, he wouldn't think twice about it. If +you wanted to make him stay where he is, the way to do it to tell +him that his health was failing him. I don't know that he does +want to give it up now.' + +'The autumn months will do everything for him;--only let him be +quiet.' + +'You are coming to Matching, Duke?' + +'I suppose so;--if you ask me,--for a week or two.' + +'You must come. I am quite nervous if you desert us. I think he +becomes estranged every day from all the others. I know you +won't do a mischief by repeating what I say.' + +'I hope not.' + +'He seems to me to turn his nose up at everybody. He used to +like Mr Monk; but he envies Mr Monk, because Mr Monk is +Chancellor of the Exchequer. I asked him whether we shouldn't +have Lord Drummond at Matching and he told me angrily that I +might ask the whole Government if I liked.' + +'Drummond contradicted him the other day.' + +'I knew there was something. He has got to be like a bear with a +sore head, Duke. You should have seen his face the other day, +when Mr Rattler made some suggestion to him about the proper way +of dividing farms.' + +'I don't think he ever liked Rattler.' + +'What of that? Don't I have to smile upon men whom I hate like +poison;--and women too, which is worse? Do you think that I +love old Lady Ramsden, or Mrs MacPherson? He used to be so fond +of Lord Cantrip.' + +'I think he likes Lord Cantrip,' said the Duke. + +'He asked his lordship to do something and Lord Cantrip +declined.' + +'I know all about that,' said the Duke. + +'And now he looks gloomy at Lord Cantrip. His friends won't +stand that kind of thing, you know, for ever.' + +'He is always courteous to Finn,' said the Duke. + +'Yes;--just how he is on good terms with Mr Finn. He would never +be harsh to Mr Finn, because he knows that Mrs Finn is the one +really intimate female friend whom I have in the world. After +all, Duke, besides Plantagenet and the children, there are only +two persons in the world whom I really love. There are only you +and she. She will never desert me,--and you must not desert me +either.' Then he put his hand behind her waist, and stooped over +and kissed her brow, and swore to her that he would never desert +her. + +But what was he to do? He knew, without being told by the +Duchess, that his colleague and chief was becoming, from day to +day, more difficult to manage. He had been right enough in +laying it down as a general rule that Prime Ministers are +selected for that position by the general confidence of the House +of Commons;--but he was aware at the same time that it had +hardly been so in the present instance. There had come to be a +deadlock in affairs, during which neither of the two old and +recognised leaders of parties could command a sufficient +following for the carrying on of a government. With unusual +patience these two gentlemen had now for the greater part of +three Sessions sat by, offering but little opposition to the +Coalition, but of course biding their time. They, too, called +themselves,--perhaps thought themselves,--Cincinnatuses. But +their ploughs and peaches did not suffice to them, and they +longed again to be in every mouth, and to have, if to their +deeds, then even their omissions blazoned in every paragraph. +The palate accustomed to Cayenne pepper can hardly be gratified +by simple salt. When that deadlock had come, politicians who +were really anxious for the country had been forced to look about +for a Premier,--and in the search the old Duke had been the +foremost. The Duchess had hardly said more than the truth when +she declared that her husband's promotion had been effected by +their old friend. But it is sometimes easier to make than +unmake. Perhaps the time had now in truth come, in which it +would be better for the country that the usual state of things +should again exist. Perhaps,--nay, the Duke now thought that he +saw that it was so,--Mr Gresham might again have a Liberal +majority at his back if the Duke of Omnium could find some +graceful mode of retiring. But who was to tell all this to the +Duke of Omnium? There was only one man in all England to whom +such a task was possible, and that was the old Duke himself,-- +who during the last two years had been constantly with his friend +not to retire! How often since he had taken office had the +conscientious and timid Minister begged of his friend permission +to abandon his high office! But that permission had always been +refused, and now, for the last three months, the request had not +been repeated. The Duchess was probably right in saying that her +husband 'didn't want to give it up now.' + +But he, the Duke of St Bungay, had brought his friend into the +trouble, and it was certainly his duty to extricate him from it. +The admonition might come in the rude shape of repeated +minorities in the House of Commons. Hitherto the number of votes +at the command of the Ministry had not been very much impaired. +A few always fell off as time goes on. Aristides becomes too +just, and the mind of man is greedy of novelty. Sir Orlando +also, had taken with him a few, and it may be that two or three +had told themselves that there could to be all that smoke raised +by the "People's Banner", without some fire below it. But there +was a good working majority,--very much at Mr Monk's command,-- +and Mr Monk was moved by none of that feeling of rebellion which +had urged Sir Orlando on to his destruction. It was difficult to +find a cause for resignation. And yet the Duke of St Bungay, who +had watched the House of Commons closely for nearly half a +century, was aware that the Coalition which he had created had +done its work, and was almost convinced that it would not be +permitted to remain very much longer in power. He had seen some +symptoms of impatience in Mr Daubney, and Mr Gresham had snorted +once and twice, as though eager for battle. + + + +CHAPTER 64 + +THE NEW K.G. + +Early in June had died the Marquess of Mount Fidgett. In all +England there was no older family than that of the Fichy +Fidgetts, whose baronial castle of Fichy Fellows is still kept +up, the glory of archaeologists and the charm of tourists. Some +people declare it to be the most perfect castle residence in the +country. It is admitted to have been completed in the time of +Edward VI, and is thought to have commenced in the days of Edward +I. It has always belonged to the Fichy Fidgett family, who with +a persistence that is becoming rarer every day, has clung to every +acre that it ever owned, and has added acre to acre in every age. +The consequence has been that the existing Marquis of Mount +Fidgett has always been possessed of great territorial influence, +and has been flattered, cajoled, and revered by one Prime +Minister after another. Now the late Marquis had been, as was +the custom with the Fichy Fidgetts, a man of pleasure. If the +truth be spoken openly, it should be admitted that he had been a +man of sin. The duty of keeping together the family property he +had performed with a perfect zeal. It had always been +acknowledged on behalf of the existing Marquis, that in whatever +manner he might spend his money, however base might be the +gullies into which his wealth descended, he never spent more that +he had to spend. Perhaps there was but little praise in this, as +he could hardly have got beyond his enormous income unless he had +thrown it away on race-courses and roulette tables. But it had +long been remarked of the Mount Fidgett marquises that they were +too wise to gamble. The family had not been an honour to the +country, but had nevertheless been honoured by the country. The +man who had just died had perhaps been as selfish and sensual a +brute as had ever disgraced humanity;--but nevertheless he had +been a Knight of the Garter. He had been possessed of +considerable parliamentary interest, and the Prime Minister of +the day had not dared not to make him a Knight of the Garter. +All the Marquises of Mount Fidgett had for many years past been +Knights of the Garter. On the last occasion a good deal had been +said about it. A feeling had even then begun to prevail that the +highest personal offer in the gift of the Crown should not be +bestowed upon a man whose whole life was a disgrace, and who did +indeed seem to deserve every punishment which a human or divine +wrath could inflict. He had a large family, but they were +illegitimate. Wives generally he liked, but of his own wife he +very soon broke the heart. Of all the companies with which he +consorted he was the admitted king, but his subjects could do no +man any honour. The Castle of Fichy Fellows was visited by the +world at large, but no man or woman with a character to lose went +into any house really inhabited by the Marquis. And yet he had +become a Knight of the Garter, and was therefore, presumably, one +of those noble Englishmen to whom the majesty of the day was +willing to confide the honour, and glory, and safety of the +Crown. There were many who disliked this. That a base reprobate +should become a Marquis and a peer of Parliament was in +accordance with the constitution of the country. Marquises and +peers are not as a rule reprobates, and the misfortune was one +which could not be avoided. He might have ill-used his own wife +and other wives' husbands without special remark had he not been +made a Knight of the Garter. The Minister of the day, however, +had known the value of the man's support, and being thick- +skinned, had lived through the reproaches uttered without much +damage to himself. Now the wicked Marquis was dead, and it was +the privilege and the duty of the Duke of Omnium to select +another knight. + +There was a good deal said about it at the time. There was a +rumour,--no doubt a false rumour,--that the Crown insisted in +this instance on dictating a choice to the Duke of Omnium. But +even were it so, the Duke could not have been very much +aggrieved, as the choice dictated was supposed to be that +himself. The late Duke had been a Knight, and when he had died, +it was thought that his successor would succeed to the ribbon. +The new Duke had been at the time in the Cabinet, and had +remained there, but had accepted an office inferior in rank to +that which he had formerly filled. The whole history of these +things has been written, and may be read by the curious. The +Duchess, newly a duchess then and very keen in reference to her +husband's rank, had instigated him to demand the ribbon as his +right. This he had not only declined to do, but had gone out of +the way to say that he thought it should be bestowed elsewhere. +It had been bestowed elsewhere, and there had been a very general +feeling that he had been passed over because his easy temperament +in such matters had been seen and utilized. Now, whether the +Crown interfered or not,--a matter on which no one short of a +writer of newspaper articles dares to make suggestion till time +shall have made mellow the doings of sovereigns and their +ministers,--the suggestion was made. The Duke of St Bungay +ventured to say to his friend that no other selection was +possible. + +'Recommend her Majesty to give it to myself?' said the Prime +Minister. + +'You will find it to be her Majesty's wish. It has been very +common. Sir Robert Walpole had it.' + +'I am not Sir Robert Walpole.' The Duke named other examples of +Prime Ministers who had been gartered by themselves. But our +Prime Minister declared it to be out of the question. No honour +of that description should be conferred upon him as long as he +held his present position. The old Duke was much in earnest, and +there was a great deal said on the subject,--but at last it +became clear, not only to him, but to the members of the Cabinet +generally, and then to the outside world, that the Prime Minister +would not consent to accept the vacant honour. + +For nearly a month after this the question subsided. A Minister +is not bound to bestow a Garter the day after it becomes vacant. +There are other Knights to guard the throne, and one may be +spared for a short interval. But during the interval many eyes +were turned towards the stall in St George's Chapel. A good +thing should be given away like a clap of thunder if envy, +hatred, and malice are to be avoided. A broad blue ribbon across +the chest is of all decorations the most becoming, or, at any +rate, the most desired. And there was, I fear, an impression on +the minds of some men that the Duke in such matters was weak and +might be persuaded. Then there came to him an application in the +form of a letter from the new Marquis of Mount Fidgett,--a man +whom he had never seen, and of whom he had never heard. The new +Marquis had hitherto resided in Italy, and men only knew of him +that he was odious to his uncle. But he had inherited all the +Fichy Fidgett estates, and was now possessed of immense wealth +and great honour. He ventured, he said, to represent to the +Prime Minister that for generations past the Marquises of Mount +Fidgett had been honoured by the Garter. His political status in +the country was exactly that enjoyed by his late uncle, but he +intended that his political career should be very different. He +was quite prepared to support the Coalition. 'What is he that he +should expect to be made a Knight of the Garter?' said our Duke +to the old Duke. + +'He is the Marquis of Mount Fidgett, and next to yourself, +perhaps, the richest peer in Great Britain.' + +'Have riches anything to do with it?' + +'Something certainly. You would not want to name a pauper peer.' + +'Yes;--if he was a man whose career had been highly honourable +to the country. Such a man, of course, could not be a pauper, +but I do not think his want of wealth should stand in the way of +his being honoured by the Garter.' + +'Wealth and rank and territorial influence have been generally +thought to have something to do with it.' + +'And character nothing!' + +'My dear Duke, I have not said so.' + +'Something very much like it, my friend, if you advocate the +claim of the Marquis of Mount Fidgett. Did you approve of the +selection of the late Marquis?' + +'I was in the Cabinet at the time, and will therefore say nothing +against it. But I have never heard anything against this man's +character.' + +'Nor in favour of it. To my thinking he has as much claim, and +no more, as that man who just opened the door. He was never seen +in the Lower House.' + +'Surely that cannot signify.' + +'You think, then, that he should have it?' + +'You know what I think,' said the elder statesman thoughtfully. +'In my opinion there is no doubt that you would at least consult +the honour of the country by allowing her Majesty to bestow this +act of grace upon a subject who has deserved so well from her +Majesty as yourself.' + +'It is quite impossible.' + +'It seems to me,' said the Duke, not appearing to notice the +refusal of his friend, 'that in this peculiar position you should +allow yourself to be persuaded to lay aside your own feeling. No +man of high character is desirous of securing to himself +decorations which he may bestow upon others.' + +'Just so.' + +'But here the decoration bestowed upon the chief whom we all +follow, would confer a wider honour upon many than it could do if +given to anyone else.' + +'The same may be said of any Prime Minister.' + +'Not so. A commoner, without high permanent rank or large +fortune, is not lowered in the world's esteem by not being of the +Order. You will permit me to say--that a Duke of Omnium has not +reached the position which he ought to enjoy unless he is a +Knight of the Garter.' It must be borne in mind that the old +Duke, who used this argument, had himself worn the ribbon for the +last thirty years. 'But if--' + +'Well;--well.' + +'But if you are,--I must call it obstinate.' + +'I am obstinate in that respect.' + +'Then,' said the Duke of St Bungay, 'I should recommend her +Majesty to give it to the Marquis.' + +'Never,' said the Prime Minister, with very unaccustomed energy. +'I will never sanction the payment of such a price for services +which should never be bought or sold.' + +'It would give no offence.' + +'That is not enough, my friend. Here is a man of whom I only know +that he has bought a great many marble statues. He has done +nothing for his country, and nothing for his sovereign.' + +'If you are determined to look at what you call desert alone, I +would name Lord Drummond.' The Prime Minister frowned and looked +unhappy. It was quite true that Lord Drummond had contradicted +him, and that he had felt the injury grievously. 'Lord Drummond +has been very true to us.' + +'Yes;--true to us! What is that?' + +'He is in every respect a man of character, and well looked upon +in the country. There would be some enmity and a good deal of +envy--which might be avoided by either of the other courses I +have proposed; but those courses you will not take. I take it +for granted that you are anxious to secure the support of those +who generally act with Lord Drummond.' + +'I don't know that I am.' The old Duke shrugged his shoulders. +'What I mean is, that I do not think that we ought to pay an +increased price for their support. His lordship is very well as +the Head of an Office; but he is not nearly so great a man as my +friend Lord Cantrip.' + +'Cantrip would not join us. There is no evil in politics so +great as that of seeming to buy the men who will not come without +buying. These rewards are fairly given for political support.' + +'I had not, in truth, thought of Lord Cantrip.' + +'He does not expect it any more than my butler.' + +'I only named him as having a claim stronger than any that Lord +Drummond can put forward. I have a man in my mind to whom I +think such an honour is fairly due. What do you say to Lord +Earlybird?' The old Duke opened his mouth and lifted up his +hands in unaffected surprise. + +The Earl of Earlybird was an old man of a very peculiar +character. He had never opened his mouth in the House of Lords, +and had never sat in the House of Commons. The political world +knew him not at all. He had a house in town, but very rarely +lived there. Early Park, in the parish of B Bird, had been his +residence since he first came to the title forty years ago, and +had been the scene of all his labours. He was a nobleman +possessed of a moderate fortune, and, as men said of him, of a +moderate intellect. He had married early in life and was blessed +with a large family. But he had certainly not been an idle man. +For nearly half a century he had devoted himself to the +improvement of the labouring classes, especially in reference to +their abodes and education, and gradually without any desire on +his own part, worked himself up into public notice. He was not +an eloquent man, but he would take the chair at meeting after +meeting, and sit with admirable patience for long hours to hear +the eloquence of others. He was a man very simple in his tastes, +and had brought up his family to follow his habits. He had +therefore been able to do munificent things with moderate means, +and in the long course of years had failed in hiding his +munificence from the public. Lord Earlybird, till after middle +life, had not been much considered, but gradually there had grown +up a feeling that there were not very many better men in the +country. He was a fat, bald-headed old man, who was always +pulling his spectacles on and off, nearly blind, very awkward, +and altogether indifferent to appearance. Probably he had no +more idea of the Garter in his own mind than he had of a +Cardinal's hat. But he had grown into fame, and had not escaped +the notice of the Prime Minister. + +'Do you know anything against Lord Earlybird?' asked the Prime +Minister. + +'Certainly nothing against him, Duke.' + +'Not anything in his favour?' + +'I know him very well,--I think I may say intimately. There +isn't a better man breathing.' + +'A honour to the peerage?' said the Prime Minister. + +'An honour to humanity rather,' said the other, 'as being of all +men the least selfish and most philanthropical.' + +'What more can be said for a man?' + +'But according to my view he is not the sort of person whom one +would wish to see made a Knight of the Garter. If he had the +ribbon he would never wear it.' + +'The honour surely does not consist in its outward sign. I am +entitled to wear some kind of coronet, but I do not walk about +with it on my head. He is a man of great heart and of many +virtues. Surely the country, and her Majesty on behalf of the +country, should delight to honour such a man.' + +'I really doubt whether you look at the matter in the right +light,' said the ancient statesman, who was in truth frightened +at what was being proposed. 'You must not be angry with me if I +speak plainly.' + +'My friend, I do not think that it is within your power to make +me angry.' + +'Well then,--I will get for a moment to listen to my view on the +matter. There are certain great prizes in the gift of the Crown +and of the Ministers of the Crown,--the greatest of which are +now traditionally at the disposal of the Prime Minister. These +are always given to party friends. I may perhaps agree with you +that party support should not be looked to alone. Let us +acknowledge that character and services should be taken into +account. But the very theory of our Government will be overset +by a reversal of the rule which I have attempted to describe. +You will offend all your own friends, and only incur the ridicule +of your opponents. It is no doubt desirable that the high seats +of the country should be filled by men of both parties. I would +not wish to see every Lord Lieutenant of a county a Whig.' In +his enthusiasm the old Duke went back to his old phraseology. +'But I know that my opponents when their turn comes will appoint +their friends to the Lieutenancies and that the balance will be +maintained. If you or I appoint their friends, they won't +appoint ours. Lord Earlybird's proxy has been in the hands of +the Conservative Leader of the House of Lords ever since he +succeeded his father.' Then the old man paused, but his friend +waited to listen whether the lecture were finished before he +spoke, and the Duke of St Bungay continued. 'And, moreover, +thought Lord Earlybird is a very good man,--so much so that many +of us may well envy him,--he is not just the man fitted for this +destination. A Knight of the Garter should be a man prone to +show himself, a public man, one whose work in the country has +brought him face to face with his fellows. There is an aptness, +a propriety, a fitness in these things which one can understand +perhaps better than explain.' + +'Those fitnesses and aptnesses change, I think, from day to day. +There was a time when a knight should be a fighting man.' + +'That has gone by.' + +'And the aptness and fitness in accordance with which the +sovereign of the day was induced to grace with the Garter such a +man as the late Marquis of Mount Fidgett have, I hope, gone by. +You will admit that?' + +'There is no such man proposed.' + +'And other fitnesses and aptnesses will go by, till the time will +come when the man to be selected as Lieutenant of a county will +be the man whose selection will be most beneficial to the county, +and Knights of the Garter will be chosen for their real virtues.' + +'I think you are Quixotic. A Prime Minister is of all men bound +to follow the traditions of his country, or, when he leaves them, +to leave them with very gradual steps.' + +'And if he break that law and throw over all that thraldom;-- +what then?' + +'He will lose the confidence which has made him what he is.' + +'It is well that I know the penalty. It is hardly heavy enough +to enforce strict obedience. As for the matter in dispute, it +had better stand over for a few days.' When the Prime Minister +said this the old Duke knew very well that he intended to have +his own way. + +And so it was. A week passed by, and then the younger Duke wrote +to the elder Duke saying that he had given to the matter all the +consideration in his power, and that he had at last resolved to +recommend her Majesty to bestow the ribbon on Lord Earlybird. He +would not, however, take any step for a few days so that his +friend might have an opportunity of making further remonstrance +if he pleased. No further remonstrance was made, and Lord +Earlybird, much to his own amazement, was nominated to the vacant +Garter. + +The appointment was one certainly not popular with any of the +Prime Minister's friends. With some, such as Lord Drummond, it +indicated a determination on the part of the Duke to declare his +freedom from all those bonds which had hitherto been binding on +the Heads of Government. Had the Duke selected himself, +certainly no offence would have been given. Had the Marquis of +Mount Fidgett been the happy man, excuses would have been made. +But it was unpardonable to Lord Drummond that he should have been +passed over and that the Garter should have been given to Lord +Earlybird. To the poor old Duke the offence was of a different +nature. He had intended to use a very strong word when he told +his friend that his proposed conduct would be Quixotic. The Duke +of Omnium would surely know that the Duke of St Bungay could not +support a Quixotic Prime Minister. And yet the younger Duke, the +Telemachus of the last two years,--after hearing that word,-- +had rebelled against his Mentor, and had obstinately adhered to +his Quixotism! The greed of power had fallen upon the man,--so +said the dear old Duke to himself,--and the man's fall was +certain. Alas, alas; had he been allowed to go before the poison +had entered his veins, how much less would have been his +suffering! + + + + +CHAPTER 65 + +THERE MUST BE TIME. + +At the end of the third week in July, when the Session was still +sitting, and when no day had been absolutely as yet fixed for the +escape of members, Mr Wharton received a letter from his friend +Arthur Fletcher which certainly surprised him very much, and +which left him for a day or two unable to decide what answer +ought to be given. It will be remembered that Ferdinand Lopez +destroyed himself in March, now three months since. The act had +been more than a nine days' wonder, having been kept in the +memory of many men by the sedulous efforts of Quintus Slide, and +by the fact that the name of so great a man as the Prime Minister +was concerned in the matter. But gradually the feeling about +Ferdinand Lopez had died away, and his fate, though it had +outlived the nominal nine days, had sunk into general oblivion +before the end of the ninth week. The Prime Minister had not +forgotten the man, nor had Quintus Slide. The name was still +common in the columns of the "People's Banner", and was ever +mentioned without being read by the unfortunate Duke. But others +had ceased to talk about Ferdinand Lopez. + +To the mind, however, of Arthur Fletcher the fact of the man's +death was always present. A dreadful incubus had come upon his +life, blighting all his prospects, obscuring all his sun by a +great cloud, covering up all his hopes, and changing for him all +his outlook into the world. It was not only that Emily Wharton +should not have become his wife, but that the woman whom he loved +with so perfect a love, should have been sacrificed to so vile a +creature as this man. He never blamed her,--but looked upon his +fate as Fate. Then on a sudden he heard that the incubus was +removed. The man who had made him and her wretched had by a +sudden stroke been taken away and annihilated. There was nothing +between him and her,--but a memory. He could certainly forgive, +if she could forget. + +Of course he had felt at the first moment that time must pass by. +He had become certain that her mad love for the man had perished. +He had been made sure that she had repented her own deed in +sackcloth and ashes. It had been acknowledged to him by her +father that she had been anxious to be separated from her husband +if her husband would consent to such a separation. And then, +remembering as he did his last interview with her, having in his +mind as he had every circumstance of that caress which he had +given her,--down to the very quiver of the fingers he had +pressed,--he could not but flatter himself that at last he had +touched her heart. But there must be time! The conventions of +the world operate on all hearts, especially on the female heart, +and teach that new vows, too quickly given, are disgraceful. The +world has seemed to decide that a widow should take two years +before she can bestow herself on a second man without a touch of +scandal. But the two years is to include everything, the +courtship of the second as well as the burial of the first,--and +not only the courtship, but the preparation of the dresses and +the wedding itself. And then this case was different from all +the others. Of course there must be time, but surely not here a +full period of two years! Why should the life of two young +persons be so wasted, if it were the case that they loved each +other! There was horror here, remorse, pity, perhaps pardon; but +there was no love,--none of that love which is always for a +little time increased in its fervour by the loss of the loved +object; none of that passionate devotion which must at first make +the very idea of another man's love intolerable. There had been +a great escape,--an escape which could not but be inwardly +acknowledged, however little prone the tongue might be to confess +it. Of course there must be time,--but how much time? He +argued it in his mind daily, and at each daily argument the time +considered by him to be appropriate was shortened. Three months +had passed and he had not yet seen her. He had resolved that he +would not even attempt to see her till her father would consent. +But surely a period had passed sufficient to justify him in +applying for that permission. And then he bethought himself that +it would be best in applying for that permission to tell +everything to Mr Wharton. He well knew that he would be telling +no secret. Mr Wharton knew the state of his feelings as well as +he knew it himself. If ever there was a case in which time might +be abridged, this was one; and therefore he wrote his letter,-- +as follows: + +3,--Court Temple, +24th July, 187- + MY DEAR MR WHARTON, + It is a matter of great regret to me that we should see + so little of each other,--especially of regret that I + should never see Emily. + + I may as well rush into the matter at once. Of course + this letter will not be shown to her, and therefore I may + write as I would speak if I were with you. The wretched + man whom she married is gone, and my love for her is the + same as it was before she had ever seen him, and as it + has always been from that day to this. I could not + address you or even think of her as yet, did I not know + that that marriage had been unfortunate. But it has not + altered her to me in the heart. It has been a dreadful + trouble to us all--to her, to you, to me, and to all + connected with us. But it is over, and I think that it + should be looked back upon as a black chasm which we have + bridged and got over, and to which we never cast back our + eyes. + + I have no right to think that, though she might some day + love another man, she would therefore, love me, but I + think that I have a right to try, and I know that I + should have your good-will. It is a question of time, + but if I let time go by, someone else may slip in. Who + can tell? I would not be thought to press indecently, + but I do feel that here the ordinary rules which govern + men and women are not to be followed. He made her + unhappy almost from the first day. She had made a + mistake which you and she and all acknowledged. She has + been punished, and so have I,--very severely I can + assure you. Wouldn't it be a good thing to bring all + this to an end as soon as possible,--if it can be + brought to an end in the way I want? + + Pray tell me what you think. I would propose that you + should ask her to see me, and then say just as much as + you please. Of course I should not press her at first. + You might ask me to dinner, and all that kind of thing, + and so she would get used to me. It is not as though we + had not been very, very old friends. But I know you will + do the best. I have put off writing to you till I + sometimes think that I shall go mad over it if I sit + still any longer. +Your affectionate friend, +ARTHUR FLETCHER. + +When Mr Wharton got this letter he was very much puzzled. Could +he have had his wish, he too would have left the chasm behind him +as proposed by his young friend, and have never cast an eye back +upon the frightful abyss. He would willingly have allowed the +whole Lopez incident to be passed over as an episode in their +lives, which, if it could not be forgotten, should at any rate +never be mentioned. They had all been severely punished, as +Fletcher had said, and if the matter could end there he would be +well content to bear on his own shoulders all that remained of +the punishment, and to let everything begin again. But he knew +very well it could not be so with her. Even yet it was +impossible to induce Emily to think of her husband without +regret. It had been only too manifest during the last year of +their married life that she had felt horror rather than love +towards him. When there had been a question of his leaving her +behind, should he go to Central America, she had always expressed +herself more than willing to comply with such an arrangement. +She would go with him should he order her to do so, but would +infinitely sooner remain in England. And then too, she had +spoken of him while alive with disdain and disgust, and had +submitted to hear her father describe him as infamous. Her life +had been one long misery, under which she had seemed gradually to +be perishing. Now she was relieved, and her health was re- +established. A certain amount of unjoyous cheerfulness was +returning to her. It was impossible to doubt that she must have +known that a great burden had fallen from her back. And yet she +would never allow his name to be mentioned without giving some +outward sign of affection for his memory. If he was bad, so were +others bad. There were many worse than he. Such were the +excuses she made for her late husband. Old Mr Wharton, who +really thought that in all his experience he had never known +anyone worse than his son-in-law, would sometimes become testy, +and at last resolved that he would altogether hold his tongue. +But he could hardly hold his tongue now. + +He, no doubt, had already formed his hopes in regard to Arthur +Fletcher. He had trusted that the man whom he had taught himself +some years since to regard as his wished-for son-in-law, might be +constant and strong enough in his love to forget all that was +past, and to be still willing to redeem his daughter from misery. +But as days had crept on since the scene as the Tenway Junction, +he had become aware that time must do much before such relief +would be accepted. It was, however, still possible that the +presence of the man might do something. Hitherto, since the deed +had been done, no stranger had dined in Manchester Square. She +herself had seen no visitor. She had hardly left the house +except to go to church, and then had been enveloped in the +deepest crape. Once or twice she had allowed herself to be +driven out in a carriage, and, when she had done so, her father +had always accompanied her. No widow, since the seclusion of +widows was first ordained, has been more strict in maintaining +the restraints of widowhood, as enjoined. How then could he bid +her receive a new lover,--or how suggest to her that a lover was +possible? And yet he did not like to answer Arthur Fletcher +without naming some period for the present mourning,--some time +at which he might at least show himself in Manchester Square. + +'I have had a letter from Arthur Fletcher,' he said to his +daughter a day or two after he had received it. He was sitting +after dinner, and Everett was also in the room. + +'Is he in Hertfordshire?' she asked. + +'No;--he is up in town, attending to the House of Commons, I +suppose. He had something to say to me, and as we are not in the +way of meeting he wrote. He wants to come and see you.' + +'Not yet, papa.' + +'He talked of coming and dining here.' + +'Oh yes, pray let him come.' + +'You would not mind that?' + +'I would dine early and be out of the way. I should be do glad +if you would have somebody sometimes. I shouldn't think then +that I was such a--such a restraint on you.' + +But this was not what Mr Wharton desired. 'I shouldn't like +that, my dear. Of course he would know that you were in the +house.' + +'Upon my word, I think you might meet an old friend like that,' +said Everett. + +She looked at her brother, and then at her father, and burst into +tears. 'Of course you shall not be pressed if it would be +irksome to you,' said her father. + +'It is the first plunge that hurts,' said Everett. 'If you could +once bring yourself to do it, you would find afterwards that you +were more comfortable.' + +'Papa,' she said slowly. 'I know what it means. His goodness I +shall always remember. You may tell him I say so. But I cannot +meet him yet.' Then they pressed her no further. Of course she +had understood. Her father could not even ask her to say a word +which might give comfort to Arthur as to some long distant time. + +He went down to the House of Commons the next day, and saw his +young friend there. Then they walked up and down Westminster +Hall for nearly an hour, talking over the matter with the most +absolute freedom. 'It cannot be for the benefit of anyone,' said +Arthur Fletcher, 'that she should immolate herself like an Indian +widow,--and for the sake of such a man as that! Of course I +have no right to dictate to you,--hardly, perhaps, to give an +opinion.' + +'Yes, yes, yes.' + +'It does seem to me, then, that you ought to force her out of +that kind of thing. Why should she not go down to +Hertfordshire?' + +'In time, Arthur,--in time.' + +'But people's lives are running away.' + +'My dear fellow, if you were to see her you would know how vain +it would be to try to hurry her. There must be time.' + + + +CHAPTER 66 + +THE END OF THE SESSION. + +The Duke of St Bungay had been very much disappointed. He had +contradicted with a repetition of noes the assertion of the +Duchess that he had been the Warwick who had placed the Prime +Minister's crown on the head of the Duke of Omnium, but no doubt +he felt in his heart that he had done so much towards it that his +advice respecting the vacant Garter, when given so much weight, +should have been followed. He was an old man, and had known the +secrets of Cabinet Councils when his younger friend was a little +boy. He had given advice to Lord John, and had been one of the +first to congratulate Sir Robert Peel when that statesman became +a free-trader. He had sat in conclave with THE Duke, and had +listened to the bold Liberalism of old Earl Grey, both in the +Lower and the Upper House. He had been always great in council, +never giving his advice unasked, nor throwing his pearls before +swine, and cautious at all times to avoid excesses on this side +or that. He had never allowed himself a hobby horse of his own +to ride, had never been ambitious, had never sought to be the +ostensible leader of men. But he did now think that when, with +all his experience, he spoke very much in earnest, some attention +should be paid to what he said. When he had described a certain +line of conduct as Quixotic he had been very much in earnest. He +did not usually indulge in strong language, and Quixotic, when +applied to the conduct of the Prime Minister, was, to his ideas, +very strong. The thing described as Quixotic had now been done, +and the Duke of St Bungay was a disappointed man. + +For an hour or two he thought that he must gently secede from all +private counsels with the Prime Minister. To resign, or to put +impediments in the way of his own chief, did not belong to his +character. That line of strategy had come into fashion since he +had learnt his political rudiments, and was very odious to him. +But in all party compacts there must be inner parties, peculiar +bonds, and confidence stricter, stronger and also sweeter than +those which bind together the twenty or thirty gentlemen who form +a Government. From those closer ties which had hitherto bound +him to the Duke of Omnium he thought, for a while, that he must +divorce himself. Surely on such a subject as the nomination of a +Knight of the Garter his advice might have been taken,--if only +because it had come from him! And so he kept himself apart for a +day or two, and even in the House of Lords ceased to whisper +kindly, cheerful words into the ears of his next neighbour. + +But various remembrances crowded in upon him by degrees, +compelling him to moderate and at last to abandon his purpose. +Among these the first was the memory of the kiss he had given to +the Duchess. The woman had told him that she loved him, that he +was one of the very few whom she did love,--and the word had +gone straight into his old heart. She had bade him not to desert +her; and he had not only given her his promise, but he had +converted that promise into a sacred pledge by a kiss. He had +known well why she had exacted the promise. The turmoil in her +husband's mind, the agony which he sometimes endured when people +spoke ill of him, the aversion which he had at first genuinely +felt to an office for which he hardly thought himself fit, and +now the gradual love of power created by the exercise of power, +had all been seen by her, and had created that solicitude which +had induced her to ask for the promise. The old Duke had known +them both well, but had hardly as yet given the Duchess credit +for so true devotion to her husband. It now seemed to him that, +though she had failed to love the man, she had given her entire +heart to the Prime Minister. He sympathized with her altogether, +and, at any rate, could not go back from his promise. + +And then he remembered, too, that if this man did anything amiss +in the high office which he had been made to fill, who had +induced him to fill it was responsible. What right had he, the +Duke of St Bungay, to be angry because his friend was not all- +wise at all points? Let the Droughts and the Drummonds and the +Beeswaxes quarrel among themselves or with their colleagues. He +belonged to a different school, in the teachings of which there +was less perhaps of excitement and more of long-suffering;--but +surely, also, more of nobility. He was, at any rate, too old to +change, and he would therefore be true to his friend through evil +and through good. Having thought all this out he again whispered +some cheery word to the Prime Minister, as they sat listening to +the denunciations of Lord Fawn, a Liberal lord, much used to +business, but who had not been received into the Coalition. The +first whisper and the second whisper the Prime Minister received +very coldly. He had fully appreciated the discontinuance of +whispers, and was aware of the cause. He had made a selection on +his own unassisted judgment in opposition to his old friend's +advice, and this was the result. Let it be so! All his friends +were turning away from him and he would have to stand alone. If +so, he would stand alone till the pendulum of the House of +Commons had told him that it was time for him to retire. But +gradually the determined good-humour of the old man prevailed. +'He has a wonderful gift of saying nothing with second-rate +dignity,' whispered the repentant friend, speaking of Lord Fawn. + +'A very honest man,' said the Prime Minister in return. + +'A sort of bastard honesty,--by precept out of stupidity. There +is no real conviction in it, begotten by thought.' This little +bit of criticism, harsh as it was, had the effect, and the Prime +Minister became less miserable than he had been. + +But Lord Drummond forgave nothing. He still held his office, but +more than once he was seen in private conference with both Sir +Orlando and Mr Boffin. He did not attempt to conceal his anger. +Lord Earlybird! An old woman! One whom no other man in England +would have thought of making a Knight of the Garter! It was not, +he said, personal disappointment in himself. There were half-a- +dozen peers whom he would have willingly have seen so graced +without the slightest chagrin. But this must have been done +simply to show the Duke's power, and to let the world understand +that he owed nothing and would pay nothing to his supporters. It +was almost a disgrace, said Lord Drummond, to belong to a +Government the Head of which could so commit himself! The +Session was nearly at an end, and Lord Drummond thought that no +step could be conveniently taken now. But it was quite clear to +him that this state of things could not be continued. It was +observed that Lord Drummond and the Prime Minister never spoke to +each other in the House, and that the Secretary of State for +Colonies,--that being the office which he held,--never rose in +his place after Lord Earlybird's nomination, unless to say a word +or two as to his own peculiar duties. It was very soon known to +all the world that there was war to the knife between Lord +Drummond and the Prime Minister. + +And, strange to say, there seemed to be some feeling of general +discontent on this very trifling subject. When Aristides had +been much too just the oyster-shells became numerous. It was +said that the Duke had been guilty of pretentious love of virtue +in taking Lord Earlybird out of his own path of life and forcing +him to write K.G. after his name. There came out an article, of +course in the "People's Banner", headed, "Our Prime Minister's +Good Works", in which poor Lord Earlybird was ridiculed in a very +unbecoming manner, and in which it was asserted that the thing +was done as a counterpoise to the iniquity displayed in 'hounding +Ferdinand Lopez to his death'. Whenever Ferdinand Lopez was +mentioned he had always been hounded. And then the article went +on to declare that either the Prime Minister had quarrelled with +all his colleagues, or else that all his colleagues had +quarrelled with the Prime Minister. Mr Slide did not care which +it might be, but, whichever it might be, the poor country had to +suffer when such a state of things was permitted. It was +notorious that neither the Duke of St Bungay nor Lord Drummond +would now even speak to their own chief, so thoroughly were they +disgusted with his conduct. Indeed it seemed that the only ally +the Prime Minister had in his own Cabinet was the Irish +adventurer, Mr Phineas Finn. Lord Earlybird never read a word +of all this, and was altogether undisturbed as he sat in his +chair in Exeter Hall,--or just at this time of the year more +frequently in the provinces. But the Duke of Omnium read it all. +After what had passed he did not dare show it to his brother +Duke. He did not dare to tell his friend that it was said in the +newspapers that they did not speak to each other. But every word +from Mr Slide's pen settled on his own memory, and added to his +torments. It came to be a fixed idea in the Duke's mind that Mr +Slide was a gadfly sent to the earth for the express purpose of +worrying him. + +And as a matter of course the Prime Minister in his own mind +blamed himself for what he had done. It is the chief torment of +a person constituted as he was that strong as may be the +determination to do a thing, fixed as may be the conviction that +the thing ought to be done, no sooner has it been perfected than +the objections of others, which before had been inefficacious +become suddenly endowed with truth and force. He did not like +being told by Mr Slide that he ought not to have set his cabinet +against him, but when he had in fact done so, then he believed +what Mr Slide told him. As soon almost as the irrecoverable +letter had been winged on its way to Lord Earlybird, he saw the +absurdity of sending it. Who was he that he should venture to +set aside all the traditions of office? A Pitt or a Peel or a +Palmerston might have done so, because they had been abnormally +strong. They had been Prime Ministers by the work of their own +hands, holding their powers against the whole world. But he,-- +he told himself daily he was only there by sufferance, because at +the moment no one else could be found to take it. In such a +condition should he have not have been bound by the traditions of +office, bound by the advice of one so experienced and so true as +the Duke of St Bungay? And for whom had he broken through these +traditions and thrown away this advice? For a man who had no +power whatever to help him or any other Minister of the Crown;-- +for one whose every pursuit in life was at variance with the +acquisition of such honours as that now thrust upon him! He +could see his own obstinacy, and could even hate the pretentious +love of virtue which he himself had displayed. + +'Have you seen Lord Earlybird with his ribbon?' his wife said to +him. + +'I do not know Lord Earlybird by sight,' he replied angrily. + +'Nor anyone else either. But he would have come down and shown +it himself to you, if he had a spark of gratitude in his +composition. As far as I can learn you have sacrificed the +Ministry for his sake.' + +'I did my duty as best I knew how to do it,' said the Duke, +almost with ferocity, 'and it little becomes you to taunt me with +my deficiency.' + +'Plantagenet!' + +'I am driven,' he said, 'almost beyond myself, and it kills me +when you take part against me.' + +'Take part against you! Surely there was very little in what I +said.' And yet, as she spoke, she repented bitterly that she had +at the moment allowed herself to relapse into the sort of +badinage which had been usual with her before she had understood +the extent of his sufferings. 'If I trouble you by what I say, I +will certainly hold my tongue.' + +'Don't repeat to me what that man says in the newspaper.' + +'You shouldn't regard the man, Plantagenet. You shouldn't allow +the paper to come into your hands.' + +'Am I to be afraid of seeing what men say of me? Never! But you +need not repeat it, at any rate if it be false.' She had not +seen the article in question or she certainly would not have +repeated the accusation it contained. 'I have quarrelled with no +colleague. If such a one as Lord Drummond chooses to think +himself injured, am I to stoop to him? Nothing strikes me so +much in all this as the ill-nature of the world at large. When +they used to bait a bear tied to a stake, everyone around would +cheer the dogs and help torment the helpless animal. It is much +the same now, only they have a man instead of a bear for their +pleasure.' + +'I will never help the dogs again,' she said, coming up to him +and clinging him within the embrace of his arm. + +He knew that he had been Quixotic, and he would sit in his chair +repeating the word to himself aloud, till he himself began to +fear that he would do it in company. But the thing had been done +and could not be undone. He had had the bestowal of one Garter, +and he had given it to Lord Earlybird! It was,--he told +himself, but not correctly,--the only thing he had done on his +own undivided responsibility since he had been Prime Minister. + +The last days of July had passed, and it had been at last decided +that the Session should close on the 11th August. Now the 11th +of August was thought to be a great deal to near the 12th to +allow of such an arrangement being considered satisfactory. A +great many members were angry at the arrangement. It had been +said all through June and into July that it was to be an early +Session, and yet things had been so mismanaged that when the end +came everything could not be finished without keeping members of +Parliament in town on the 11th August! In the memory of the +present legislators there had never been anything so awkward. +The fault, if there was a fault, was attributable to Mr Monk. In +all probability the delay was unavoidable. A minister cannot +control long-winded gentlemen, and when gentlemen are very long- +winded there must be delay. No doubt a strong minister can +exercise some control, and it is certain that long-winded +gentlemen find an unusual scope for their breath when the +reigning dynasty is weak. In that way Mr Monk and the Duke may +have been responsible, but they were blamed as though they, for +their own special amusement, detained gentlemen in town. Indeed +the gentlemen were not detained. They grumbled and growled and +then fled,--but their grumblings and growlings were heard even +after their departure. + +'Well;--what do you think of it all?' the Duke said one day to +Mr Monk at the Treasury, affecting an air of cheery good-humour. + +'I think,' said Mr Monk, 'that the country is very prosperous. I +don't know that I ever remember trade to have been more evenly +satisfactory.' + +'Ah, yes. That's very well for the country, and ought, I +suppose, to satisfy me.' + +'It satisfies me,' said Mr Monk. + +'And me, in a way. But if you were walking about in a very tight +pair of boots, in agony with your feet, would you be able just +then to relish the news that agricultural wages in that parish +had gone up sixpence a week?' + +'I'd take my boots off, and then try,' said Mr Monk. + +'That's just what I'm thinking of doing. If I had my boots off +all that prosperity would be so pleasant to me! But, you see, +you can't take your boots off in company. And it may be that you +have a walk before you, and that no boots will be worse for your +feet than tight ones.' + +'We'll have our boots off soon, Duke,' said Mr Monk, speaking of +the recess. + +'And when shall we be quit of them altogether? Joking apart, +they have to be worn if the country requires it.' + +'Certainly, Duke.' + +'And it may be that you and I think upon the whole they may be +worn with advantage. What does the country say to that?' + +'The country never says the reverse. We have not had a majority +against us this Session on any Government question.' + +'But we have had narrowing majorities. What will the House do as +to the Lords' amendments on the Bankruptcy Bill? There was a +bill that had gone down from the House of Commons, but had not +originated with the Government. It had, however, been fostered +by ministers of the House of Lords, and had been sent back with +certain amendments for which the Lord Chancellor had made himself +responsible. It was therefore now almost a Government measure. +The manipulation of this measure had been one of the causes of +the prolonged sitting of the Houses.' + +'Grogram says they will take the amendments.' + +'And if they don't?' + +'Why then,' said Mr Monk, 'the Lords must take our rejection.' + +'And we shall have been beaten,' said the Duke. + +'Undoubtedly.' + +'And simply because the House desires to beat us. I am told Sir +Timothy Beeswax intends to speak and vote against the +amendments.' + +'What,--Sir Timothy on one side, and Sir Gregory on the other?' + +'So Lord Ramsden tells me,' said the Duke. 'If it be so, what +are we to do?' + +'Certainly not go out in August,' said Mr Monk. + +When the time came for the consideration of the Lords' amendments +in the House of Commons,--and it did not come till the 8th of +August,--the matter was exactly as the Duke had said. Sir +Gregory Grogram, with a deal of earnestness, supported the Lords' +amendments,--as he was in honour bound to do. The amendment had +come from his chief, the Lord Chancellor, and had indeed been +discussed with Sir Gregory before it had been proposed. He was +very much in earnest;--but it was evident from Sir Gregory's +earnestness that he expected a violent opposition. Immediately +after him rose Sir Timothy. Now Sir Timothy was a pretentious +man, who assumed to be not only an advocate but a lawyer. And he +assumed also to be a political magnate. He went into the matter +at great length. He began by saying that it was not a party +question. The bill, which he had had the honour of supporting +before it went from their own House, had been a private bill. As +such it had received a general support from the Government. It +had been materially altered in the other House under the auspices +of his noble friend on the woolsack, but from those alterations +he was obliged to dissent. Then he said some very heavy things +against the Lord Chancellor, and increased in acerbity as he +described what he called the altered mind of his honourable and +learned friend the Attorney-General. He then made some very +uncomplimentary allusions to the Prime Minister, whom he accused +of being more than ordinarily reserved with his subordinates. +The speech was manifestly arranged and delivered with the express +view of damaging the Coalition, of which at the time he himself +made a part. Men observed that things were very much altered +when such a course as that was taken in the House of Commons. +But that course was taken on this occasion by Sir Timothy +Beeswax, and was so far taken with success that the Lords' +amendments were rejected and the Government was beaten in a thin +House, by a large majority--composed partly of its own men. +'What am I to do?' asked the Prime Minister of the old Duke. + +'The old Duke's answer was exactly the same as that given by Mr +Monk. 'We cannot resign in August.' And then he went on. 'We +must wait and see how things go at the beginning of next Session. +The chief question is whether Sir Timothy should not be asked to +resign.' + +Then the Session was at an end, and they who had been staunch to +last got out of town as quick as the trains could carry them. + + + +CHAPTER 67 + +MRS LOPEZ PREPARES TO MOVE. + +The Duchess of Omnium was not the most discreet woman in the +world. That was admitted by her best friends, and was the great +sin alleged against her by her worst enemies. In her desire to +say sharp things, she would say the sharp thing in the wrong +place, and in her wish to be good-natured she was apt to run into +offences. Just as she was about to leave town, which did not +take place for some days after Parliament had risen, she made an +indiscreet proposition to her husband. 'Should you mind asking +Mrs Lopez down to Matching? We shall only be a small party.' + +Now the very name of Lopez was terrible to the Duke's ears. +Anything which recalled the wretch and that wretched tragedy to +the Duke's mind gave him a stab. The Duchess ought to have felt +that any communication between her husband and even the man's +widow was to be avoided rather than sought. 'Quite out of the +question!' said the Duke, drawing himself up. + +'Why out of the question?' + +'There are a thousand reasons I could not have it.' + +'Then I shall say nothing more about it. But there's a romance +there,--something quite touching.' + +'You don't mean that she has---a lover?' + +'Well;--yes.' + +'And she lost her husband only the other day,--lost him in so +terrible a manner? If that is so certainly I do not wish to see +her again.' + +'Ah, that is because you don't know the story.' + +'I don't wish to know it.' + +'The man who wants to marry her knew her long before she had seen +Lopez, and had offered to her so many times. He is a fine +fellow, and you know him.' + +'I had rather not hear any more about it,' said the Duke, walking +away. + +There was an end to the Duchess's scheme of getting Emily down to +Matching,--a scheme which could hardly have been successful even +had the Duke not objected to it. But yet the Duchess would not +abandon her project of befriending the widow. She had injured +Lopez. She had liked what she had seen of Mrs Lopez. And she +was now endeavouring to take Arthur Fletcher by the hand. She +called therefore at Manchester Square on the day before she +started for Matching, and left a card and a note. This was on +the 15th of August, when London was as empty as it ever is. The +streets at the West End were deserted. The houses were shut up. +The very sweepers of the crossings seemed to have gone out of +town. The public offices were manned by one or two unfortunates +each, who consoled themselves by reading novels at their desks. +Half the cab-drivers had gone apparently to the seaside,--or to +bed. The shops were still open, but all the respectable +shopkeepers were either in Switzerland or at their marine villas. +The travelling world had divided itself into Cookites and +Hookites:--those who escaped trouble under the auspices of Mr +Cook, and those who boldly combatted the extortions of foreign +innkeepers and the Anti-Anglican tendencies of foreign railway +officials 'on their own hooks.' The Duchess of Omnium was +nevertheless in town, and the Duke might still be seen going in +at the back entrance of the Treasury Chambers every day at eleven +o'clock. Mr Warburton thought it very hard, for he, too, could +shoot grouse; but he would have perished rather than have spoken +a word. + +The Duchess did not ask to see Mrs Lopez, but left her card and a +note. She had not liked, she said, to leave town without +calling, though she would not seek to be admitted. She hoped +that Mrs Lopez was recovering her health, and trusted that on her +return to town she might be allowed to renew her acquaintance. +The note was very simple, and could not be taken as other than +friendly. If she had been simply Mrs Palliser, and her husband +had been a junior clerk in the Treasury, such a visit would have +been a courtesy; and it was not less so because it was made by +the Duchess of Omnium and by the wife of the Prime Minister. But +yet among all the poor widow's acquaintance she was the only one +who had ventured to call since Lopez had destroyed himself. Mrs +Roby had been told not to come. Lady Eustace had been sternly +rejected. Even old Mrs Fletcher when she had been up in town, +had, after a very solemn meeting with Mr Wharton, contented +herself with sending her love. It had come to pass that the idea +of being immured was growing to be natural to Emily herself. The +longer that it was continued the more did it seem to be +impossible to her that she should break from her seclusion. But +yet she was gratified by the note from the Duchess. + +'She means to be civil, papa,' + +'Oh yes,--but there are people whose civility I don't want.' + +'Certainly. I did not want the civility of that horrid Lady +Eustace. But I can understand this. She thinks that she did +Ferdinand an injury.' + +'When you begin, my dear,--and I hope it will be soon,--to get +back to the world, you will find it more comfortable, I think, to +find yourself among your own people.' + +'I don't want to go back,' she said, sobbing bitterly. + +'But I want you to go back. All who know you want you to go +back. Only don't begin at that end.' + +'You don't suppose, papa, that I wish to go to the Duchess?' + +'I wish you to go somewhere. It can't be good for you to remain +here. Indeed I shall think it wicked, or at any rate weak, if +you continue to seclude yourself.' + +'Where shall I go,' she said imploringly. + +'To Wharton. I certainly think you ought to go there first.' + +'If you would go, papa, and leave me here,--just this once. +Next year I will go,--if they ask me.' + +'When I may be dead, for aught any of us know.' + +'Do not say that, papa. Of course anyone may die.' + +'I certainly shall not go without you. You may take that as +certain. Is it likely that I should leave you alone in August +and September in this great gloomy house? If you stay, I shall +stay.' Now this meant a great deal than it had meant in former +years. Since Lopez had died Mr Wharton had not once dined at the +Eldon. He came home regularly at six o'clock, sat with his +daughter an hour before dinner, and then remained with her all +the evening. It seemed as though he were determined to force her +out of her solitude by her natural consideration for him. She +would implore him to go to his club and have his rubber, but he +would never give way. No;--he didn't care for the Eldon, and +disliked whist. So he said. Till at last he spoke more plainly. +'You are dull enough here all day, and I will not leave you in +the evenings.' There was a persistent tenderness in this which +she had not expected from the antecedents of his life. When, +therefore, he told her that he would not go into the country +without her, she felt herself almost constrained to yield. + +And she would have yielded at once but for one fear. How could +she insure to herself that Arthur Fletcher should not be there? +Of course he would be at Longbarns, and how could she prevent his +coming over from Longbarns to Wharton? She could hardly bring +herself to ask the question of her father. But she felt an +insuperable objection to finding herself in Arthur's presence. +Of course she loved him. Of course in all the world he was the +dearest of all to her. Of course if she could wipe out the past +as with a wet towel, if she could put the crape of her mind as +well as from her limbs, she would become his wife with the +greatest joy. But the very feeling that she loved him was +disgraceful to her in her own thoughts. She had allowed his +caress while Lopez was still her husband,--the husband who had +ill-used her and betrayed her, who had sought to drag her down to +his own depth of baseness. But now she could not endure to think +that the other man should even touch her. It was forbidden to +her, she believed, by all the canons of womanhood eve to think of +love again. There ought to be nothing left for her but crape and +weepers. She had done it all by her own obstinacy, and she could +make no compensation either to her family, or the world, or to +her own feelings, but by drinking the cup of her misery down to +the very dregs. Even to think of joy would in her be a treason. +On that occasion she did not yield to her father, conquering him +as she had conquered him before the pleading of her looks rather +than her words. + +But a day or two afterwards he came to her with arguments of a +very different kind. He at any rate must go to Wharton +immediately in reference to a letter of vital importance which he +had received from Sir Alured. The reader may perhaps remember +that Sir Alured's heir--the heir to the title and property--was +a nephew for whom he entertained no affection whatever. This +Wharton had been discarded by all the Whartons as a profligate +drunkard. Some years ago Sir Alured had endeavoured to reclaim +the man, and spent perhaps more money than had been justified in +doing in the endeavour, seeing that, as present occupier of the +property, he was bound to provide for his own daughters, and that +at his death every acre must go to this ne'er-do-well. The money +had been allowed to flow like water for a twelvemonth and had +done no good whatever. There had been no hope. The man was +strong and likely to live,--and after a while had married a +wife, some woman that he took from the very streets. This had +been his last known achievement, and from that moment not even +had his name been mentioned at Wharton. Now there came tidings +of his death. It was said that he had perished in some attempt +to cross some glaciers in Switzerland;--but by degrees it +appeared that the glacier itself had been less dangerous than the +brandy which he had swallowed whilst on his journey. At any rate +he was dead. As to that Sir Alured's letter was certain. And he +was equally certain that he had left no son. + +These tidings were quite important to Mr Wharton as to Sir +Alured,--more important to Everett Wharton than to either of +them, as he would inherit all after the death of those two old +men. At this moment he was away yachting with a friend, and even +his address was unknown. Letter for his were to be sent to Oban, +and might, or might not, reach him in the course of a month. But +in a man of Sir Alured's feelings, this catastrophe produced a +great change. The heir to his title and property was one whom he +was bound to regard with affection and almost with reverence,-- +if it were only possible for him to do so. With his late heir it +had been impossible. But Everett Wharton he had always liked. +Everett had not been quite all that his father and uncle had +wished. But his faults had been exactly those which could be +cured,--or would almost be virtues,--by the possession of a +title and property. Distaste for a profession and aptitude for +Parliament would become a young man who was heir not only to the +Wharton estates, but to half his father's money. + +Sir Alured in his letter expressed a hope that Everett might be +informed instantly. He would have written himself had he known +Everett's address. But he did know that his elder cousin was in +town, and he besought his elder cousin to come at once,--quite +at once,--to Wharton. Emily, he said, would of course accompany +her father on such an occasion. Then there were long letters +from Mary Wharton, and even from Lady Wharton, to Emily. The +Whartons must have been very much moved when Lady Wharton could +be induced to write a long letter. The Whartons were very much +moved. They were in a state of enthusiasm at these news, +amounting almost to fury. It seemed as though they thought that +every tenant and labourer on the estate, and every tenant a +labourer's wife, would be in an abnormal condition and unfit for +the duties of life, till they should have seen Everett as heir to +the property. Lady Wharton went so far as to tell Emily which +bedroom was being prepared for Everett,--a bedroom very +different in honour from any by the occupation of which he had +yet been graced. And there were twenty points as to new wills +and new deeds as to which the present baronet wanted the +immediate advice of his cousin. There were a score of things +which could now be done which were before impossible. Trees +could be cut down, and buildings put up; and a little bit of land +sold, and a little bit of land bought;--the doing of all which +would give new life to Sir Alured. A life interest in an estate +is a much pleasanter thing when the heir is a friend who can be +walked about the property, than when he is an enemy who must be +kept at arm's length. All these delights could now be Sir +Alured's,--if the old heir would give him his counsel and the +young one his assistance. + +This change of affairs occasioned some flutter also in Manchester +Square. It could not make much difference personally to old Mr +Wharton. He was, in fact, as old as the baronet, and did not pay +much regard to his own chance of succession. But the position +was one which would suit him admirably, and he was now on good +terms with his son. He had convinced himself that Lopez had done +all that he could to separate them, and therefore found himself +to be more bound to his son than ever. 'We must go at once,' he +said to his daughter, speaking as though he had forgotten her +misery for the moment. + +'I suppose you and Everett ought to be there.' + +'Heaven knows where Everett is. I ought to be there, and I +suppose that on such an occasion as this you will condescend to +go with me.' + +'Condescend, papa;--what does that mean?' + +'You know I cannot go alone. It is out of the question that I +should leave you here.' + +'Why, papa?' + +'And at such a time the family ought to come together. Of course +they will take it very much amiss if you refuse. What will Lady +Wharton think if you refuse afer her writing such a letter as +that? It is my duty to tell you that you ought to go. You cannot +think that is right to throw over every friend that you have in +the world.' + +There was a great deal more said in which it almost seemed that +the father's tenderness had worn out. His words were much +rougher and more imperious than any that he had yet spoken since +his daughter had become a widow, but they were also more +efficacious, and therefore probably more salutary. After twenty- +four hours of this she found she was obliged to yield, and a +telegram was sent to Wharton,--by no means the first telegram +that had been sent since the news had arrived,--saying that +Emily would accompany her father. They were to occupy themselves +for two days further in preparations for their journey. + +These preparations to Emily were so sad as almost to break her +heart. She had never as yet packed up her widow's weeds. She +had never as yet contemplated the necessity of coming down to +dinner in them before other eyes than those of her father and +brother. She had as yet made none of those struggles with which +widows seek to lessen the deformity of their costume. It was +incumbent on her now to get a ribbon or two less ghastly than +those weepers which had, for the last five months, hung about her +face and shoulders. And then how would she look if he were to be +there? It was not to be expected that the Whartons should +seclude themselves because of her grief. This very change in the +circumstances of the property would be sure, of itself, to bring +the Fletchers to Wharton,--and then how should she look at him, +how answer him, if he spoke to her tenderly? It is very hard for +a woman to tell a lie to a man when she loves him. She may speak +the words. She may be able to assure him that he is indifferent +to her. But when a woman really loves a man, as she loved this +man, there is a desire to touch him which quivers at her fingers' +ends, a longing to look at him which she cannot keep out of her +eyes, an inclination to be near him which affects every motion of +her body. She cannot refrain herself from excessive attention to +his words. She has a god to worship, and she cannot control her +admiration. Of all this Emily herself felt much,--but felt at +the same time that she would never pardon herself if she betrayed +her love by a gleam of her eye, by the tone of a word, or the +movement of a finger. What,--should she be known to love again +after such a mistake as hers, after such a catastrophe? + +The evening before they started who should bustle into the house +but Everett himself. It was about six o'clock, and he was going +to leave London by the night mail. That he should be a little +given to bustle on such an occasion may perhaps be forgiven him. +He had heard the news down on the Scotch coast, and had flown up +to London, telegraphing as he did so backwards and forwards to +Wharton. Of course he felt that the destruction of his cousin +among the glaciers,--whether by brandy or ice he did not much +care,--had made him for the nonce one of the important people of +the world. The young man who would not so feel might be the +better philosopher, but one might doubt whether he would be the +better young man. He quite agreed with his father that it was +his sister's duty to go to Wharton, and he was now in a position +to speak with authority as to the duties of the members of his +family. He could not wait, even for one night, in order that he +might travel with them. Sir Alured was impatient. Sir Alured +wanted him in Hertfordshire. Sir Alured had said that on such an +occasion he, the heir, ought to be on the property with the +shortest possible delay. His father smiled;--but with an +approving smile. Everett therefore started by the night mail, +leaving his father and sister to follow him on the morrow. + + + +CHAPTER 68 + +THE PRIME MINISTER'S POLITICAL CREED. + +The Duke, before he went to Matching, twice reminded Phineas Finn +that he was expected there in a day or two. 'The Duchess says +that your wife is coming to-morrow,' said the Duke on the day of +his departure. But Phineas could not go then. His services to +the country were required among the dockyards and ships, and he +postponed his visit till the end of September. Then he started +for Matching, having the double pleasure before him of meeting +his wife and his noble host and hostess. He found a small party +there, but not so small as the Duchess had once suggested to him. +'Your wife will be there, of course, Mr Finn. She is too good to +desert me in my troubles. And there will probably be Lady Rosina +De Courcy. Lady Rosina is to the Duke what your wife is to me. +I don't suppose there will be anybody else,--except, perhaps Mr +Warburton!' But Lady Rosina was not there. In place of Lady +Rosina there were the Duke and Duchess of St Bungay, with their +daughters, two or three Palliser offshoots, with their wives, and +Barrington Erle. There were, too, the Bishop of the diocese with +his wife, three or four others, coming and going, so that the +party never seemed to be too small. 'We asked Mr Rattler,' said +the Duchess in a whisper to Phineas, 'but he declined, with a +string of florid compliments. When Mr Rattler won't come to the +Prime Minister's house, you may depend that something is going to +happen. It is like pigs carrying straws in their mouths. Mr +Rattler is my pig.' Phineas only laughed and said that he did +not believe Rattler to be a better pig than anybody else. + +It was soon apparent to Phineas that the Duke's manner to him was +entirely altered, so much so that he was compelled to acknowledge +to himself that he had not hitherto read the Duke's character +aright. Hitherto he had never found the Duke pleasant in +conversation. Looking back he could hardly remember that he had +in truth ever conversed with the Duke. The man had seemed to +shut himself up as soon as he had uttered certain words which the +circumstances of the moment had demanded. Whether it was +arrogance or shyness Phineas had not known. His wife had said +that the Duke was shy. Had he been arrogant the effect would +have been the same. He was unbending, hard, and lucid only when +he spoke on some detail of business, or on some point of policy. +But now he smiled, and, though hesitating a little at first, very +soon fell into the ways of a pleasant country host. 'You shoot,' +said the Duke. Phineas did shoot, but cared very little about +it. 'But you hunt.' Phineas was very fond of riding to hounds. +'I am beginning to think,' said the Duke, 'that I have made a +mistake in not caring for such things. When I was very young I +gave them up, because it appeared that other men devoted too much +time to them. One might as well not eat because men are +gluttons.' + +'Only that you would die if you did not eat.' + +'Bread, I suppose, would keep me alive, but still one eats meat +without being a glutton. I very often regret the want of +amusements, and particularly of those which would throw me more +among my fellow-creatures. A man is alone when reading, alone +when writing, alone when thinking. Even sitting in Parliament he +is very much alone, though there be a crowd around him. Now a +man can hardly be thoroughly useful unless he knows his fellow- +men, and how is he to know them if he shuts himself up? If I had +to begin again I think I would cultivate the amusements of the +time.' + +Not long after this the Duke asked him whether he was going to +join the shooting men on that morning. Phineas declared that his +hands were too full of business for any amusement before lunch. +'Then,' said the Duke, 'will you walk with me this afternoon? +There is nothing I really like so much as a walk. There are some +very pretty points where the river skirts the park. And I will +show you the spot on which Sir Guy de Palliser performed the feat +for which the king gave him this property. It was a grand time +when a man could get half-a-dozen parishes because he tickled the +king's fancy.' + +'But suppose he didn't tickle the king's fancy?' + +'Ah, then indeed, it might go otherwise with him. But I am glad +to say that Sir Guy was an accomplished courtier.' + +The walk was taken, and the pretty bends of the river were seen; +but they were looked at without much earnestness, and Sir Guy's +great deed was not again mentioned. The conversation went away +to other matters. Of course it was not long before the Prime +Minister was deep in discussing the probabilities of the next +Session. It was soon apparent to Phineas that the Duke was no +longer desirous of resigning, though he spoke very freely of the +probable necessity there might be for him to do so. At the +present moment he was in his best humour. His feet were on his +own property. He could see the prosperity around him. The spot +was the one which he loved the best in the world. He liked his +present companion, who was one to whom he was entitled to speak +with freedom. But there was still present to him the sense of +some injury from which he could not free himself. Of course he +did not know that he had been haughty to Sir Orlando, to Sir +Timothy, and others. But he did know that he had intended to be +true, and he thought that they had been treacherous. Twelve +months ago there had been a goal before him which he might +attain, a winning-post which was still within his reach. There +was in store for him the tranquillity of retirement which he +would enjoy as soon as a sense of duty would permit him to seize +it. But now the prospect of that happiness had gradually +vanished from him. That retirement was no longer a winning-post +for him. The poison of place and power and dignity had got into +his blood. As he looked forward he feared rather than sighed for +retirement. 'You think it will go against us?' he said. + +Phineas did think so. There was hardly a man high up in the +party who did not think so. When one branch of the Coalition has +gradually dropped off, the other branch will hardly flourish +long. And then the tints of a political Coalition are so neutral +and unalluring that men will only endure them when they feel that +no more pronounced colours are within their reach. 'After all,' +said Phineas, 'the innings has not been a bad one. It has been +of service to the country, and has lasted longer than most +expected.' + +'If it has been of service to the country, that is everything. +It should at least be everything. With the statesman to whom it +is not everything there must be something wrong.' The Duke, as +he said this, was preaching to himself. He was telling himself +that, though he saw the better way, he was allowing himself to +walk on that which was worse. For it was not only Phineas who +would see the change,--or the old Duke, or the Duchess. It was +apparent to the man himself, though he could not prevent it. 'I +sometimes think,' he said, 'that we whom chance has led to be +meddlers in the game of politics sometimes give ourselves hardly +time enough to think what we are about.' + +'A man may have to work so hard,' said Phineas, 'that he has no +time for thinking.' + +'Or more probably, may be so eager in party conflict that he will +hardly keep his mind cool enough for thought. It seems to me +that many men,--men whom you and I know,--embrace the +profession of politics not only without political convictions, +but without seeing that it is proper that they should entertain +them. Chance brings a young man under the guidance of this or +that elder man. He has come of a Whig family, as was my case,-- +or from some old Tory stock; and loyalty keeps him true to the +interests which have first pushed him forward into the world. +There is no conviction there.' + +'Convictions grow.' + +'Yes;--the conviction that it is the man's duty to be a staunch +Liberal, but not the reason why. Or a man sees his opening on +this side or on that,--as is the case with the lawyers. Or he +has a body of men at his back ready to support him on this side +or that, as we see with commercial men. Or perhaps he has some +vague idea that aristocracy is pleasant, and he becomes a +Conservative,--or that democracy is prospering, and he becomes a +Liberal. You are a Liberal, Mr Finn.' + +'Certainly, Duke.' + +'Why?' + +'Well;--after what you have said I will not boast of myself. +Experience, however, seems to show me that Liberalism is demanded +by the country.' + +'So, perhaps, at certain epochs, may the Devil and all his works; +but you will hardly say that you will carry the Devil's colours, +because the country may like the Devil. It is not sufficient, I +think, to say that Liberalism is demanded. You should first know +what Liberalism means, and then assure yourself that the thing +itself is good. I dare say you have done so, but I see some who +never make the inquiry.' + +'I will not claim to be better than my neighbours,--I mean my +real neighbours.' + +'I understand; I understand,' said the Duke laughing. 'You +prefer some good Samaritan on the Opposition benches to Sir +Timothy and the Pharisees. It is hard to come wounded out of the +fight, and then to see him who would be your friend not only +walking by on the other side, but flinging a stone at you as he +goes. But I did not mean just now to allude to the details of +recent misfortunes, though there is no one to whom I could do so +more openly than to you. I was trying yesterday to explain to +myself why I have, all my life, sat on what is called the Liberal +side of the House to which I have belonged.' + +'Did you succeed?' + +'I began life with the misfortune of a ready-made political +creed. There was a seat in the House for me when I was twenty- +one. Nobody took the trouble to ask me my opinions. It was a +matter of course that I should be a Liberal. My uncle, whom +nothing could ever induce to enter politics himself, took it for +granted that I should run straight,--as he would have said. It +was a tradition of the family, and was a inseparable from it as +any of the titles which he had inherited. The property might be +sold or squandered,--but the political creed was fixed as +adamant. I don't know that I ever had a wish to rebel, but I +think that I took it at first very much as a matter of course.' + +'A man seldom inquires very deeply at twenty-one.' + +'And if he does it is ten to one but he comes to a wrong +conclusion. But since then I have satisfied myself that chance +put me into the right course. It has been, I dare say, the same +with you as with me. We both went into office early, and the +anxiety to do special duties well probably deterred us both from +thinking much of the great question. When a man has to be on the +alert to keep Ireland quiet, or to prevent peculation in the +dockyards, or to raise the revenue while he lowers the taxes, he +feels himself to be saved from the necessity of investigating +principles. In this way I sometimes think that ministers, or +they who have been ministers and who have to watch the ministers +from the Opposition benches, have less opportunity of becoming +real politicians than the new men who sit in Parliament with +empty hands and with time at their own disposal. But when a man +has been placed by circumstances as I am now, he does begin to +think.' + +'And yet you have not empty hands.' + +'They are not so full, perhaps, as you think. At any rate I +cannot content myself with a single branch of public service as I +used to in old days. Do not suppose that I claim to have made +any grand political invention, but I think that I have at least +labelled my own thoughts. I suppose what we all desire is to +improve the condition of the people by whom we are employed, and +to advance or country, or at any rate to save it from +regression.' + +'That of course.' + +'So much is of course. I give credit to my opponents in +Parliament for that desire quite as readily as I do to my +colleagues or to myself. The idea that political virtue is all +on one side is both mischievous and absurd. We allow ourselves +to talk in that way because indignation, scorn, and sometimes, I +fear, vituperation, are the fuel with which the necessary heat of +debate is maintained.' + +'There are some men who are very fond of poking the fire,' said +Phineas. + +'Well; I won't name anyone at present,' said the Duke, 'but I +have seen gentlemen of your country very handy with the pokers.' +Phineas laughed, knowing that he had been considered by some to +have been a little violent when defending the Duke. 'But we put +all that aside when we really think, and can give the +Conservative credit for patriotism as readily as the Liberal. +The Conservative who has had any idea of the meaning of the name +which he carries, wishes, I suppose, to maintain the differences +and the distances which separate the highly placed from their +lower brethren. He thinks that God has divided the world as he +finds it divided, and that he may best do his duty by making the +inferior many happy and contented in his position, teaching him +that the place which he holds is his by God's ordinance.' + +'And it is so.' + +'Hardly in the sense that I mean. But that is the great +Conservative lesson. That lesson seems to me to be hardly +compatible with continual improvement in the condition of the +lower man. But with the Conservative all such improvement is to +be based on the idea of the maintenance of those distances. I as +a Duke am to be kept as far apart from the man who drives my +horses as was my ancestor from the man who drove his, or who rode +after him to the wars,--and that is to go on for ever. There is +much to be said for such a scheme. Let the lords be, all of +them, men with loving hearts, and clear intellect, and noble +instincts, and it is possible that they should use their powers +so beneficently as to spread happiness over the earth. It is one +of the millenniums which the mind of man can conceive, and seems +to be that which the Conservative mind does conceive.' + +'But the other men who are not lords don't want that kind of +happiness.' + +'If such happiness were attainable it might well be to constrain +men to accept it. But the lords of this world are fallible men; +and though as units they ought to be and perhaps are better than +those others who have fewer advantages, they are much more likely +as units to go astray in opinion than the bodies of men whom they +would seek to govern. We know that power does corrupt, and that +we cannot trust kings to have loving hearts, and clear +intellects, and noble instincts. Men as they come to think about +it and to look forward, and to look back, will not believe in +such a millennium as that.' + +'Do they believe in any millennium?' + +'I think they do after a fashion, and I think that I do myself. +That is my idea of Conservatism. The doctrine of Liberalism is, +of course, the reverse. The Liberal, if he have any fixed idea +at all, must, I think, have conceived the idea of lessening +distances,--of bringing the coachman and the duke nearer +together,--nearer and nearer, till a millennium shall be reached +by--' + +'By equality?' asked Phineas, eagerly interrupting the Prime +Minister, and showing his dissent by the tone of his voice. + +'I did not use the word, which is open to many objections. In +the first place the millennium, which I have perhaps rashly +named, is so distant that we need not even think of it as +possible. Men's intellects are at present so various that we +cannot even realize the idea of equality, and here in England we +have been taught to hate the word by the evil effects of those +absurd attempts which have been made elsewhere to proclaim it as +a fact accomplished by the scratch of a pen or the chisel of a +stone. We have been injured in that, because a good word +signifying a grand idea has been driven out of the vocabulary of +good men. Equality would be a heaven, if we could attain it. +How can we to whom so much has been given dare to think +otherwise? How can you look at the bowed back and bent legs and +abject face of the poor ploughman, who winter and summer has to +drag his rheumatic limbs to his work, while you go a-hunting or +sit in pride of place among the foremost few of the country, and +say that it is all that it ought to be? You are a Liberal +because you know that it is all not as it ought to be, and +because you would still march on to some nearer approach to +equality; though the thing itself is so great, so glorious, so +godlike,--nay, so absolutely divine,--that you have been +disgusted by the very promise of it, because its perfection is +unattainable. Men have asserted a mock equality till the very +idea of equality stinks in men's nostrils.' + +The Duke in his enthusiasm had thrown off his hat, and was +sitting on a wooden seat which they had reached, looking up among +the clouds. His left hand was clenched, and from time to time +with his right he rubbed the thin hairs on his brow. He had +begun in a low voice, with a somewhat slipshod enunciation of his +words, but had gradually become clear, resonant, and even +eloquent. Phineas knew that there were stories told of certain +bursts of words which had come from him in former days in the +House of Commons. These had occasionally surprised men and +induced them to declare that Planty Pall,--as he was then often +called,--was a dark horse. But they had been few and far +between, and Phineas had never heard them. Now he gazed at his +companion in silence, wondering whether the speaker would go on +with his speech. But the face changed on a sudden, and the Duke +with an awkward motion snatched up his hat. 'I hope you ain't +cold?' he said. + +'Not at all,' said Phineas. + +'I came here because of that bend of the river. I am always very +fond of that bend. We don't go over the river. That is Mr +Upjohn's property.' + +'The member for the county?' + +'Yes; and a very good member, he is, though he doesn't support +us;--an old-school Tory, but a great friend of my uncle, who, +after all, had a good deal of Tory about him. I wonder whether +he is at home. I must remind the Duchess to ask him to dinner. +You know him, of course.' + +'Only by seeing him in the House.' + +'You'd like him very much. When he is in the country he always +wears knee breeches and gaiters, which I think is a very +comfortable dress.' + +'Troublesome, Duke, isn't it?' + +'I never tried it, and I shouldn't dare now. Goodness me, it's +past five o'clock, and we've got two miles to get home. I +haven't looked at a letter, and Warburton will think that I've +thrown myself into the river because of Sir Timothy Beeswax.' +Then they started to go home at fast pace. + +'I shan't forget, Duke,' said Phineas, 'your definition of +Conservatives and Liberals.' + +'I don't think I ventured any definition;--only a few loose +ideas which have been troubling me lately. I say, Finn!' + +'Your Grace?' + +'Don't you go and tell Ramsden and Drummond that I've been +preaching equality, or we shall have a pretty mess. I don't know +that it would serve me with my dear friend, the Duke.' + +'I will be discretion itself.' + +'Equality is a dream. But sometimes one likes to dream,-- +especially as there is not danger that Matching will fly from me +in a dream. I doubt whether I could bear the test that has been +attempted in other countries.' + +'That poor ploughman would hardly get his share, Duke.' + +'No;--that's where it is. We can only do a little, and a little +to bring it nearer to us;--so little that it won't touch +Matching in our day. Here is her ladyship and the ponies. I +don't think her ladyship would like to lose her ponies by my +doctrine.' + +The two wives of the two men were in the pony carriage, and the +little Lady Glencora, the Duchess's eldest daughter, was sitting +between them. 'Mr Warburton has sent three messages to demand +your presence,' said the Duchess, 'and as I live by bread, I +believe that you and Mr Finn have been amusing yourselves!' + +'We have been talking politics,' said the Duke. + +'Of course. What other amusement was possible? But what +business have you to indulge in idle talk when Mr Warburton wants +you in the library? There has come a box,' she said, 'big enough +to contain the resignations of all the traitors of the party.' +This was strong language, and the Duke frowned;--but there was +no one there to hear it but Phineas Finn and his wife, and they, +at least, were trustworthy. The Duke suggested that he had +better get back to the house as soon as possible. There might be +something to be done requiring time before dinner. Mr Warburton +might, at any rate, want to smoke a tranquil cigar after his +day's work. The Duchess therefore left the carriage, as did Mrs +Finn, and the Duke undertook to drive the little girl back to the +house. 'He'll surely go against a tree,' said the Duchess. But, +--as a fact,--the Duke did take himself and the child home in +safety. + +'And what do you think about it, Mr Finn?' said her Grace. 'I +suppose you and the Duke have been settling what is to be done?' + +'We have certainly settled nothing.' + +'Then you must have disagreed.' + +'That we as certainly have not done. We have in truth not once +been out of cloud-land.' + +'Ah;--then there is no hope. When once grown-up politicians get +into cloud-land it is because the realities of the world have no +longer any charm for them.' + +The big box did not contain the resignations of any of the +objectionable members of the Coalition. Ministers do not often +resign in September,--nor would it be expedient that they should +do so. Lord Drummond and Sir Timothy Beeswax were safe, at any +rate till next February, and might live without any show either +of obedience or mutiny. The Duke remained in comparative quiet +at Matching. There was not very much to do, except to prepare +the work of the next Session. The great work of the coming year +was to be the assimilation, or something very near to +assimilation, of the county suffrages with those of the boroughs. +The measure was one which had now been promised by statesmen for +the last two years,--promised at first with that half promise +which would mean nothing, were it not that such promises always +lead to more defined assurances. The Duke of St Bungay, Lord +Drummond, and other Ministers had wished to stave it off. Mr +Monk was eager for its adoption, and was of course supported by +Phineas Finn. The Prime Minister had at first been inclined to +be led by the old Duke. There was no doubt to him but that the +measure was desirable and would come, but there might well be a +question as to the time which it should be made to come. The old +Duke knew that the measure would come,--but believing it to be +wholly undesirable, thought that he was doing good work in +postponing it from year to year. But Mr Monk had become urgent, +and the old Duke had admitted the necessity. There must surely +have been a shade of melancholy on that old man's mind as, year +after year, he assisted in pulling down institutions which he in +truth regarded as safeguards of the nation, but which he knew +that, as a Liberal, he was bound to assist in destroying! It +must have occurred to him, from time to time, that it would be +well for him to depart and be at peace before everything was +gone. + +When he went from Matching Mr Monk took his place, and Phineas +Finn, who had gone up to London for a while, returned, and then +the three between them with assistance from Mr Warburton and +others, worked out the proposed scheme of the new county +franchise, with the new divisions and the new constituencies. +But it could hardly have been hearty work, as they all of them +felt that whatever might be their first proposition they would be +beat upon it in a House of Commons which thought that this +Aristides had been long enough at the Treasury. + + + +CHAPTER 69 + +MRS PARKER'S FATE. + +Lopez had now been dead more than five months, and not a word had +been heard by his widow of Mrs Parker and her children. Her own +sorrows had been so great that she had hardly thought of those of +the poor woman who had come to her but a few days before her +husband's death, telling her of the ruin caused by her husband's +treachery. But late on the evening before her departure for +Hertfordshire,--very shortly after Everett left the house,-- +there was a ring at the door, and a poorly-clad female asked to +see Mrs Lopez. The poorly-clad female was Sexty Parker's wife. +The servant, who did not remember her, would not leave her alone +in the hall, having an eye to the coats and umbrellas, but called +up one of the maids to carry the message. The poor woman +understood the insult and resented it in her heart. But Mrs +Lopez recognized the name in a moment, and went down to her in +the parlour, leaving Mr Wharton upstairs. Mrs Parker, smarting +from her present grievance, had bent her mind on complaining at +once of the treatment she had received from the servant, but the +sight of the widow's weeds quelled her. Emily had never been +much given to fine clothes, either as a girl or as a married +woman; but it had always been her husband's pleasure that she +should be well dressed,--though he had never carried his trouble +so far as to pay the bills; and Mrs Parker's remembrance of her +friend at Dovercourt had been that of a fine lady in bright +apparel. Now a black shade,--something almost like a dark +ghost,--glided into the room and Mrs Parker forgot her recent +injury. Emily came forward and offered her hand, and was the +first to speak. 'I have had a great sorrow since we met,' she +said. + +'Yes, indeed, Mrs Lopez. I don't think there is anything left in +the world now except sorrow.' + +'I hope Mr Parker is well. Will you not sit down, Mrs Parker?' + +'Thank you, ma'am. Indeed, then, he is not well at all. How +should he be well? Everything,--everything has been taken away +from him.' Poor Emily groaned as she heard this. 'I wouldn't +say a word against them as is gone, Mrs Lopez, if I could help +it. I know it is bad to bear when him who once loved you isn't +no more. And perhaps it is all the worse when things didn't go +well with him, and it was, maybe, his own fault. I wouldn't do +it, Mrs Lopez, if I could help it.' + +'Let me hear what you have to say,' said Emily, determined to +suffer everything patiently. + +'Well;--it is just this. He has left us that bare that there is +nothing left. And that, they say, isn't the worst of all,-- +though what can be worse than doing that, how is a woman to +think? Parker was that soft, and he had that way with him of +talking, that he has talked me and mine out of the very linen on +our backs.' + +'What do you mean by saying that that is not the worst?' + +'They've come upon Sexty for a bill for four thousand and fifty, +--something to do with that stuff they call Bios,--and Sexty +says it isn't his name at all. But he's been in that state he +don't hardly know how to swear to anything. But he's sure he +didn't sign it. The bill was brought to him by Lopez and there +was words between them, and he wouldn't have nothing to do with +it. How is he to go to law? And it don't make much difference +neither, for they can't take much more from him than they have +already taken.' Emily as she heard all this sat shivering, +trying to repress her groans. 'Only,' continued Mrs Parker, +'they hadn't sold the furniture, and I was thinking they might +let me stay in the house, and try to do with letting lodgings,-- +and now they're seizing everything along of this bill. Sexty is +like a mad man, swearing this and swearing that;--but what can +he do, Mrs Lopez? It's as like his hand as two peas; but he was +clever at everything was,--was--you know who I mean, ma'am.' +Then Emily covered her face with her hands and burst into violent +tears. She had not determined whether she did or did not believe +this last accusation made against her husband. She had had +hardly time to realize the criminality of the offence imputed. +But she did believe that the woman before her had been ruined by +her husband's speculations. 'It's very bad, ma'am; isn't it?' +said Mrs Parker, crying for company. 'It's bad all round. If +you had five children as hadn't bread you'd know how I feel. +I've got to go back by the 10.15 to-night, and when I've paid for +a third-class ticket I shan't have but twopence left in this +world.' + +This utter depth of immediate poverty, this want of bread for the +morrow and the next day, Emily could relieve out of her own +pocket. And, thinking of this and remembering that her purse was +not with her at the moment, she started up with the idea of +getting it. But it occurred to her that that would not suffice; +that her duty required more of her than that. And yet, by her +own power, she could do no more. From month to month, almost +from week to week, since her husband's death, her father had been +called upon to satisfy claims for money which he would not +resist, lest by doing so he should add to her misery. She had +felt that she ought to bind herself to the strictest personal +economy because of the miserable losses to which she had +subjected him by her ill-starred marriage. 'What would you wish +me to do?' she said, resuming her seat. + +'You are rich,' said Mrs Parker. Emily shook her head. 'They +say your papa is rich. I thought you would not like to see me in +want like this.' + +'Indeed, indeed, it makes me very unhappy.' + +'Wouldn't your papa do something? It wasn't Sexty's fault nigh +so much as it was his. I wouldn't say it to you if it wasn't for +starving. I wouldn't say it to you if it wasn't for the +children. I'd lie in the ditch and die if it was only for +myself, because,--because I know what your feelings is. But +what wouldn't you do, and what wouldn't you say, if you had five +children at home as hadn't a loaf of bread among 'em?' Hereupon +Emily got up and left the room, bidding her visitor wait for a +few minutes. Presently the offensive butler came in, who had +wronged Mrs Parker by watching his master's coats, and brought a +tray with meat and wine. Mr Wharton, said the altered man, hoped +that Mrs Parker would take a little refreshment, and he would be +down himself very soon. Mrs Parker, knowing that strength for +her journey home would be necessary to her, remembering that she +would have to walk all through the city to the Bishopgate Street +station, did take some refreshment, and permitted herself to +drink the glass of sherry that her late enemy had benignantly +poured out for her. + +Emily had been with her father nearly half an hour before Mr +Wharton's heavy step was heard upon the stairs. And when he +reached the dining-room door he paused a moment before he +ventured to turn the lock. He had not told Emily what he would do, +and hardly as yet made up his own mind. As every fresh call was +made upon him, his hatred for the memory of the man who had +stepped in and disturbed his whole life, and turned all the +mellow satisfaction of his evening into storm and gloom, was of +course increased. The scoundrel's name was so odious to him that +he could hardly keep himself from shuddering visibly before his +daughter even when the servants called her by it. But yet he had +determined that he would devote himself to save her from further +suffering. It had been her fault, no doubt. But she was +expiating it in very sackcloth and ashes, and he would add +nothing to the burden on her back. He would pay, and pay, and +pay, merely remembering that what he paid must be deducted from +her share of his property. He had never intended to make what is +called an elder son of Everett, and now there was less necessity +than ever that he should do so, as Everett had become an elder +son in another direction. He could satisfy almost any demand +that might be made without material injury to himself. But these +demands, one after another, scalded him by their frequency, and +by the baseness of the man who had occasioned them. His daughter +had now repeated to him with sobbings and wailings the whole +story as it had been told to her by the woman downstairs. +'Papa,' she had said, 'I don't know how to tell you or how not.' +Then he had encouraged her, and had listened without saying a +word. He had endeavoured not even to shrink as the charge of +forgery was repeated to him by his own child,--the widow of the +guilty man. He endeavoured not to remember at the moment that +she had claimed this wretch as the chosen one of her maiden +heart, in opposition to all his wishes. It hardly occurred to +him to disbelieve the accusation. It was so probable! What was +there to hinder the man from forgery, if he could only make it +believed that his victim had signed the bill when intoxicated? +He heard it all;--kissed his daughter, and then went down to the +dining-room. + +Mrs Parker, when she saw him, got up, and curtsied low, and then +sat down again. Old Wharton looked at her from under his bushy +eyebrows before he spoke, and then sat opposite her. 'Madam,' he +said, 'this is a very sad story that I have heard.' Mrs Parker +again rose, and again curtsied, and put her handkerchief to her +face. 'It is of no use talking any more about it here.' + +'No, sir,' said Mrs Parker. + +'I and my daughter leave town early to-morrow morning.' + +'Indeed, sir. Mrs Lopez didn't tell me.' + +'My clerk will be in London, at No.12, Stone Buildings, Lincoln's +Inn, till I come back. Do you think you can find the place? I +have written it there.' + +'Yes, sir, I can find it,' said Mrs Parker, just raising herself +from her chair at every word he spoke. + +'I have written his name, you see. Mr Crumpy.' + +'Yes, sir.' + +'If you will permit me, I will give you two sovereigns now.' + +'Thank you, sir.' + +'And if you can make it convenient to call on Mr Crumpy every +Thursday morning about twelve, he will pay you two sovereigns a +week till I come back to town. Then I will see about it.' + +'God Almighty bless you, sir!' + +'And as to the furniture, I will write to my attorney, Mr Walker. +You need not trouble yourself by going to him.' + +'No, sir.' + +'If necessary, he will send to you, and he will see what can be +done. Good night Mrs Parker.' Then he walked across the room +with two sovereigns which he dropped into her hand. Mrs Parker, +with many sobs, bade him farewell, and Mr Wharton stood in the +hall immoveable till the front door had been closed behind her. +'I have settled it,' he said to Emily. 'I'll tell you to-morrow, +or some day. Don't worry yourself now, but go to bed.' She +looked wistfully,--so sadly, up into his face, and then did as +he bade her. + +But Mr Wharton could not go to bed without further trouble. It +was incumbent on him to write full particulars that very night +both to Mr Walker and to Mr Crumpy. And the odious letters in +the writing became very long;--odious because he had to confess +in them over and over again that his daughter, the very apple of +his eye, had been the wife of a scoundrel. To Mr Walker he had +to tell the whole story of the alleged forgery, and in doing so +could not abstain from the use of hard words. 'I don't suppose +that it can be proved, but there is every reason to believe that +it's true.' And again--'I believe the man to have been as vile +a scoundrel as ever was made by the love of money.' Even to Mr +Crumpy he could not be reticent. 'She is an object of pity,' he +said. 'Her husband was ruined by the infamous speculations of Mr +Lopez.' Then he betook himself to bed. Oh, how happy would he +be to pay the two thousand weekly pounds,--even to add to that +the amount of the forged bill, if by doing so he might be saved +from ever hearing again the name of Lopez. + +The amount of the bill was ultimately lost by the bankers who had +advanced the money on it. As for Mrs Sexty Parker, from week to +week, and from month to month, and at last from year to year, she +and her children,--and probably her husband also,--were +supported by the weekly pension of two sovereigns which she +always received on Thursday mornings form the hands of Mr Crumpy +himself. In a little time the one excitement of her life was the +weekly journey to Mr Crumpy, whom she came to regard as a man +appointed by Providence to supply her with 40s on Thursday +morning. As to poor Sexty Parker,--it is to be feared that he +never again became a prosperous man. + +'You will tell me what you did for that poor woman, papa,' said +Emily, leaning over her father in the train. + +'I have settled it, my dear.' + +'You said you'd tell me.' + +'Crumpy will pay her two pounds a week till we know more about +it.' Emily pressed her father's hand, and that was an end. No +one ever did know any more about it, and Crumpy continued to pay +the money. + + + +CHAPTER 70 + +AT WHARTON. + +When Mr Wharton and his daughter reached Wharton Hall there were +at any rate no Fletchers there as yet. Emily, as she was driven +from the station to the house, had not dared to ask a question or +even to prompt her father to do so. He would probably have told +her that on such an occasion there was but little chance that she +would find any visitors, and none at all that she would find +Arthur Fletcher. But she was too confused and too ill at ease to +think of the probabilities, and to the last was in trepidation, +specially lest she should meet her lover. She found, however, at +Wharton Hall none but Whartons, and she found also to her great +relief that this change in the heir relieved her of much of the +attention which must otherwise have added to her troubles. At +the first glance her dress and demeanour struck them so forcibly +that they could not avoid showing their feeling. Of course they +had expected to see her in black,--had expected to see her in +widow's weeds. But, with her, her very face and limbs had so +adapted themselves to her crape, that she looked like a monument +of bereaved woe. Lady Wharton took the mourner up into her own +room, and there made her a little speech. 'We have all wept for +you,' she said, 'and grieve for you still. But excessive grief +is wicked, especially in the young. We will do our best to make +you happy, and hope we shall succeed. All this about dear +Everett ought to be a comfort to you.' Emily promised that she +would do her best, not, however, taking much immediate comfort +from the prospects of dear Everett. Lady Wharton certainly had +never in her life spoken of dear Everett while the wicked cousin +was alive. Then Mary Wharton also made her little speech. 'Dear +Emily, I will do all that I can. Pray try to believe me.' But +Everett was so much the hero of the hour, that there was not much +room for general attention to anyone else. + +There was very much room for triumph in regard to Everett. It +had already been ascertained that the Wharton who was now dead +had had a child,--but that the child was a daughter. Oh,--what +salvation or destruction there may be to an English gentleman in +the sex of an infant! This poor baby was now little better than +a beggar brat, unless the relatives who were utterly disregardful +of its fate, should choose, in their charity, to make some small +allowance for its maintenance. Had it by chance been a boy +Everett Wharton would have been nobody; and the child, rescued +from the iniquities of his parents, would have been nursed in the +best bedroom of Wharton Hall, and cherished with the warmest +kisses, and would have been the centre of all the hopes of the +Whartons. But the Wharton lawyer by use of reckless telegrams +had certified himself that the infant was a girl, and Everett was +the hero of the day. He found himself to be possessed of a +thousand graces, even in his father's eyesight. It seemed to be +taken as a mark of his special good fortune that he had not clung +to any business. To have been a banker immersed in the making of +money, or even a lawyer attached to his circuit and his court, +would have lessened his fitness, or at any rate his readiness, +for the duties which he would have to perform. He would never be +a very rich man, but he would have command of ready money, and of +course he would go into Parliament. + +In his new position as,--not quite head of the family, but head +expectant,--it seemed to him to be his duty to lecture his +sister. It might be well that someone should lecture her with +more severity than her father used. Undoubtedly she was +succumbing to the wretchedness of her position in a manner that +was repugnant to humanity generally. There is not power so +useful to a man as that capacity of recovering himself after a +fall, which belongs especially to those who possess a healthy +mind in a healthy body. It is not rare to see one,--generally a +woman,--whom sorrow gradually kills; and there are those among +us, who hardly perhaps envy, but certainly admire, a spirit so +delicate as to be snuffed out by a woe. But it is the weakness +of the heart rather than the strength of the feeling which has in +such cases most often produced the destruction. Some endurance +of fibre has been wanting, which power of endurance is a noble +attribute. Everett Wharton saw something of this, and being, +now, the heir apparent of the family, took his sister to task. +'Emily,' he said, 'you make us all unhappy when we look at you.' + +'Do I?' she said. 'I am sorry for that;--but why should you +look at me?' + +'Because you are one of us. Of course we cannot shake you off. +We would not if we could. We have all been very unhappy because, +--because of what has happened. But don't you think you ought to +make some sacrifice to us,--to our father, I mean, and to Sir +Alured and Lady Wharton? When you go on weeping, other people +have to weep too. I have an idea that people ought to be happy +if it be only for the sake of neighbours.' + +'What am I to do, Everett?' + +'Talk to people a little, and smile sometimes. Move about +quicker. Don't look when you come into a room as if you were +consecrating it to tears. And, if I may venture to say so, drop +something of the heaviness of the mourning.' + +'Do you mean that I am a hypocrite?' + +'No;--I mean nothing of the kind. You know I don't. But you +may exert yourself for the benefit of others without being untrue +to your own memories. I am sure you know what I mean. Make a +struggle and see if you cannot do something.' + +She did make a struggle, and she did do something. No one, not +well versed in the mysteries of feminine dress, could say very +accurately what it was that she had done; but everyone felt that +something of the weight was reduced. At first, as her brother's +words came upon her ear, and as she felt the blows which they +inflicted on her, she accused him in her heart of cruelty. They +were very hard to hear. There was a moment in which she was +almost tempted to turn upon him and tell him that he knew nothing +of her sorrows. But she restrained herself, and when she was +alone she acknowledged to herself that he had spoken the truth. +No one has a right to go about the world as Niobe, damping all +joys with selfish tears. What did she not owe to her father, who +had warned her so often against the evil she had contemplated, +and had then, from the first moment after the fault was done, +forgiven her the doing of it? She had at any rate learned from +her misfortunes the infinite tenderness of his heart, which in +the days of the unalloyed prosperity he had never felt the +necessity of expressing to her. So she struggled and did do +something. She pressed Lady Wharton's hand, and kissed her +cousin Mary, and throwing herself in her father's arms when they +were alone, whispered to him that she would try. 'What you told +me, Everett, was quite right,' she said afterwards to her +brother. + +'I didn't mean to be savage,' he answered with a smile. + +'It was quite right, and I have thought of it, and I will do my +best. I will keep it to myself if I can. It is not quite, +perhaps, what you think it is, but I will keep it to myself.' +She fancied that they did not understand her, and perhaps she was +right. It was not only that he had died and left her a young +widow;--nor even that his end had been so harsh a tragedy and so +foul a disgrace! It was not only that her love had been +misbestowed,--not only that she had made so grievous an error in +the one great act of her life which she had chosen to perform on +her own judgement. Perhaps the most crushing memory of all was +that which told her that she, who had through all her youth been +regarded as a bright star in the family, had been the one person +to bring reproach upon the name of all these people who were so +good to her. How shall a person conscious of disgrace, with a +mind capable of feeling the crushing weight of personal disgrace, +move and look and speak as though the disgrace had been washed +away? But she made the struggle, and did not altogether fail. + +As regarded Sir Alured, in spite of the poor widow's crape, he +was very happy at this time, and his joy did in some degree +communicate itself to the old barrister. Everett was taken +round to every tenant and introduced as the heir. Mr Wharton had +already declared his purpose of abdicating any possible +possession of the property. Should he outlive Sir Alured he must +be the baronet; but when that sad event should take place, +whether Mr Wharton should then be alive or no, Everett should at +once be the possessor of Wharton Hall. Sir Alured, under these +circumstances, discussed his own death with extreme satisfaction, +and insisted on having it discussed by the others. That he +should have gone and left everything at the mercy of the +spendthrift had been terrible to his old heart;--but now, the +man coming to the property would have 60,000 pounds with which to +support and foster Wharton, with which to mend, as it were, the +crevices, and stop the holes of the estate. He seemed to be +almost impatient for Everett's ownership, giving many hints as to +what should be done when he himself was gone. He must surely +have thought that he would return to Wharton a spirit, and take a +ghostly share in the prosperity of the farm. 'You will find John +Griffith a very good man,' said the baronet. John Griffith had +been a tenant on the estate for the last half-century, and was an +older man than his landlord; but the baronet spoke of all this as +though he himself were about to leave Wharton for ever in the +course of the next week. 'John Griffith has been a good man, and +if not always quite ready with his rent, has never been much +behind. You won't be hard on John Griffith?' + +'I hope I mayn't have the opportunity, sir.' + +'Well;--well;--well; that's as may be. But I don't quite know +what to say about young John. The farm has gone from father to +son, and there's never been any word of a lease.' + +'Is there anything wrong about the young man?' + +'He's a little given to poaching.' + +'Oh dear!' + +'I've always got him off for his father's sake. They say he's +going to marry Sally Jones. That may take it out of him. I do +like the farms to go from father to son, Everett. It's the way +that everything should go. Of course there's no right.' + +'Nothing of that kind, I suppose,' said Everett, who was in his +way a reformer, and had radical notions with which he would not +for worlds have disturbed the baronet at present. + +'No;--nothing of that kind. God in his mercy forbid that a +landlord in England should ever be robbed after that fashion.' +Sir Alured, when he was uttering this prayer, was thinking of +what he had heard of in an Irish land bill, the details of which, +however, had been altogether incomprehensible to him. 'But I +have a feeling about it, Everett; and I hope you will share it. +It is good that things should go from father to son. I never +make a promise; but the tenants know what I think about it, and +then the father works on the son. Why should he work for a +stranger? Sally Jones is a very good young woman, and perhaps +John will do better.' There was not field or fence that he did +not show to his heir;--hardly a tree which he left without a +word. 'That bit of woodland coming in there,--they call it +Barnton Spinnies,--doesn't belong to the estate at all.' + +'Doesn't it really?' + +'And it comes right in between Lane's farm and Paddock's. +They've always let me have the shooting as a compliment. Not +that there's anything in it. It's only seven acres. But I like +the civility.' + +'Who does it belong to?' + +'It belongs to Benet.' + +'What: Corpus Christi?' + +'Yes, yes;--they've changed the name. It used to be Benet in my +days. Walker and the College would certainly sell, but you'd +have to pay for the land and the wood separately. I don't know +that you'd get much out of it; but it's unsightly;--on the +survey map, I mean.' + +'We'll buy it by all means,' said Everett, who was already +jingling his 60,000 pounds in his pocket. + +'I never had the money, but I think it should be bought.' And +Sir Alured rejoiced in the idea that when his ghost should look +at the survey map, that hiatus of Barnton Spinnies would not +trouble his spectral eyes. + +In this way months ran on at Wharton. Our Whartons had come down +in the latter half of August, and at the beginning of September +Mr Wharton returned to London. Everett, of course, remained, as +he was still learning the lesson of which he was in truth +becoming a little weary; and at last Emily had also been +persuaded to stay in Hertfordshire. Her father promised to +return, not mentioning any precise time, but giving her to +understand that he would come before the winter. He went, and +probably found that his taste for the Eldon and for whist had +returned to him. In the middle of November old Mrs Fletcher +arrived. Emily was not aware of what was being done; but, in +truth, the Fletchers and Whartons combined were conspiring with a +view of bringing her back to her former self. Mrs Fletcher had +not yielded without some difficulty,--for it was a part of this +conspiracy that Arthur was to be allowed to marry the widow. But +John had prevailed. 'He'll do it anyway, mother,' he had said, +whether you and I like it or not. And why on earth shouldn't he +do as he pleases?' + +'Think what the man was, John!' + +'It's more to the purpose to think what the woman is. Arthur has +made up his mind, and if I know him, he's not the man to be +talked out of it.' And so the old woman had given in, and had at +last consented to go forward as the advanced guard of Fletchers, +and lay siege to the affections of the woman whom she had once so +thoroughly discarded from her heart. + +'My dear,' she said, when they first met, 'if there has been +anything wrong between you and me, let it be among the things +that are past. You always used to kiss me. Give me a kiss now.' +Of course Emily kissed her; and after that Mrs Fletcher patted +her and petted her, and gave her lozenges, which she declared in +private to be 'the sovereignest thing on earth' for debilitated +nerves. And then it came out by degrees that John Fletcher and +his wife and all the little Fletchers were coming to Wharton for +the Christmas weeks. Everett had gone, but was also to be back +for Christmas, and Mr Wharton's visit was also postponed. It was +absolutely necessary that Everett should be at Wharton for the +Christmas festivities, and expedient that Everett's father should +be there to see them. In this way Emily had no means of escape. +Her father wrote telling her of his plans, saying that he would +bring her back after Christmas. Everett's heirship had made these +Christmas festivities,--which were, however, to be confined to +the two families,--quite a necessity. In all this not a word +was said about Arthur, nor did she dare to ask whether he was +expected. The younger Mrs Fletcher, John's wife, opened her arms +to the widow in a manner that almost plainly said that she +regarded Emily as her future sister-in-law. John Fletcher talked +to her about Longbarns, and the children,--complete Fletcher +talk,--as though she were already one of them, never, however, +mentioning Arthur's name. The old lady got down a fresh supply +of the lozenges from London because those she had by her might +perhaps be a little stale. And then there was another sign which +after a while became plain to Emily. No one in either family +ever mentioned her name. It was not singular that none of them +should call her Mrs Lopez, as she was Emily to all of them. But +they never so described her even in speaking to the servants. +And the servants themselves, as far as possible, avoided that +odious word. The thing was to be buried, if not into oblivion, +yet in some speechless grave. And it seemed that her father was +joined in this attempt. When writing to her he usually made some +excuse for writing also to Everett, or, in Everett's absence, to +the baronet,--so that the letter for his daughter might be +enclosed and addressed simply to 'Emily'. + +She understood it all, and though she was moved to continual +solitary tears by this ineffable tenderness, yet she rebelled +against them. They should never cheat her back into happiness by +such wiles as that! It was not fit that she should yield to +them. As a woman utterly disgraced it could not become her again +to laugh and be joyful, to give and take loving embraces, to sit +and smile, perhaps a happy mother, at another man's hearth. For +their love she was grateful. For his love she was more than +grateful. How constant must be his heart, how grand his nature, +how more than manly his strength of character, when he was thus +true to her through all the evil she had done! Love him! Yes;-- +she would pray for him, worship him, fill the remainder of her +days with thinking of him, hoping for him, and making his +interests her own. Should he ever be married,--and she would +pray that he might,--his wife, if possible, should be her +friend, his children should be her darlings, and he should always +be her hero. But they should not, with all their schemes, cheat +her into disgracing him by marrying him. + +At last her father came, and it was he who told her that Arthur +was expected on the day before Christmas. 'Why did you not tell +me before, papa, so that I might have asked you to take me away?' + +'Because I thought, my dear, that it was better that you should +be constrained to meet him. You would not wish to live all your +life in terror of seeing Arthur Fletcher?' + +'Not all my life.' + +'Take the plunge and it will be over. They have all been very +good to you.' + +'Too good, papa. I didn't want it.' + +'They are your oldest friends. There isn't a young man in +England I think so highly of as John Fletcher. When I am gone, +where are you to look for friends?' + +'I'm not ungrateful, papa.' + +'You can't know them all, and yet keep yourself altogether +separate from Arthur. Think what it would be to me never to be +able to ask him to the house. He is the only one of the family +that lives in London, and now it seems that Everett will spend +most of his time down here. Of course it is better that you +should meet him and have done with it.' There was no answer to +be made to this, but still she was fixed in her resolution that +she would never meet him as her lover. + +Then came the morning of the day on which he was to arrive, and +his coming was for the first time spoken openly of at breakfast. +'How is Arthur to be brought from the station,' asked old Mrs +Fletcher. + +'I'm going to take the dog-cart,' said Everett. 'Giles will go +for the luggage with the pony. He is bringing down a lot of +things;--a new saddle and gun for me.' It had all been arranged +for her, this question and answer, and Emily blushed as she felt +that it was so. + +'We shall be glad to see Arthur,' said young Mrs Fletcher to her. + +'Of course you will.' + +'He has not been down here since the Session was over, and he has +got to be quite a speaking man now. I do so hope he'll become +something some day.' + +'I am sure he will,' said Emily. + +'Not a judge, however. I hate wigs. Perhaps he might be Lord +Chancellor in time.' Mrs Fletcher was not more ignorant than +some other ladies in being unaware of the Lord Chancellor's wig +and exact position. + +At last he came. The 9am express for Hereford,--express, at +least, for the first two or three hours out of London,--brought +passengers for Wharton to the nearest station at 3pm, and the +distance was not above five miles. Before four o'clock Arthur +was standing before the drawing-room fire, with a cup of tea in +his hand, surrounded by Fletchers and Whartons, and being made +much of as the young family member of Parliament. But Emily was +not in the room. She had studied her Bradshaw, and learned the +hours of the trains, and was now in her bedroom. He had looked +around the moment he entered the room, but had not dared to ask +for her suddenly. He had said one word about her to Everett in +the cart, and that had been all. She was in the house, and he +must, at any rate, see her before dinner. + +Emily, in order that she might not seem to escape abruptly, had +retired early to her solitude. But she, too, knew that the +meeting could not be long postponed. She sat thinking of it all, +and at last heard the wheels of the vehicle before the door. She +paused, listening with all her ears, that she might recognize his +voice, or possibly his footstep. She stood near the window, +behind the curtain, with her hand pressed to her heart. She heard +Everett's voice plainly as he gave some directions to the groom, +but from Arthur she heard nothing. Yet she was sure that he was +come. The very manner of the approach and her brother's word +made her certain that there had been no disappointment. She +stood thinking for a quarter of an hour, making up her mind how +best they might meet. Then suddenly, with slow but certain step, +she walked down into the drawing-room. + +No one expected her then, or something perhaps might have been +done to encourage her coming. It had been thought that she must +meet him before dinner, and her absence till then was to be +excused. But now she opened the door, and with much dignity of +mien walked into the middle of the room. Arthur at that moment +was discussing the Duke's chance for the next session, and Sir +Alured was asking with rapture whether the Conservative party +would not come in. Arthur Fletcher heard the step, turned round, +and saw the woman he loved. He went at once to meet her, very +quickly, and put out both his hands. She gave him hers, of +course. There was no excuse for her refusal. He stood for an +instant pressing them, looking eagerly into her sad face, and +then he spoke. 'God bless you, Emily!' he said. 'God bless +you!' He had thought of no words, and at the moment nothing else +occurred to him to be said. The colour had covered all his face, +and his heart beat so strongly that he was hardly his own master. +She let him hold her two hands, perhaps for a minute, and then, +bursting into tears, tore herself from him, and, hurrying out of +the room, made her way again into her own chamber. 'It will be +better so,' said old Mrs Fletcher. 'It will be better so. Do +not let anyone follow her.' + +On that day John Fletcher took her out to dinner, and Arthur did +not sit near her. In the evening he came to her as she was +working close to his mother, and seated himself on a low chair +close to her knees. 'We are all glad to see you; are we not, +mother?' + +'Yes, indeed,' said Mrs Fletcher. Then, after a while, the old +woman got up to make a rubber at whist with the two old men and +her elder son, leaving Arthur sitting at the widow's knees. She +would willingly have escaped, but it was impossible that she +should move. + +'You need not be afraid of me,' he said, not whispering, but in a +voice which no one else could hear. 'Do not seem to avoid me, +and I will say nothing to trouble you. I think that you must +wish that we should be friends.' + +'Oh, yes.' + +'Come out, then, to-morrow, when we are walking. In that way we +shall get used to each other. You are troubled now, and I will +go.' Then he left her, and she felt herself to be bound to him +by infinite gratitude. + +A week went on and she had become used to his company. A week +passed and he had spoken no word to her that a brother might not +have spoken. They had walked together when no one else had been +within hearing, and yet he had spared her. She had begun to +think that he would spare her altogether, and she was certainly +grateful. Might it not be that she had misunderstood him, and +had misunderstood the meaning of them all? Might it not be that +she had troubled herself with false anticipations? Surely it was +so; for how could it be that such a man should wish to make such +a woman his wife? + +'Well, Arthur?' said his brother to him one day. + +'I have nothing to say about it,' said Arthur. + +'You haven't changed your mind?' + +'Never! Upon my word, to me, in that dress, she is more +beautiful than ever.' + +'I wish you would make her take it off.' + +'I dare not ask her yet.' + +'You know what they say about widows generally.' + +'That is all very well when one talks about widows in general. +It is easy to chaff about women when one hasn't got any woman in +one's mind. But as it is now, having her here, loving her as I +do,--by Heaven! I cannot hurry her. I don't dare ask to speak +to her after that fashion. I shall do it in time, I suppose;-- +but I must wait till the time comes.' + + + +CHAPTER 71 + +THE LADIES AT LONGBARNS DOUBT. + +It came at last to be decided among them that when old Mr Wharton +returned to town,--and he had now been at Wharton longer than he +had ever been known to remain there before,--Emily should still +remain in Hertfordshire, and that at some period not then fixed +she should go for a month to Longbarns. There were various +reasons which induced her to consent to this change of plans. In +the first place she found herself to be infinitely more +comfortable in the country than in the town. She could go out +and move about and bestir herself, whereas in Manchester Square +she could only sit at home. Her father had assured her that he +thought that it would be better that she should be away from the +reminiscences of the house in town. And then when the first week +of February was past Arthur would be up in town, and she would be +far away from him at Longbarns, whereas in London she would be +close within his reach. Many little schemes were laid and +struggles made both by herself and the others before at last +their plans were settled. Mr Wharton was to return to London in +the middle of January. It was quite impossible that he could +remain longer away either from Stone Buildings or from the Eldon, +and then at the same time, or a day or two following, Mrs +Fletcher was to go back to Longbarns. John Fletcher and his wife +and children were already gone;--and Arthur also had been at +Longbarns. The two brothers and Everett had been backwards and +forwards. Emily was anxious to remain at Wharton at any rate +till Parliament should have met, so that she might not be at home +with Arthur in his own house. But matters would not arrange +themselves exactly as she wished. It was at last settled that +she should go to Longbarns with Mary Wharton under the charge of +John Fletcher in the first week in February. As arrangements +were already in progress for the purchase of Barnton Spinnies, +Sir Alured could not possibly leave his own house. Not to have +walked through the wood on the first day it became part of the +Wharton property would to him have been treason to the estate. +His experience ought to have told him that there was no chance of +a lawyer and a college dealing together with such rapidity; but +in the present state of things he could not bear to absent +himself. Orders had already been given for the cutting down of +certain trees which could not have been touched had the reprobate +lived, and it was indispensable that if a tree fell at Wharton he +should see the fall. It thus came to pass that there was a week +during which Emily would be forced to live under the roof of the +Fletchers together with Arthur Fletcher. + +The week came and she was absolutely received by Arthur at the +door of Longbarns. She had not been at the house since it had +first been intimated to the Fletchers that she was disposed to +receive with favour the addresses of Ferdinand Lopez. As she +remembered this it seemed to her to be an age ago since that man +had induced her to believe that of all the men she had ever met +he was the nearest to a hero. She never spoke of him now, but of +course her thoughts of him were never ending,--as also of +herself in that she had allowed herself to be so deceived. She +would recall to her mind with bitter inward sobbings all those +lessons of iniquity which he had striven to teach her, and which +had first opened her eyes to his true character--how sedulously +he had endeavoured to persuade her that it was her duty to rob +her father on his behalf, how continually he had endeavoured to +make her think that appearance in the world was everything, and +that, being in truth poor adventurers, it behoved them to cheat +the world into thinking them rich and respectable. Every hint +that had been so given had been a wound to her, and those wounds +were all now remembered. Though since his death she had never +allowed a word to be spoken in her presence against him, she +could not but hate his memory. How glorious was that other man +in her eyes, as he stood there at the door welcoming her to +Longbarns, fair-haired, open-eyed, with bronzed brow and cheek, +and surly the honestest face that a loving woman ever loved to +gaze on. During the various lessons she had learned in her +married life, she had become gradually but surely aware that the +face of that other man had been dishonest. She had learned the +false meaning of every glance of his eyes, the subtlety of his +mouth, the counterfeit manoeuvres of his body,--the deceit even +of his dress. He had been all a lie from head to foot, and he +had thrown her love aside as useless when she also would not be a +liar. And here was this man,--spotless in her estimation, +compounded of all good qualities, which she could now see and +take at their proper value. She hated herself for the simplicity +with which she had been cheated by soft words and a false +demeanour into so great a sacrifice. + +Life at Longbarns was very quiet during the days which she passed +there before she left them. She was frequently alone with him, +but he, if he still loved her, did not speak of his love. He +explained it all one day to his mother. 'If it is to be,' said +the old lady, 'I don't see the use of more delay. Of course the +marriage ought not to be till March twelvemonths. But if it is +understood that it is to be, she might alter her dress by +degrees,--and alter her manner of living. These things should +always be done by degrees. I think it had better be settled, +Arthur, if it is to be settled.' + +'I am afraid, mother.' + +'Dear me! I didn't think you were the man ever to be afraid of a +woman. What can she say to you?' + +'Refuse me.' + +'Then you had better know at once. But I don't think she'll be +fool enough for that.' + +'Perhaps you hardly understand her, mother.' + +Mrs Fletcher shook her head with a look of considerable +annoyance. 'Perhaps not. But, to tell you the truth, I don't +like young women whom I can't understand. Young women shouldn't +be mysterious. I like people of whom I can give a pretty good +guess what they'll do. I'm sure I never could have guessed that +she would have married that man.' + +'If you love me, mother, do not let that be mentioned between us +again. When I said that you did not understand her, I did not +mean that she was mysterious. I think that before he died, and +since his death, she learned of what sort that man was. I will +not say that she hates his memory, but she hates herself for what +she has done.' + +'So she ought,' said Mrs Fletcher. + +'She has not yet brought herself to think that her life should be +anything but one long period of mourning, not for him, but for +her own mistake. You may be quite sure that I am in earnest. It +is not because I doubt of myself that I put it off. But I fear +that if once she asserts to me her resolution to remain as she +is, she will feel herself bound to keep her word.' + +'I suppose she is very much the same as other women, after all, +my dear,' said Mrs Fletcher, who was almost jealous of the +peculiar superiority of sentiment which her son seemed to +attribute to this woman. + +'Circumstances, mother, make people different,' he replied. + +'So you are going without having anything fixed,' his elder +brother said to him the day before he started. + +'Yes, old fellow. It seems to be rather slack;--doesn't it?' + +'I dare say you know best what you're about. But if you have set +your mind on it-' + +'You may take your oath on that.' + +'Then I don't see why one word shouldn't put it all right. There +never is any place so good for that kind of thing as a country +house.' + +'I don't think that with her it will make much difference where +the house is, or what the circumstances.' + +'She knows what you mean as well as I do.' + +'I dare say she does, John. She must have a very bad idea of me +if she doesn't. But she may know what I mean and not mean the +same thing herself.' + +'How are you to know if you don't ask her?' + +'You may be sure that I shall ask her as soon as I can hope that +my doing so may give her more pleasure than pain. Remember, I +have had all this out with her father. I have determined that I +will wait till twelve months have passed since that wretched man +perished.' + +On that afternoon before dinner he was alone with her in the +library some minutes before they went up to dress for dinner. 'I +shall hardly see you to-morrow,' he said, 'as I must leave this +at half-past eight. I breakfast at eight. I don't suppose +anyone will be down except my mother.' + +'I am generally as early as that. I will come down and see you +start.' + +'I am so glad that you have been here, Emily.' + +'So am I. Everybody has been so good to me.' + +'It has been like old days,--almost.' + +'It will never quite be like old days again, I think. But I have +been very glad to be here;--and at Wharton. I sometimes almost +wish that I were never going back to London again,--only for +papa.' + +'I like London myself.' + +'You! Yes, of course you like London. You have everything in +life before you. You have things to do, and much to hope for. +It is all beginning for you, Arthur.' + +'I am five years older than you are.' + +'What does that matter? It seems to me that age does not go by +years. It is long since I have felt myself to be an old woman. +But you are quite young. Everybody is proud of you, and you +ought to be happy.' + +'I don't know,' said he, 'it is hard to say what makes a person +happy.' He almost made up his mind to speak to her then; but he +had made up his mind before to put it off still for a little +time, and he would not allow himself to be changed on the spur of +the moment. He had thought of it much, and he had almost taught +himself to think that it would be better for herself that she +should not accept another man's love so soon. 'I shall come and +see you in town,' he said. + +'You must come and see papa. It seems to me that Everett is to +be a great deal at Wharton. I had better go up to dress now, or +I shall be keeping them waiting.' He put his hand to her, and +wished her good-bye, excusing himself by saying that they should +not be alone together before he started. + +She saw him go on the next morning,--and then she almost felt +herself to be abandoned, almost deserted. It was a fine crisp +winter day, dry and fresh, and clear, but with the frost still on +the ground. After breakfast she went out to walk by herself in +the long shrubbery paths which went round the house, and here she +remained for above an hour. She told herself that she was very +thankful to him for not having spoken to her on a subject so +unfit for her ears as love. She strengthened herself in her +determination never again to listen to a man willingly on that +subject. She had made herself quite unfit to have any dealings +of that nature. It was not that she could not love. Oh no! She +knew well enough that she did love, -- love will all her heart. If +it were not that she were so torn to rags that she was not fit to be +worn again, she could now have thrown herself into his arms with +a whole heaven of joy before her. A woman, she told herself, had +no right to a second chance in life, after having made a +shipwreck of herself in the first. But the danger of being +seduced from her judgement by Arthur Fletcher was all over. He +had been near her for the last week and had not spoken a word. +He had been in the same house with her for the last ten days and +had been with her as a brother might be with his sister. It was +not only she who had seen the propriety of this. He also had +acknowledged it, and she was--grateful to him. As she +endeavoured in her solitude to express her gratitude in spoken +words the tears rolled down her cheeks. She was glad, she told +herself, very glad that it was so. How much trouble and pain to +both of them would thus be spared! And yet her tears were bitter +tears. It was better as it was;--and yet one word of love would +have been very sweet. She almost thought that she would have +liked to tell him that for his sake, for his dear sake, she would +refuse--that which now would never be offered to her. She was +quite clear as to the rectitude of her own judgement, clear as +ever. And yet her heart was heavy with disappointment. + +It was the end of March before she left Hertfordshire for London, +having spent the greater part of the time at Longbarns. The +ladies at that place were moved by many doubts as to what would +be the end of all this. Mrs Fletcher the elder at last almost +taught herself to believe that there would be no marriage, and +having got back to that belief, was again opposed to the idea of +marriage. Anything and everything that Arthur wanted he ought to +have. The old lady felt no doubt as to that. When convinced +that he did not want to have the widow,--this woman whose life +had hitherto been so unfortunate,--she had for his sake taken +the woman again by the hand, and had assisted in making her one +of themselves. But how much better it would it be that Arthur +should think better of it! It was the maddest constancy,--this +clinging to the widow of such a man as Ferdinand Lopez! If there +were any doubt, then she would be prepared to do all she could to +prevent the marriage. Emily had been forgiven, and the pardon +bestowed must of course be continued. But she might be pardoned +without being made Mrs Arthur Fletcher. While Emily was still at +Longbarns the old lady almost talked over her daughter-in-law to +this way of thinking,--till John Fletcher put his foot upon it +altogether. 'I don't pretend to say what she may do,' he said. + +Oh, John,' said his mother, 'to hear a man like you talk like +that is absurd. She'd jump at him if he looked at her with half +an eye.' + +'What she may do,' he continued saying, without appearing to +listen to his mother, 'I cannot say. But that he will ask her to +be his wife is as certain as I stand here.' + + + +CHAPTER 72 + +'HE THINKS THAT OUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED.' + +All the details of the new County Suffrage Bill were settled at +Matching during the recess between Mr Mond, Phineas Finn, and a +very experienced man from the Treasury, one Mr Prime, who was +supposed to know more about such things than any man living, and +was consequently called Constitution Charlie. He was an elderly +man, over sixty years of age, who remembered the Reform Bill, and +had been engaged in the doctoring of constituencies ever since. +The bill, if passed, would be mainly his bill, and yet the world +would never hear his name connected with it. Let us hope that +he was comfortable at Matching, and that he found his consolation +in the smiles of the Duchess. During this time the old Duke was +away, and even the Prime Minister was absent for some days. He +would fain have busied himself about the bill himself, but was +hardly allowed by his colleagues to have any hand in framing it. +The great points of the measure had of course been arranged in +the Cabinet,--where, however, Mr Monk's views had been adopted +almost without a change. It may not perhaps be too much to +assume that one or two members of the Cabinet did not quite +understand the full scope of every suggested clause. The effects +which causes will produce, the dangers which may be expected from +this or that change, the manner in which this or that proposition +will come out in the washing, do not strike even Cabinet +Ministers at a glance. A little study in a man's own cabinet, +after perhaps reading a few leading articles, and perhaps a +short conversation with an astute friend or two, will enable a +statesman to be strong at a given time for, or ever, if +necessary, against a measure, who has listened in silence, and +has perhaps given his personal assent, to the original +suggestion. I doubt whether Lord Drummond, when he sat silent in +the Cabinet, had realized those fears which weighed upon him so +strongly afterwards, or had then foreseen that the adoption of a +nearly similar franchise for the counties and boroughs must +inevitably lead to the American system of numerical +representation. But when time had been given him, and he and Sir +Timothy Beeswax had talked it all over, the mind of no man was +ever clearer than that of Lord Drummond. + +The Prime Minister, with the diligence which belonged to him, had +mastered all the details of Mr Monk's bill before it was +discussed in the Cabinet, and yet he found that his assistance +was hardly needed in the absolute preparation. Had they allowed +him he would have done it all himself. But it was assumed that +he would not trouble himself with such work, and he perceived +that he was not wanted. Nothing of moment was settled without +reference to him. He required that everything should be +explained as it went on, down to the extension of every borough +boundary; but he knew that he was not doing it himself, and that +Mr Monk and Constitution Charlie had the prize between them. + +Nor did he dare ask Mr Monk what would be the fate of the bill. +To devote all one's time and mind and industry to a measure which +one knows will fall to the ground must be sad. Work under such +circumstances must be very grievous. But such is often the fate +of statesmen. Whether Mr Monk laboured under such a conviction +the Prime Minister did not know, though he saw his friend and +colleague almost daily. In truth no one dared to tell him +exactly what he thought. Even the old Duke had become partially +reticent, and taken himself off to his own woods at Long Royston. +To Phineas Finn the Prime Minister would sometimes say a word, +but would say even that timidly. On any abstract question, such +as that which he had discussed when they had been walking +together, he could talk freely enough. But on the matter of the +day, those affairs which were of infinite importance to himself, +and on which one would suppose he would take delight in speaking +to a trusted colleague, he could not bring himself to be open. +'It must be a long bill, I suppose?' + +'I'm afraid so, Duke. It will run, I fear, to over a hundred +clauses.' + +'It will take the best part of the Session to get through it?' + +'If we can have the second reading early in March, we hope to +send it up to you in the first week in June. That will give us +ample time.' + +'Yes;--yes. I suppose so.' But he did not dare to ask Phineas +Finn whether he thought that the House of Commons would assent to +the second reading. It was known at this time that the Prime +Minister was painfully anxious to the fate of the Ministry. It +seemed to be but the other day that everybody connected with the +Government was living in fear lest he should resign. His threats +in that direction had always been made to his old friend the Duke +of St Bungay; but a great man cannot whisper his thoughts without +having them carried in the air. In all the clubs it had been +declared that that was the rock by which the Coalition would +probably be wrecked. The newspapers had repeated the story, and +the "People's Banner" had assured the world that if it were so +the Duke of Omnium would thus do for his country the only good +service which it was possible that he should render it. That was +the time when Sir Orlando was mutinous and when Lopez had +destroyed himself. But now no such threat came from the Duke, +and the "People's Banner" was already accusing him of clinging to +power with pertinacious and unconstitutional tenacity. Had not +Sir Orlando deserted him? Was it not well known that Lord +Drummond and Sir Timothy Beeswax were only restrained from doing +so by a mistaken loyalty? + +Everybody came up to town, Mr Monk having his bill in his pocket, +and the Queen's speech was read, promising the County Suffrage +Bill. The address was voted with a very few words from either +side. The battle was not to be fought then. Indeed, the state +of things was so abnormal that there could hardly be said to be +any sides in the House. A stranger in the gallery, not knowing +the condition of affairs, would have thought that no minister had +for many years commanded so large a majority, as the crowd of +members was always on the Government side of the House; but the +opposition which Mr Monk expected would, he knew, come from those +who sat around him, behind him, and even at his very elbow. +About a week after Parliament met the bill was read for the first +time, and the second reading was appointed for an early day in +March. + +The Duke had suggested to Mr Monk the expedience of some further +delay, giving his reason the necessity of getting through certain +routine work, should the rejection of the bill create the +confusion of a resignation. No one who knew the Duke could ever +suspect him of giving a false reason. But it seemed that in this +the Prime Minister was allowing himself to be harassed by fears +of the future. Mr Monk thought that any delay would be injurious +and open to suspicion after what had been said and done, and was +urgent in his arguments. The Duke gave way, but he did so almost +sullenly, signifying his acquiescence with haughty silence. 'I +am sorry,' said Mr Monk, 'to differ from your Grace, but my +opinion in the matter is so strong that I do not dare to abstain +from expressing it.' The Duke bowed again and smiled. He had +intended that the smile should be acquiescent, but it had been as +cold as steel. He knew that he was misbehaving, but was not +sufficiently master of his own manner to be gracious. He told +himself on the spot,--though he was quite wrong in so telling +himself,--that he had now made an enemy also of Mr Monk, and +through Mr Monk of Phineas Finn. And now he felt that he had no +friend left in whom he could trust,--for the old Duke had become +cold and indifferent. The old Duke, he thought, was tired of his +work and anxious to rest. It was the old Duke who had brought +him into this hornet's nest; had fixed upon his back the unwilling +load; had compelled him to assume the place which now to lose +would be a disgrace,--and the old Duke was now deserting him! +He was sore all over, angry with everyone, ungracious even with +his private Secretary and his wife,--and especially miserable +because he was thoroughly aware of his own faults. And yet, +through it all, there was present to him a desire to fight on to +the very last. Let his colleagues do what they might, and say +what they might, he would remain Prime Minister of England as +long as he was supported by a majority in the House of Commons. + +'I do not know any greater ship than this,' Phineas said to him +pleasantly one day, speaking of their new measure, 'towards that +millennium of which we were talking at Matching, if we can only +accomplish it.' + +'Those moral speculations, Mr Finn,' he said, 'will hardly beat +the wear and tear of real life.' The words of the answer, +combined with the manner in which they were spoken, were stern +and almost uncivil. Phineas, at any rate, had done nothing to +offend him. The Duke paused, trying to find some expression by +which he might correct the injury he had done, but, not finding +any, passed on without further speech. Phineas shrugged his +shoulders and went his way, telling himself that he had received +one further injunction not to put his trust in princes. + +'We shall be beaten certainly,' said Mr Monk to Phineas not long +afterwards. + +'What makes you so sure?' + +'I smell it in the air. I see it in men's faces.' + +'And yet it's a moderate bill. They'll have to pass something +stronger before long if they throw it out now.' + +'It's not the bill that they'll reject, but us. We have served +our turn, and we ought to go.' + +'The House is tired of the Duke?' + +'The Duke is so good a man that I hardly like to admit even that, +--but I fear it is so. He is fretful and he makes enemies.' + +'I sometimes think that he is ill.' + +'He is ill at ease and sick at heart. He cannot hide his +chagrin, and then is double wretched because he has betrayed it. +I do not know that I ever respected, and, at the same time, pitied a +man more thoroughly.' + +'He snubbed me awfully yesterday,' said Phineas. + +'He cannot help himself. He snubs me at every word that he +speaks; yet I believe that is most anxious to be civil to me. +His ministry has been of great service to the country. For +myself, I shall never regret having joined it. But I think that +to him it has been a continual sorrow.' + +The system on which the Duchess had commenced her career as wife +of the Prime Minister had now been completely abandoned. In the +first place, she had herself become so weary of it that she had +been unable to continue the exertion. She had, too, become in +some degree ashamed of her failures. The names of Major Pountney +and Mr Lopez were not now pleasant to her ears, nor did she look +back with satisfaction on the courtesies she had lavished on Sir +Orlando or the smiles she had given to Sir Timothy Beeswax. +'I've known a good many vulgar people in my time,' she said one +day to Mrs Finn, 'but none ever so vulgar as our ministerial +supporters. You don't remember Mr Bott, my dear. He was before +your time;--one of the arithmetical men, a great friend of +Plantagenet's. He was very bad, but there have come up worse +since him. Sometimes, I think, I like a little vulgarity for a +change; but, upon my honour, when we get rid of all this it will +be a pleasure to go back to ladies and gentlemen.' This the +Duchess said in extreme bitterness. + +'It seems to me that you have pretty well got rid of "all this" +already.' + +'But I haven't got anybody else in their place. I have almost +made up my mind not to ask anyone into the house for the next +twelve months. I used to think that nothing would ever knock me +up, but now I feel that I'm almost done for. I hardly dare open +my mouth to Plantagenet. The Duke of St Bungay has cut me. Mr +Monk looks as ominous as an owl; and your husband hasn't a word +to say left. Barrington Erle hides his face and passes by when +he sees me. Mr Rattler did try to comfort me the other day by +saying that everything was at sixes and sevens, and I really took +it almost as a compliment to be spoken to. Don't you think +Plantagenet is ill?' + +'He is careworn.' + +'A man may be worn by care till there comes to be nothing left of +him. But he never speaks of giving up now. The old Bishop of St +Austell talks of resigning, and he has already made up his mind +who is to have the see. He used to consult the Duke about all +these things, but I don't think he ever consults anyone now. He +never forgave the Duke about Lord Earlybird. Certainly, if a man +wants to quarrel with all his friends, and to double the hatred +of all his enemies, he had better become Prime Minister.' + +'Are you really sorry that such was his fate, Lady Glen?' + +'Ah,--I sometimes ask myself that question, but I never get an +answer. I should have thought him a poltroon if he had declined. +It is to be the greatest man in the greatest country in the +world. Do ever so little and the men who write history must +write about you. And no man ever tried to be nobler than he till +--till--' + +'Make no exception. If he be careworn and ill and weary, his +manners cannot be the same as they were, but his purity is the +same as ever.' + +'I don't know that it would remain so. I believe in him, Marie, +more than in any man,--but I believe in none thoroughly. There +is a devil creeps in upon them when their hands are strengthened. +I do not know what I would have wished. Whenever I do wish, I +always wish wrong. Ah, me; when I think of all those people I +had down at Gatherum,--of the trouble I took, and of the +glorious anticipations in which I revelled, I do feel ashamed of +myself. Do you remember when I was determined that that wretch +should be member for Silverbridge?' + +'You haven't seen her since, Duchess?' + +'No; but I mean to see her. I couldn't make her first husband +member, and therefore the man who is member is to be her second +husband. But I'm almost sick of schemes. Oh dear, I wish I knew +something that was really pleasant to do. I have never really +enjoyed anything since I was in love, and I only liked that +because it was wicked.' + +The Duchess was wrong in saying that the Duke of St Bungay had +cut them. The old man still remembered the kiss and still +remembered the pledge. But he had found it very difficult to +maintain his old relations with his friend. It was his opinion +that the Coalition had done all that was wanted from it, and that +now had come the time when they might retire gracefully. It is, +no doubt, hard for a Prime Minister to find an excuse for going. +But if the Duke of Omnium would have been content to acknowledge +that he was not the man to alter the County Suffrage, an excuse +might have been found that would have been injurious to no one. +Mr Monk and Mr Gresham might have joined, and the present Prime +Minister might have resigned, explaining that he had done all +that he had been appointed to accomplish. He had, however, +yielded at once to Mr Monk, and now it was to be feared that the +House of Commons would not accept the bill from his hands. In +such a state of things,--especially after that disagreement +about Lord Earlybird,--it was difficult for the old Duke to +tender his advice. He was at every Cabinet Council; he always +came when his presence was required; he was invariably good- +humoured;--but it seemed to him that his work was done. He +could hardly volunteer to tell his chief and his colleague that +he would certainly be beaten in the House of Commons, and that +therefore there was little more now to be done than to arrange +the circumstances of their retirement. Nevertheless, as the +period of the second reading of the bill came on, he resolved +that he would discuss the matter with his friend. He owed it to +himself to do so, and he owed it to the man whom he had certainly +placed in his present position. On himself politics had imposed +a burden very much lighter than that which they had inflicted on +his more energetic and much less practical colleague. Through +his long life he had either been in office, or in such a position +that men were sure that he would soon return to it. He had taken +it, when it had come, willingly, and had always left without a +regret. As a man cuts in and out at a whist table, and enjoys +the game and the rest from the game, so had the Duke of St Bungay +been well pleased in either position. He was patriotic; but his +patriotism did not disturb his digestion. He had been ambitious, +--but moderately ambitious, and his ambition had been gratified. +It never occurred to him to be unhappy because he or his party +were beaten on a measure. When President of the Council, he +would do his duty and enjoy London life. When in opposition, he +could linger in Italy till May and devote his leisure to his +trees and his bullocks. He was always esteemed, always self- +satisfied, and always Duke of St Bungay. But with our Duke it +was very different. Patriotism with him was a fever, and the +public service an exacting mistress. As long as this had been +all he had still been happy. Not trusting in himself, he had never +aspired to great power. But now, now at last, ambition had laid +hold of him,--and the feeling, not perhaps uncommon with such +men, that personal dishonour attached to personal failure. What +would his future life be if he had so carried himself in his +great office as to have shown himself to be unfit to resume it? +Hitherto any office had sufficed him in which he might be useful; +--but now he must either be Prime Minister, or a silent, obscure, +and humbled man! + + DEAR DUKE, + I will be with you to-morrow morning at 11am, if you can + give me half-an-hour. +Yours affectionately, +ST. B. + +The Prime Minister received this note one afternoon, a day or two +before that appointed for the second reading, and meeting his +friend within an hour in the House of Lords, confirmed the +appointment. 'Shall I not rather come to you?' he said. But the +old Duke, who lived in St James's Square, declared that Carlton +Terrace would be on his way to Downing Street, and so the matter +was settled. Exactly at eleven the two Ministers met. 'I don't +like troubling you,' said the old man, 'when I know that you have +so much to think of.' + +'On the contrary, I have but little to think of,--and my +thoughts must be very much engaged, indeed, when they shall be +too full to admit of seeing you.' + +'Of course we are all anxious about this bill.' The Prime +Minister smiled. Anxious! Yes, indeed. His anxiety was of such +a nature that it kept him awake all night, and never for a moment +left his mind free by day. 'And of course we must be prepared as +to what shall be done either in the event of success or failure.' + +'You might as well read that,' said the other. 'It only reached +me this morning, or I should have told you of it.' The letter +was a communication from the Solicitor-General containing his +resignation. He had now studied the County Suffrage Bill closely, +and regretted to say that he could not give it conscientious +support. It was a matter of sincerest sorrow to him that his +relations so pleasant should be broken, but he must resign his +place, unless, indeed, the clauses as to redistribution could be +withdrawn. Of course he did not say this as expecting any such +concession would be made to his opinion, but merely as indicating +the matter on which his objection was so strong as to over-rule +all other considerations. All this he explained at great length. + +'The pleasantness of the relations must have all been on one +side,' said the veteran. 'He ought to have gone a long time +since.' + +'And Lord Drummond has already as good as said that unless we +will abandon the same clauses, he must oppose the bill in the +Lords.' + +'And resign, of course.' + +'He meant that, I presume. Lord Ramsden has not spoken to me.' + +'The clauses will not stick in his throat. Nor ought they. If +the lawyers have their own way about the law they should be +contented.' + +'The question is, whether in these circumstances we should +postpone the second reading?' asked the Prime Minister. + +'Certainly not,' said the other Duke. 'As to the Solicitor- +General you will have no difficulty. Sir Timothy was only placed +there as a concession to his party. Drummond will no doubt +continue to hold his office till we see what is done in the Lower +House. If the second reading be lost there,--why, then his +lordship can go with the rest of us.' + +'Rattler says we shall have a majority. He and Roby are quite +agreed about it. Between them they must know,' said the Prime +Minister, unintentionally pleading for himself. + +'They ought to know, if any men do;--but the crisis is +exceptional. I suppose you think that if the second reading is +lost we should resign?' + +'Oh;--certainly.' + +'Or, after that, if the bill is much mutilated in Committee? I +don't know that I shall personally break my own heart about the +bill. The existing difference in the suffrages is rather in +accordance with my prejudices. But the country desires the +measure, and I suppose we cannot consent to any material +alteration as these men suggest.' As he spoke he laid his hand +on Sir Timothy's letter. + +'Mr Monk would not hear of it,' said the Prime Minister. + +'Of course not. And you and I in this measure must stick to Mr +Monk. My great, indeed my only strong desire in the matter, is +to act in unison with you.' + +'You are always good and true, Duke.' + +'For my own part, I shall not in the least regret to find in all +this an opportunity for resigning. We have done our work, and +if, as I believe, a majority of the House would again support +either Gresham or Monk as the head of the entire Liberal party, I +think that that arrangement would be for the welfare of the +country.' + +'Why should it make any difference to you? Why should you not +return to the Council?' + +'I should not do so;--certainly not at once, probably never. +But you,--who are in the very prime of your life--' + +The Prime Minister did not smile now. He knit his brows and a +dark shadow came across his face. 'I don't think I could do +that,' he said. 'Caesar would hardly have led a legion under +Pompey.' + +'It has been done, greatly to the service of the country, and +without the slightest loss of honour or character in him who did +it.' + +'We need hardly talk of that, Duke. You think then that we shall +fail;--fail, I mean in the House of Commons. I do not know that +failure in our House should be regarded as fatal.' + +'In three cases we should fail. The loss of any material clause +in Committee would be as bad as the loss of the bill.' + +'Oh yes.' + +'And then, in spite of Messrs Rattler and Roby,--who have been +wrong before and may be wrong now,--we may lose the second +reading.' + +'And the third chance against us?' + +'You would not probably try to carry on the bill with a very +small majority.' + +'Not with three or four.' + +'Nor, I think, with six or seven. It would be useless. My own +belief is that we shall never carry the bill into Committee.' + +'I have always known you to be right, Duke.' + +'I think that the general opinion has set in that direction, and +general opinion is generally right. Having come to that +conclusion I thought it best to tell you, in order that we might +have our house in order.' The Duke of Omnium, with all his +haughtiness and all his reserve, was the simplest man in the +world and the least apt to pretend to be that which he was not, +sighed deeply when he heard this. 'For my own part,' continued +the elder, 'I feel no regret that it should be so.' + +'It is the first large measure that we have tried to carry.' + +'We did not come in to carry large measures, my friend. Look +back and see how many large measures Pitt carried;--but he took +the country safely through its most dangerous crisis.' + +'What have we done?' + +'Carried on the Queen's Government prosperously for three years. +Is that nothing for a minister to do? I have never been a friend +of great measures, knowing that when they come fast, one after +another, more is broken in the rattle than is repaired by the +reform. We have done what Parliament and the country expected us +to do, and to my poor judgement we have done it well.' + +'I do not feel such self-satisfaction, Duke. Well;--we must see +it out, and if it is as you anticipate, I shall be ready. Of +course I have prepared myself for it. And if, of late, my mind +has been less turned to retirement than it used to be, it has +been because I have become wedded to this measure, and have +wished it that it should be carried under our auspices.' Then +the old Duke took his leave, and the Prime Minister was left +alone to consider the announcement that had been made to him. + +He had said that he had prepared himself, but, in so saying, he +had hardly known himself. Hitherto, though he had been troubled +by many doubts, he had still hoped. The report made to him by Mr +Rattler, backed as it had been by Mr Roby's assurances, had +almost sufficed to give him confidence. But Mr Rattler and Mr +Roby combined were as nothing to the Duke of St Bungay. The +Prime Minister knew now,--that his days were numbered. The +resignation of that lingering old bishop was not completed, and +the person whom he believed would not have the see. He had +meditated the making of a peer or two, having hitherto been +cautious in that respect, but he would do nothing of the kind if +called upon by the House of Commons to resign with an uncompleted +measure. But his thoughts soon ran away from the present to the +future. What was now to become of himself? How should he live +his future life;--he who as yet had not passed his forty-seventh +year? He regretted much having made that apparently pretentious +speech about Caesar, though he knew his old friend well enough to +be sure that it would never be used against him. Who was he that +he should class himself among the big ones of the world? A man +may indeed measure small things by great, but the measurer should +be careful to declare his own littleness when he illustrates his +position by that of the topping ones of the earth. But the thing +said had been true. Let the Pompey be who he might, he, the +little Caesar of the day, could never now command another legion. + +He had once told Phineas Finn that he regretted that he had +abstained from the ordinary amusements of English gentlemen. But +he had abstained from their ordinary occupations,--except so far +as politics is one of them. He cared nothing for oxen or for +furrows. In regard to his own land he hardly knew whether the +farms were large or small. He had been a scholar, and after a +certain fitful fashion he had maintained his scholarship, but the +literature to which he had been really attached had been that of +blue books and newspapers. What was he to do with himself when +called upon to resign? And he understood,--or thought that he +understood,--his position too well to expect that after a while, +with the usual interval, he might return to power. He had been +Prime Minister, not as the leading politician on either side, not +as the king of the party, but,--so he told himself,--as a stop- +gap. There could be nothing for him now till the insipidity of +life should gradually fade away into the grave. + +After a while he got up and went off to his wife's apartment, the +room in which she used to prepare her triumphs and where now she +contemplated her disappointments. 'I have had the Duke with me,' +he said. + +'What;--at last?' + +'I do not know that he could have done any good by coming +sooner.' + +'And what does his Grace say?' + +'He thinks our days are numbered.' + +'Psha!--is that all? I could have told him that ever so long +ago. It was hardly necessary that he should disturb himself at +last to come and tell us such well-ventilated news. There isn't +a porter at one of the clubs who doesn't know it.' + +'Then there will be the less surprise,--and to those who are +concerned perhaps the less mortification.' + +'Did he tell you who was to succeed you?' asked the Duchess. + +'Not precisely.' + +'He ought to have done that, as I am sure he knows. Everybody +knows except you, Plantagenet.' + +'If you know, you can tell me.' + +'Of course I can. It is Mr Monk.' + +'With all my heart, Glencora. Mr Monk is a very good man.' + +'I wonder whether he'll do anything for us. Think how destitute +we shall be! What if I were to ask him for a place! Would he +not give it us?' + +'Will it make you unhappy, Cora?' + +'What;--your going?' + +'Yes;--the change altogether.' + +She looked him in the face for a moment before she answered, with +a peculiar smile in her eyes to which he was well used,--a smile +half ludicrous, half pathetic,--having in it also a dash of +sarcasm. 'I can dare to tell the truth,' she said, 'which you +can't. I can be honest and straightforward. Yes, it will make +me unhappy. And you?' + +'Do you think that I cannot be honest too,--at any rate to you? +It does fret me. I do not like to think that I shall be without +work.' + +'Yes;--Othello's occupation will be gone,--for a while, for a +while.' Then she came up to him and put both her hands on his +breast. 'But yet, Othello, I shall not be unhappy.' + +'Where will be your contentment?' + +'In you. It was making you ill. Rough people whom the +tenderness of your nature could not well endure, trod upon you, +and worried you with their teeth and wounded you everywhere. I +could have turned at them again with my teeth, and given them +worry for worry;--but you could not. Now you will be saved from +them, and so I shall not be discontented.' All this she said +looking up into his face, still with that smile which was half +pathetic and half ludicrous. + +'Then I shall be contented too,' he said as he kissed her. + + + +CHAPTER 73 + +ONLY THE DUKE OF OMNIUM. + +The night of the debate arrived, but before the debate was +commenced, Sir Timothy Beeswax got up to make a personal +explanation. He thought it right to state to the House how it +came to pass that he found himself bound to leave the Ministry at +so important a crisis in its existence. Then an observation was +made by an honourable member of the Government,--presumably in a +whisper, but still loud enough to catch the sharp ears of Sir +Timothy, who now sat just below the gangway. It was said +afterwards that the gentleman who made the observation,--an +Irish gentleman named Fitzgibbon, conspicuous rather for his +loyalty to his party than his steadiness,--had purposely taken +the place in which he then sat, that Sir Timothy might hear his +whisper. The whisper suggested that falling houses were often +left by certain animals. It was certainly a very loud whisper,-- +but, if gentlemen are to be allowed to whisper at all, it is +almost impossible to restrain the volume of the voice. To +restrain Mr Fitzgibbon had always been found difficult. Sir +Timothy, who did not lack pluck, turned at once upon his +assailant, and declared that words had been used with reference +to himself which the honourable member did not dare to get upon +his legs and repeat. Larry Fitzgibbon, as the gentleman was +called, looked him full in the face, but did not move his hat +from his head or stir a limb. It was a pleasant little episode +in the evening's work, and afforded satisfaction to the House +generally. The details of the measure, as soon as they were made +known to him, appeared to him, he said, to be fraught with the +gravest and most pernicious consequences. He was sure that +members of her Majesty's Government, who were hurrying on this +measure with what he thought was an indecent haste,--ministers +are always either indecent in haste or treacherous in their +delay,--had not considered what they were doing, or, if they had +considered, were blind as to the results. He then attempted to +discuss the details of the measure, but was called to order. A +personal explanation could not be allowed to give an opportunity +of anticipating the debate. He contrived, however, before he sat +down, to say some very heavy things against his late chief, and +especially to congratulate the Duke on the services of the +honourable gentleman, the member for Mayo,--meaning thereby Mr +Laurence Fitzgibbon. + +It would have perhaps been well for everybody if the measure +could have been withdrawn and the Ministry could have resigned +without the debate,--as everybody was convinced what would be +the end of it. Let the second reading go as it might, the bill +could not be carried. There are measures which require the +hopeful heartiness of a new Ministry, and the thoroughgoing +energy of a young Parliament,--and this was one of them. The +House was as fully agreed that this change was necessary, as it +ever agreed on any subject,--but still the thing could not be +done. Even Mr Monk, who was the most earnest of men, felt the +general slackness of all around him. The commotion and +excitement which would be caused by a change of Ministry might +restore its proper tone to the House, but at its present +condition it was unfit for its work. Nevertheless Mr Monk made +his speech, and put all his arguments into lucid order. He knew +it was for nothing, but nevertheless it must be done. For hour +after hour he went on,--for it was necessary to give every +detail of his contemplated proposition. He went through it as +sedulously as though he had expected to succeed, and sat down +about nine o'clock in the evening. Then Sir Orlando moved the +adjournment of the House till the morrow, giving as his reason +for doing so, the expedience of considering the details he had +heard. To this no opposition was made, and the House was +adjourned. + +On the following day the clubs were all alive with rumours as to +the coming debate. It was known that a strong party had been +formed under the auspices of Sir Orlando, and that with him Sir +Timothy and other politicians were in close council. It was of +course necessary that they should impart to many the secrets of +their conclave, so that it was known early in the afternoon that +it was the intention of the Opposition not to discuss the bill, +but to move that it be read again that day six months. The +Ministry had hardly expected this, as the bill was undoubtedly +popular both in the House and the country; and if the Opposition +should be beaten in such a course, that defeat would tend greatly +to strengthen the hands of the Government. But if the foe should +succeed in carrying a positive veto on the second reading, it +would under all the circumstances be tantamount to a want of +confidence. 'I'm afraid they know almost more than we do as to +the feeling of members,' said Mr Roby to Mr Rattler. + +'There isn't a man in the House whose feeling in the matter I +don't know,' said Rattler, 'but I'm not quite so sure of their +principles. On our own side, in our old party, there are a score +of men who detest the Duke, though they would fain be true to +the Government. They have voted with him through thick and thin, +and he has not spoken a word to them since he became Prime +Minister. What are you to do with such a man? How are you to +act with him?' + +'Lupton wrote to him the other day about something,' answered the +other, 'I forget what, and he got a note back from Warburton as +cold as ice,--an absolute slap in the face. Fancy treating a +man like Lupton in that way,--one of the most popular men in the +House, related to half the peerage, and a man who thinks so much +of himself! I shouldn't wonder if he were to vote against us;-- +I shouldn't indeed.' + +'It has all been the old Duke's doing,' said Rattler, 'and no +doubt it was intended for the best; but the thing has been a +failure from the beginning to the end. I knew it would be so. I +don't think there has been a single man who has understood what a +Ministerial Coalition really means except you and I. From the +very beginning all your men were averse to it in spirit.' + +'Look how they were treated!' said Mr Roby. 'Was it likely that +they should be very staunch when Mr Monk became Leader of the +House?' + +There was a Cabinet Council that day which lasted but a few +minutes, and it may be easily presumed that the Ministers decided +that they would all resign at once if Sir Orlando should carry +his amendment. It is not unlikely that they were agreed to do the +same if he should carry it,--leaving probably the Prime Minister +to judge what narrow majority would constitute nearness. On this +occasion the gentlemen assembled were jocose in their manner, and +apparently well satisfied,--as though they saw before them an +end to all their troubles. The Spartan boy did not even make a +grimace when the wolf bit him beneath his frock, and these were +all Spartan boys. Even the Prime Minister, who had fortified +himself for the occasion, and who never wept in any company but +that of his wife and his old friend, was pleasant in his manner +and almost affable. 'We shan't make the step towards the +millennium just at present,' he said to Phineas Finn as they left +the room together,--referring to words which Phineas had spoken +on a former occasion, and which then had not been very well +taken. + +'But we shall have made a step towards the step,' said Phineas, +'and getting to a millennium even that is something.' + +'I suppose we are all too anxious,' said the Duke, 'to see some +green effects come from our own little doings. Good day. We +shall know all about it tolerably early. Monk seems to think +that it will be an attack on the Ministry and not on the bill, +and that it will be best to get a vote with as little delay as +possible.' + +'I'll bet an even five-pound note,' said Mr Lupton at the +Carlton, 'that the present Ministry is out to-morrow, and another +that no one names five members of the next Cabinet.' + +'You can help to win your first bet,' said Mr Beauchamp, a very +old member, who, like many other Conservatives, had supported the +Coalition. + +'I shall not do that,' said Lupton, 'though I think I ought. I +won't vote against the man in his misfortunes, though, upon my +soul, I don't love him very dearly. I shall vote neither way, +but I hope that Sir Orlando may succeed.' + +'If he do, who is to come in?' said the other. 'I suppose you +don't want to serve under Sir Orlando?' + +'Nor certainly under the Duke of Omnium. We shall not want a +Prime Minister as long as there are as good fish in the sea as +have been caught out of it.' + +There had lately been formed a new Liberal club, established on a +broader basis than the Progress, and perhaps with a greater +amount of aristocratic support. This had come up since the Duke +had been Prime Minister. Certain busy men had never been quite +contented with the existing state of things, and had thought that +the Liberal party, with such assistance as the club could give +it, would be strong enough to rule alone. That the great Liberal +party should be impeded in its work and its triumph by such men +as Sir Orlando Drought and Sir Timothy Beeswax was odious to the +club. All the Pallisers had, from time immemorial, run straight +as Liberals, and therefore the club had been unwilling to oppose +the Duke personally, though he was the head of the Coalition. +And certain members of the Government, Phineas Finn, for +instance, Barrington Erle, and Mr Rattler were on the committee +of the club. But the club, as a club, was not averse to a +discontinuance of the present state of things. Mr Gresham might +again become Prime Minister, if he would condescend so far, on Mr +Monk. It might be possible that the great Liberal triumph +contemplated by the club might not be achieved by the present +House;--but the present House must go shortly, and then, with +that assistance from a well-organized club, would had lately been +so terribly wanting,--the lack of which had made the Coalition +necessary,--no doubt the British constituencies would do their +duty, and a Liberal Prime Minister, pure and simple, might reign, +--almost for ever. With this great future before it, the club +was very lukewarm in its support of the present bill. 'I shall +go down and vote for them of course,' said Mr O'Mahony, 'just for +the look of the thing.' In saying this Mr O'Mahony expressed the +feeling of the club, and the feeling of the Liberal party +generally. There was something due to the Duke, but not enough +to make it incumbent on his friends to maintain his position as +Prime Minister. + +It was a great day for Sir Orlando. At half-past four the House +was full,--not from any desire to hear Sir Orlando's arguments +against the bill, but because it was felt that a good deal of +personal interest would be attached to the debate. If one were +asked in these days what gift should a Prime Minister ask first +from the fairies, one would name the power of attracting personal +friends. Eloquence, if it be too easy, may become almost a +curse. Patriotism is suspected, and sometimes sinks to pedantry. +A Jove-born intellect is hardly wanted, and clashes with the +inferiorities. Industry is exacting. Honesty is unpractical. +Truth is easily offended. Dignity will not bend. But the man +who can be all things to all men, who has ever a kind word to +speak, a pleasant joke to crack, who can forgive all sins, who is +ever prepared for friend or foe, but never very bitter to the +latter, who forgets not man's names, and is always ready with +little words,--he is the man who will be supported at a crisis +such as this that was now in the course of passing. It is for +him that men will struggle, and talk, and, if needs be, fight, as +though the very existence of the country depended on his +political security. The present man would receive no such +defence, but still the violent deposition of a Prime Minister is +always a memorable occasion. + +Sir Orlando made his speech, and, as had been anticipated, it had +very little to do with the bill, and was almost exclusively an +attack upon his late chief. He thought, he said, that this was +an occasion on which they had better come to a direct issue with +as little delay as possible. If he rightly read the feeling of +the House, no bill of this magnitude coming from the present +Ministry would be likely to be passed in an efficient condition. +The Duke had frittered away his support in that House, and as a +Minister had lost that confidence which a majority of the House +had once been willing to place in him. We need not follow Sir +Orlando through his speech. He alluded to his own services, and +declared that he was obliged to withdraw them because the Duke +would not trust him with the management of his own office. He +had reason to believe that other gentlemen who had attached +themselves to the Duke's Ministry had found themselves equally +crippled by this passion for autocratic rule. Hereupon a loud +chorus of disapprobation came from the Treasury bench, which was +fully answered by opposing noises from the other side of the +House. Sir Orlando declared that he need only point to the fact +that the Ministry had been already shivered by the secession of +various gentlemen. 'Only two,' said a voice. Sir Orlando was +turning round to contradict the voice when he was greeted by +another. 'And those the weakest,' said another voice, which was +indubitably that of Larry Fitzgibbon. 'I will not speak of +myself,' said Sir Orlando pompously, 'but I am authorized to tell +the House that the noble lord who is now the Secretary of State +for the Colonies only holds his office till this crisis is +passed.' + +After that there was some sparring of a very bitter kind between +Sir Timothy and Phineas Finn, till at last it seemed that the +debate was to degenerate into a war of man against man. Phineas +and Erle, and Laurance Fitzgibbon allowed themselves to be lashed +into anger, and, as far as words went, had the best of it. But +of what use could it be? Every man there had come into the House +prepared to vote for or against the Duke of Omnium,--or +resolved, like Mr Lupton, not to vote at all, and it was hardly +on the cards that a single vote should be turned this way or that +by any violence of speaking. 'Let it pass,' said Mr Monk in a +whisper to Phineas. 'The fire is not worth the fuel.' + +'I know the Duke's faults,' said Phineas, 'but these men know +nothing of his virtues, and when I hear them abuse him, I cannot +stand it.' + +Early in the night,--before twelve o'clock,--the House divided, +and even at that moment of the division no one quite knew how it +would go. There would be many who would of course vote against +the amendment as being simply desirous of recording their opinion +in favour of the bill generally. And there were some who thought +that Sir Orlando and his followers had been too forward, and too +confident of their own standing in the House, in trying so +violent a mode of opposition. It would have been better, these +men thought, to have insured success by a gradual and persistent +opposition to the bill itself. But they hardly knew how +thoroughly men may be alienated by silence and a cold demeanour. +Sir Orlando on the division was beaten, but was beaten only by +nine. 'He can't go on with this bill,' said Rattler in one of +the lobbies of the House. 'I defy him. The House wouldn't stand +it, you know.' 'No minister,' said Roby, 'could carry a measure +like that with a majority of nine on a vote of confidence!' The +House was of course adjourned, and Mr Monk went at once to +Carlton Terrace. + +'I wish it had only been three or four,' said the Duke, laughing. + +'Why so?' + +'Because there would have been less doubt.' + +'Is there any at present?' + +'Less possibility for doubt, I should say. You would not wish me +to make the attempt with such a majority?' + +'I could not do it, Duke.' + +'I quite agree with you. But there will be those who will say +that the attempt might be made,--who will accuse me of being +faint-hearted because we do not make it.' + +'They will be men who understand nothing of the temper of the +House.' + +'Very likely. But still, I wish the majority had only been two +or three. There is little more to be said, I suppose.' + +'Very little, your Grace.' + +'We had better meet to-morrow at two, and if possible, I will see +her Majesty in the afternoon. Good night, Mr Monk.' + +'Good night, Duke.' + +'My reign is ended. You are a good deal and older man than I, and +yet probably yours has yet to begin.' Mr Monk smiled and shook +his head as he left the room, not trusting himself to discuss so +large a subject at so late an hour of the night. + +Without waiting a moment after his colleague's departure, the +Prime Minister,--for he was still Prime Minister,--went into +his wife's room, knowing that she was waiting up till she should +hear the result of the division, and there he found Mrs Finn with +her. 'Is it over?' asked the Duchess. + +'Yes;--there has been a division. Mr Monk has just been with +me.' + +'Well!' + +'We have beaten them, of course, as we always do,' said the Duke, +attempting to be pleasant. 'You didn't suppose there was +anything to fear? Your husband has always bid you keep up your +courage;--has he not, Mrs Finn?' + +'My husband has lost his senses, I think,' she said. 'He has +taken to such storming and raving about his political enemies +that I hardly dare to open my mouth.' + +'Tell what has been done, Plantagenet,' ejaculated the Duchess. + +'Don't you be so unreasonable as Mrs Finn, Cora. The House has +voted against Sir Orlando's amendment by a majority of nine.' + +'Only nine!' + +'And I shall cease to be Prime Minister to-morrow.' + +'You don't mean to say that it's settled?' + +'Quite settled. The play has been played, and the curtain has +fallen, and the lights are being put out, and the poor weary +actors may go home to bed.' + +'But on such an amendment surely any majority would have done.' + +'No, my dear. I will not name a number, but nine certainly would +not do.' + +'And it is all over?' + +'My Ministry is over, if you mean that.' + +'Then everything is over for me. I shall settle down in the +country and build cottages, and mix draughts. You, Marie, will +still be going up the tree. If Mr Finn manages well he may come +to be Prime Minister some day. + +'He has hardly such ambition, Lady Glen,' + +'The ambition will come fast enough;--will it not, Plantagenet? +Let him once begin to dream of it as possible, and the desire +will soon be strong enough. How should you feel if it were so?' + +'It is quite impossible,' said Mrs Finn, gravely. + +'I don't see why anything is impossible. Sir Orlando will be +Prime Minister now, and Sir Timothy Beeswax Lord Chancellor. +After that anybody may hope to be anything. Well;--I suppose we +may go to bed. Is your carriage here, my dear?' + +'I hope so.' + +'Ring the bell, Plantagenet, for somebody to see her down. Come +to lunch to-morrow because I shall have so many groans to utter. +What beast, what brutes, what ungrateful wretches men are!-- +worse than women when they get together in numbers enough to be +bold. Why have they deserted you? What have we not done for +them. Think of all the new bedroom furniture we sent to Gatherum +merely to keep the party together. There were thousands of yards +of linen, and it has all been of no use. Don't you feel like +Wolsey, Plantagenet?' + +'Not in the least, my dear. No one will take anything away from +me that I own.' + +'For me, I'm almost as much divorced as Catherine, and have had +my head cut off as completely as Anne Bullen and the rest of +them. Go away, Marie, because I am going to have a cry by +myself.' + +The Duke himself on that night put Mrs Finn into her carriage; +and as he walked with her downstairs he asked her whether she +believed the Duchess was in earnest in her sorrow. 'She so mixes +up her mirth and woe together,' said the Duke, 'that I myself +sometimes can hardly understand her.' + +'I think she does regret it, Duke.' + +'She told me the other day that she would be contented.' + +'A few weeks will make her so. As for your Grace, I hope I may +congratulate you.' + +'Oh yes;--I think so. We none of us like to be beaten when we +have taken a thing in hand. There is always a little +disappointment at first. But, upon the whole, it is better as it +is. I hope it will not make your husband unhappy.' + +'Not for his own sake. He will go again into the middle of the +scramble and fight on one side or the other. For my own part I +think opposition is the pleasantest. Good-night, Duke. I am so +sorry that I should have troubled you.' + +Then he went alone to his own room, and sat there without moving +for a couple of hours. Surely it was a great thing to have been +Prime Minister of England for three years,--a prize of which +nothing could now rob him. He ought not to be unhappy; and yet +he knew himself to be wretched and disappointed. It had never +occurred to him to be proud of being a duke, or to think of his +wealth otherwise than a chance incident of his life, advantageous +indeed, but by no means a source of honour. And he had been +aware that he had owned his first seat in Parliament to his +birth, and probably also his first introduction to official life. +An heir to a dukedom, if he will only work, may almost with +certainty find himself received into one or other regiment in +Downing Street. It had not in his early days been with him as it +had with his friends Mr Monk and Phineas Finn, who had worked +their way from the very ranks. But even a duke cannot become +Prime Minister by favour. Surely he had done something of which +he might be proud. And so he tried to console himself. + +But to have done something was nothing to him,--nothing to his +personal happiness,--unless there was also something left for +him to do. How should it be with him now,--now for the future? +Would men ever listen to him again, or allow him again to work in +their behoof, as he used to do in his happy days in the House of +Commons? He feared that it was all over for him, and that for +the rest of his days he must simply be the Duke of Omnium. + + + +CHAPTER 74 + +'I AM DISGRACED AND SHAMED.' + +Soon after the commencement of the Session Arthur Fletcher became +a constant visitor in Manchester Square, dining with the old +barrister almost constantly on Sundays, and not unfrequently on +other days when the House and his general engagements would +permit it. Between him and Emily's father there was no secret +and no misunderstanding. Mr Wharton quite understood that the +young member of Parliament was earnestly purposed to marry his +daughter, and Fletcher was sure of all the assistance and support +which Mr Wharton could give him. The name of Lopez was very +rarely used between them. It had been tacitly agreed that there +was no need that it should be mentioned. The man had come like a +destroying angel between them and their fondest hopes. Neither +could ever be what he would have been had the man never appeared +to destroy their happiness. But the man had gone away, not +without a tragedy that was appalling;--and each thought that, as +regarded him, he and the person in whom they were interested +could be taught to seem to forget him. 'It is not love,' said +the father, 'but a feeling of shame.' Arthur Fletcher shook his +head, not quite agreeing with this. It was not that he feared +that she loved the memory of her late husband. Such love was, he +thought, impossible. But there was, he believed, something more +than the feeling which her father described as shame. There was +pride also;--a determination in her own bosom not to confess the +fault she had made in giving herself to him whom she must now +think to have been so much the least worthy of her two suitors. +'Her fortune will not be what I once promised you,' said the old +man plaintively. + +'I do not remember that I ever asked you as to her fortune,' +Arthur replied. + +'Certainly not. If you had I would not have told you. But as I +named a sum, it is right that I should explain to you that that +man succeeded in lessening it by six or seven thousand pounds.' + +'If that were all!' + +'And I have promised Sir Alured that Everett, as his heir, should +have the use of a considerable portion of his share without +waiting for my death. It is odd that the one of my children from +whom I certainly expected the greater trouble should have fallen +so entirely on his feet; and that the other--; well, let us hope +for the best. Everett seems to have taken up with Wharton as +though it belonged to him already. And Emily--! Well, my dear +boy, let us hope that it may come right yet. You are not +drinking your wine. Yes,--pass the bottle. I'll have another +before I go upstairs.' + +In this way the time went by till Emily returned to town. The +Ministry had just then resigned, but I think that 'this great +reactionary success,' as it was called by the writer in the +"People's Banner", affected one member of the Lower House much +less than the return to London of Mrs Lopez. Arthur Fletcher had +determined that he would renew his suit as soon as a year should +have expired since the tragedy which had made his love a widow;-- +and that year had now passed away. He had known the day well,-- +as had she, when she passed the morning weeping in her own room +at Wharton. Now he questioned himself whether a year would +suffice,--whether both in mercy to her and with a view of +realizing his own hopes he should give her some longer time for +recovery. But he had told himself that it should be done at the +end of a year, and as he had allowed no one to talk him out of +his word, so neither could he be untrue to it himself. But it +became to him a deep matter of business, a question of great +difficulty, how he should arrange the necessary interview,-- +whether he should plead his case with her at their first meeting, +or whether he had better allow her to become accustomed to his +presence in the house. His mother had attempted to ridicule him, +because he was, as she said, afraid of a woman. He well +remembered that he had never been afraid of Emily Wharton when +they had been quite young,--little more than a boy and girl +together. Then he had told her of his love over and over again, +and had found almost a comfortable luxury in urging her to say a +word, which she had never indeed said, but which probably in +those days he still hoped she would say. And occasionally he had +feigned to be angry with her, and had tempted her on to little +quarrels with a boyish idea that a quick reconciliation would +perhaps throw her into his arms. But now it seemed to him that +an age had passed since those days. His love had certainly not +faded. There had never been a moment when that had been on the +wing. But now the azure plumage of his love had become grey as +the wings of a dove, and the gorgeousness of his dreams had +sobered into hopes and fears which were a constant burden to his +heart. There was time enough, still time enough for happiness if +she would yield;--and time enough for the dull pressure of +unsatisfied aspirations should she persist in her refusal. + +At last he saw her, almost by accident, and that meeting +certainly was not fit for the purpose of his suit. He called at +Stone Buildings the day after her arrival, and found her at her +father's chambers. She had come there keeping some appointment +with him, and certainly had not expected to meet her lover. He +was confused and hardly able to say a word to account for his +presence, but she greeted him with almost sisterly affection, +saying some word of Longbarns and his family, telling him how +Everett, to Alured's great delight, had been sworn in as a +magistrate for the County, and how at the last hunt meeting John +Fletcher had been asked to take the County hounds because Lord +Weobly at seventy-five had declared himself to be unable any +longer to ride as a master of hounds ought to ride. All these +things Arthur had of course heard, such news being too important +to be kept long from him; but on none of these subjects had he +much to say. He stuttered and stammered, and quickly went away; +--not, however, before he had promised to come to dine as usual +on the next Sunday, and not without observing that the +anniversary of that fatal day of release had done something to +lighten the sombre load of mourning which the widow had hitherto +worn. + +Yes;--he would dine there on the Sunday, but how would it be +with him then? Mr Wharton never went out of the house on a +Sunday evening, and could hardly be expected to leave his own +drawing-room for the sake of giving a lover an opportunity. No; +--he must wait till that evening should have passed, and then +make the occasion for himself as best he might. The Sunday came +and the dinner was eaten, and after dinner there was a single +bottle of port and the single bottle of claret. 'How do you +think she is looking?' asked the father. 'She was as pale as +death before we got her down into the country.' + +'Upon my word, sir,' said he, 'I've hardly looked at her. It is +not a matter of looks now, as it used to be. It has got beyond +that. It is not that I am indifferent to seeing a pretty face, +or that I have no longer an opinion of my own about a woman's +figure. But there grows up, I think, a longing which almost +kills that consideration.' + +'To me she is as beautiful as ever,' said the father proudly. + +Fletcher did manage, when in the drawing-room to talk for a while +about John and the hounds, and then went away, having resolved +that he would come again on the very next day. Surely she would +not give an order that he should be denied admittance. She had +been too calm, too even, to confident of herself for that. Yes; +--he would come and tell her plainly what he had to say. He +would tell it with all the solemnity of which he was capable, +with a few words, and those the strongest of which he could use. +Should she refuse him;--as he almost knew that she would at +first,--then he would tell her of her father and of the wishes +of all their joint friends. 'Nothing,' he would say to her, +'nothing but personal dislike can justify you in refusing to heal +many wounds.' As he fixed on these words he failed to remember +how little probable it is that a lover should ever be able to use +the phrases which he arranges. + +On the Monday he came, and asked for Mrs Lopez, slurring over the +word as best he could. The butler said his mistress was at home. +Since the death of the man he had so thoroughly despised, the old +servant had never called her Mrs Lopez. Arthur was shown +upstairs, and found the lady he sought,--but he found Mrs Roby +also. It may be remembered that Mrs Roby, after the tragedy, had +been refused admittance into Mr Wharton's house. Since that +there had been some correspondence, and a feeling had prevailed +that the woman was not to be quarrelled with forever. 'I did not +do it, papa, because of her,' Emily said with some scorn, and +that scorn had procured Mrs Roby's pardon. She was now making a +morning call, and suiting her conversation to the black dress of +her niece. Arthur was horrified at seeing her. Mrs Roby had +always been to him odious, not only as a personal enemy but as a +vulgar woman. He, at any rate, attributed on her a great part of +the evil that had been done, feeling sure that had there been no +house round the corner, Emily Wharton would never have become Mrs +Lopez. As it was he was forced to shake hands with her, and +forced to listen to the funereal tone in which Mrs Roby asked him +if he did not think that Mrs Lopez looked much improved since her +sojourn in Hertfordshire. He shrank at the sound, and then, in +order that it might not be repeated, took occasion to show that +he was allowed to call his early playmate by her Christian name. +Mrs Roby, thinking that she ought to check him, remarked that Mrs +Lopez's return was a great thing for Mr Wharton. Thereupon +Arthur Fletcher seized his hat off the ground, wished them both +good-bye, and hurried out of the room. 'What a very odd manner +he has taken up since he became a Member of Parliament,' said Mrs +Roby. + +Emily was silent for a moment, and then with an effort,--with +intense pain,--she said a word or two which she thought had +better be at once spoken. 'He went because he does not like to +hear that name.' + +'Good gracious!' + +'And papa does not like it. Don't say a word about it, aunt; +pray don't,--but call me Emily.' + +'Are you going to be ashamed of your name?' + +'Never mind, aunt. If you think it wrong, you must stay away;-- +but I will not have papa wounded.' + +'Oh;--if Mr Wharton wishes it;--of course.' That evening Mrs +Roby told Dick Roby, her husband, what an old fool Mr Wharton +was. + +The next day quite early, Fletcher was again at the house and was +again admitted upstairs. The butler, no doubt, knew well enough +why he came, and also knew that the purport of his coming had at +any rate the sanction of Mr Wharton. The room was empty when he +was shown into it, but she came to him very soon. 'I went away +yesterday rather abruptly,' he said. 'I hope you did not think +me rude.' + +'Oh no.' + +'Your aunt was here, and I had something I wished to say but +could not say it very well before her.' + +'I knew that she had driven you away. You and Aunt Harriet were +never great friends.' + +'Never;--but I will forgive her everything. I will forgive all +the injuries that have been done me if you will now do as I ask +you.' + +Of course she knew what it was he was about to ask. When he had +left her at Longbarns without saying a word of his love, without +giving her a hint whereby she might allow herself to think that +he intended to renew his suit, then she had wept because it was +so. Though her resolution had been quite firm as to the duty +which was incumbent on her of remaining in her desolate condition +of almost nameless widowhood, yet she had been unable to refrain +from bitter tears because he also had seemed to see that such was +her duty. But now again, knowing that the request was coming, +feeling once more confident of the constancy of his love, she was +urgent with herself as to that heavy duty. She would be womanly, +dead to all shame, almost inhuman, were she to allow herself +again to indulge in love after all the havoc she had made. She +had been little more than a bride when that husband, for whom she +had often been forced to blush, had been driven by the weight of +his misfortunes and disgraces to destroy himself! By the +marriage she had made she had overwhelmed her whole family with +dishonour. She had done it with a persistency of perverse self- +will which she herself could not now look back on without wonder +and horror. She, too, should have died as well as he;--only +that death had not ben within the compass of her powers as of +his. How the could she forget it all, and wipe it away from her +mind, as she would figures from a slate with a wet towel? How +could it be fit that she should again be a bride with such a +spectre of a husband haunting her memory? She had known that the +request was to be made when he took his sudden departure. She +had known it well, when just now the servant told her that Mr +Fletcher was in the drawing-room below. But she was quite +certain of the answer she must make. 'I should be sorry you +should ask me anything I cannot do,' she said in a very low +voice. + +'I will ask you nothing for which I have not your father's +sanction.' + +'The time has gone by, Arthur, in which I might well have been +guided by my father. There comes a time when personal feelings +must be stronger than a father's authority. Papa cannot see me +with my own eyes, he cannot understand what I feel. It is simply +this,--that he would have me to be other than I am. But I am +what I have made myself.' + +'You have not heard me as yet. You will hear me?' + +'Oh, yes.' + +'I have loved you ever since I was a boy.' He paused as though +he expected that she would make some answer to this; but of +course there was nothing she could say. 'I have been true to you +since we were together almost as children.' + +'It is your nature to be true.' + +'In this matter, at any rate. I shall never change. I never for +a moment had a doubt about my love. There never has been anyone +else whom I have ventured to compare with you. Then came that +great trouble. Emily, you must let me speak freely this once, as +so much, to me at least, depends on it.' + +'Say what you will, Arthur. Do not wound me more than you can +help.' + +'God knows how willingly I would heal every wound without a word +if it could be done. I don't know whether you ever thought what +I suffered when he came among us and robbed me,--well, I will +not say robbed me of your love, because it was not mine--but +took away with him that which I had been trying to win.' + +'I did not think a man would feel like that.' + +'Why shouldn't a man feel as well as a woman? I had set my heart +on having you for my wife. Can any desire be nearer to a man +than that? Then he came. Well, dearest, surely I may say that +he was not worthy of you.' + +'We were neither of us worthy,' she said. + +'I need not tell you that we all grieved. It seemed to us down +in Hertfordshire as though a black cloud had come upon us. We +could not speak of you, nor yet could we be altogether silent.' + +'Of course you condemned me,--as an outcast.' + +'Did I write to you as though you were an outcast? Did I treat +you when I saw you as an outcast? When I come to you to-day, is +that proof that I think you to be an outcast? I have never +deceived you, Emily.' + +'Never.' + +'Then you will believe me when I say that through it all not one +word of reproach or contumely has ever passed my lips in regard +to you. That you should have given yourself to one whom I could +think worthy of you, was, of course, a great sorrow. Had he been +a prince of men it would have of course been a sorrow to me. How +it went with you during your married life I will not ask.' + +'I was unhappy. I would tell you everything if I could. I was +very unhappy.' + +'Then came--the end.' She was now weeping with her face buried +in her handkerchief. 'I would spare you if I knew how, but there +are some things which must be said.' + +'No;--no. I will bear it all--from you.' + +'Well! His success had not lessened my love. Though then I +could have no hope,--though you were utterly removed from me,-- +all that could not change me. There it was,--as though my arm +or my leg had been taken from me. It was bad to live without an +arm or a leg, but there was no help. I went on with my life and +tried not to look like a whipped cur;--though John from time to +time would tell me that I failed. But now;--now that is again +all changed,--what would you have me do now? It may be that +after all my limb may be restored to me, that I may be again as +other men are, whole, and sound, and happy;--so happy! When it +may possibly be within my reach am I not to look for my +happiness?' He paused, but she wept on without speaking a word. +'There are those who will say that I should wait till all these +signs of woe have been laid aside. But why should I wait? There +has come a great blot on your life, and is it not well that it +should be covered as quickly as possible?' + +'It can never be covered.' + +'You mean that it can never be forgotten. No doubt there are +passages in our life which we cannot forget, though we bury them +in the deepest silence. All this can never be driven out of your +memory,--nor from mine. But it need not therefore blacken our +lives. In such a condition we should not be ruled by what the +world thinks.' + +'Not at all. I care nothing for what the world thinks. I am +below all that. It is what I think of myself,--of myself.' + +'Will you think of no one else? Are any of your thoughts for me, +--or for your father?' + +'Oh yes;--for my father.' + +'I need hardly tell you what he wishes. You must know how you +can best give him back the comfort he has lost.' + +'But, Arthur, even for him I cannot do everything.' + +'There is one question to be asked,' he said, rising from her +feet and standing before her;--'but one; and what you do should +depend entirely on the answer which you may be able truly make to +that.' + +This he said so solemnly that he startled her. + +'What question, Arthur?' + +'Do you love me?' To this question at the moment she could make +no reply. 'Of course I know that you did not love me when you +married him.' + +'Love is not all of one kind.' + +'You know what love I mean. You did not love me then. You could not +have loved me,--though, perhaps, I thought I had deserved your +love. But love will change and memory will some times bring back +old fancies when the world has been stern and hard. When we were +very young I think you loved me. Do you remember seven years ago +at Longbarns, when they parted us and sent me away, because,-- +because we were so young? They did not tell us then, but I think +you knew. I know that I knew, and went nigh to swear that I +would drown myself. You loved me then, Emily.' + +'I was a child then.' + +'Now you are not a child. Do you love me now,--to-day? If so, +give me your hand, and the past be buried in silence. All this +has come and gone, and has nearly made us old. But there is life +before us yet, and if you are to me as I am to you it is better +that our lives should be lived together.' Then he stood before +her with his hand stretched out. + +'I cannot do it,' she said. + +'And why?' + +'I cannot be other than the wretched thing I have made myself.' + +'But do you love me?' + +'I cannot analyse my heart. Love you;--yes! I have always +loved you. Everything about you is dear to me. I can triumph in +your triumphs, rejoice at your joy, weep at your sorrows, be ever +anxious that all good things may come to you;--but, Arthur, I +cannot be your wife.' + +'Not though it would make us all happy,--Fletchers and Whartons +all alike?' + +'Do you think I have not thought it over? Do you think that I +have forgotten your first letter? Knowing your heart, as I do +know it, do you imagine that I have spent a day, an hour, for +months past, without asking myself what answer I should make to +you if the sweet constancy of your nature should bring you again +to me? I have trembled when I have heard your voice. My heart +has beat at the sound of your footsteps as though it would burst! +Do you think I have never told myself what I had thrown away. +But it is gone, and it is not now within my reach.' + +'It is, it is,' he said, throwing himself on his knees, and +twining his arms around her.' + +'No;--no;--no;--never. I am disgraced and shamed. I have +lain among the pots till I am foul and blackened. Take your arms +away. They shall not be defiled,' she said as she sprang to her +feet. 'You shall not have the thing that he has left.' + +'Emily;--it is the only thing in all the world that I crave.' + +'Be a man and conquer your love,--as I will. Get it under your +feet and press it to death. Tell yourself that it is shameful +and must be abandoned. That you, Arthur Fletcher, should marry +the widow of that man,--the woman that he had thrust so far into +the mire that she can never again be clean;--you, the chosen +one, the bright star among us all;--you, whose wife should be +the fairest, the purest, the tenderest of us all, a flower that +has yet been hardly breathed on. While I--Arthur,' she said, 'I +know my duty better than that. I will not seek an escape from my +punishment in that way,--nor will I allow you to destroy +yourself. You have my word as a woman that it shall not be so. +Now I do not mind your knowing whether I love you or no.' He +stood silent before her, not able for the moment to go on with +his prayer. 'And now,' she said, 'God bless you, and give you +some fair and happy wife. And, Arthur, do not come again to me. +If you will let it be so, I shall have delight in seeing you;-- +but not if you come as you have come now. And, Arthur, spare me +with papa. Do not let him think that it is all my fault that I +cannot do the thing that he wishes.' Then she left the room +before he could say another word to her. + +But it was all her fault. No;--in that direction he could not +spare her. It must be told to her father, though he doubted his +own power of describing all that had been said. 'Do not come +again to me,' she had said. At the moment he had been left +speechless; but if there was one thing fixed in his mind, it was +the determination to come again. He was sure now, not only of +love that might have sufficed,--but of hot, passionate love. +She had told him that her heart had beat at his footsteps, and +that she had trembled as she listened to his voice,--and yet she +had expected that he would not come again! But there was a +violence of decision about the woman which made him dread that he +might still come in vain. She was so warped from herself by the +conviction of her great mistake, so prone to take shame to +herself for her own error, so keenly alive to the degradation to +which she had been submitted, that it might yet be impossible to +teach her that, though her husband had been vile and she +mistaken, yet she had not been soiled by his baseness. + +He went at once to the old barrister's chambers and told him the +result of the meeting. 'She is still a fool,' said the father, +not understanding at second-hand the depths of his daughter's +feeling. + +'No, sir,--not that. She felt herself degraded by his +degradation. If it be possible we must save her from that.' + +'She did degrade herself.' + +'Not as she means it. She is not degraded in my eyes.' + +'Why should she not take the only means in her power of rescuing +herself and rescuing us all from the evil that she did? She owes +it you, me, and to her brother.' + +'I would hardly wish her to come to me in payment of such a +debt.' + +'There is no room left,' said Mr Wharton angrily, 'for soft +sentimentality. Well;--she must take her bed as she makes it. +It is very hard on me, I know. Considering what she used to be, +it is marvellous to me that she should have so little idea left +of doing her duty to others.' + +Arthur Fletcher found that the barrister was at the moment too +angry to hear reason, or to be made to understand anything of the +feelings of mixed love and admiration with which he was animated +at the moment. He was obliged therefore to content himself with +assuring the father that he did not intend to give up the pursuit +of his daughter. + + + +CHAPTER 75 + +THE GREAT WHARTON ALLIANCE. + +When Mr Wharton got home on that day he said not a word to Emily +as to Arthur Fletcher. He had resolved to take various courses; +--first to tell her roundly that she was neglecting her duty to +herself and to her family, and that he would no longer take her +part and be her good friend unless she would consent to marry the +man whom she had confessed that she loved. But as he thought of +this he became aware,--first that he could not carry out such a +threat, and then that he would lack even the firmness to make it. +There was something in her face, something even in her dress, +something in her whole manner to himself, which softened him and +reduced him to vassalage directly he saw her. Then he determined +to throw himself on her compassion and to implore her to put an +end to all this misery by making herself happy. But as he drew +near home he found himself unable to do even this. How is a +father to beseech his widowed daughter to give herself away in +a second marriage? And therefore when he entered the house and +found her waiting for him he said nothing. At first she looked +at him wistfully,--anxious to learn by his face whether her +lover had been with him. But when he spoke not a word, simply +kissing her in his usual quiet way, she became cheerful in a +manner and communicative. 'Papa,' she said, 'I have had a letter +from Mary.' + +'Well, my dear.' + +'Just a nice chatty letter,--full of Everett, of course.' + +'Everett is a great man now.' + +'I am sure that you are very glad that he is what he is. Will +you see Mary's letter?' Mr Wharton was not specially given to +reading young ladies' correspondence, and did not know why this +particular letter should be offered to him. 'You don't suspect +anything at Wharton, do you?' she asked. + +'Suspect anything! No; I don't suspect anything.' But now, +having had his curiosity aroused, he took the letter which was +offered to him and read it. The letter was as follows: + +Wharton, Thursday. + DEAREST EMILY, + We all hope that you had a pleasant journey up to London, + and that Mr Wharton is quite well. Your brother Everett + came over to Longbarns the day after you started and + drove me back to Wharton in the dog-cart. It was such a + pleasant journey, though, now I remember, it rained all + the way. But Everett has always so much to say that I + didn't mind the rain. I think it will end in John taking + the hounds. He says he won't because he does not wish to + be the slave of the whole county;--but he says it in + that sort of way that we all think he means to do it. + Everett tells him that he ought, because he is the only + hunting man on this side of the county who can afford to + do without feeling it much; and of course what Everett + says will go a long way with him. Sarah,--(Sarah was + John Fletcher's wife),--is rather against it. But if he + makes up his mind she'll be sure to turn round. Of + course it makes us all very anxious at present to know + how it is to end, for the Master of the Hounds always is + the leading man in our part of the world. Papa went to + the bench at Ross yesterday and took Everett with him. + It was the first time that Everett had sat there. He + says I am to tell his father he has not hung anybody as + yet. + + They have already begun to cut down, or what they call + stubb up, Barnton Spinnies. Everett said that it is no + good keeping it as a wood, and papa agreed. So it is to + go into the home farm, and Griffiths is to pay rent for + it. I don't like having it cut down, as the boys always + used to get nuts there, but Everett says it won't do to + keep woods for little boys to get nuts. + + Mary Stocking has been very ill since you went, and I'm + afraid she won't last long. When they get to be so very + bad with rheumatism I almost think it's wrong to pray for + them, because they are in so much pain. We thought at + one time the mamma's ointment had done her good, but when + we came to inquire we found that she had swallowed it. + Wasn't it dreadful? But it didn't seem to do her any + harm. Everett says that it wouldn't make any difference + which she did. + + Papa is beginning to be afraid that Everett is a Radical. + But I'm sure he's not. He says he is as good a + Conservative as there is in all Hertfordshire, only that + he likes to know what is to be conserved. Papa said + after dinner yesterday that everything English should be + maintained. Everett said that according to that we + should have kept the Star Chamber. 'Of course I would,' + said papa. Then they went at it hammer and tongs. + Everett had the best of it. At any rate he talked the + longest. But I do hope he is not a Radical. No country + gentleman ought to be a Radical. Ought he, dear? + + Mrs Fletcher says you are to get the lozenges at Squire's + in Oxford Street, and be sure to ask for the Vade mecum + lozenges. She is all in a flutter about those hounds. + She says she hopes John will do nothing of the kind + because of the expense; but we all know that she would + like him to have them. The subscription is not very + good, only 1,500 pounds, and it would cost him ever so + much a year. But everybody says he is very rich and that + he ought to do it. If you see Arthur give him our love. + Of course a member of Parliament is too busy to write + letters. But I don't think Arthur was ever good at + writing. Everett says that men never ought to write + letters. Give my love to Mr Wharton. +I am, dearest Emily, +Your most affectionate Cousin, +MARY WHARTON + +'Everett is a fool,' said Mr Wharton as soon as he had read the +letter. + +'Why is he a fool, papa?' + +'Because he will quarrel with Sir Alured about politics before he +knows where he is. What business has a young fellow like that to +have an opinion either one side or the other, before his +betters?' + +'But Everett always has strong opinions.' + +'It didn't matter as long as he only talked nonsense at a club in +London, but how he'll break that old man's heart.' + +'But, papa, don't you see anything else?' + +'I see that John Fletcher is going to make an ass of himself and +spend a thousand a year in keeping a pack of hounds for other +people to ride after.' + +'I think I see something else besides that.' + +'What do you see?' + +'Would it annoy you if Everett was to become engaged to Mary?' + +Then Mr Wharton whistled. 'To be sure he does put his name into +every line of the letter. No; it wouldn't annoy me. I don't see +why he shouldn't marry his second cousin if he likes. Only if he +is engaged to her, I think it odd that he shouldn't write and +tell us.' + +'I'm sure she is not engaged to him as yet. She wouldn't write +all in that way if she were engaged. Everybody would be told at +once, and Sir Alured would never be able to keep it a secret. +Why should there be a secret? But I'm sure that she is very fond +of him. Mary would never write about any man in that way unless +she were beginning to be attached to him. + +About ten days after this there came two letters from Wharton +Hall to Manchester Square, the shortest of which shall be given +first. It ran as follows: + + MY DEAR FATHER, + I have proposed to my cousin Mary, and she has accepted + me. Everybody here seems to like the idea. I hope it + will not displease you. Of course you and Emily will + come down. I will tell you when the day is fixed. +Your affectionate Son, +EVERETT WHARTON + +This the old man read as he sat at breakfast with his daughter +opposite to him, while Emily was reading a very much longer +letter from the same house. 'So it's going to be just as you +guessed,' he said. + +'I was quite sure of it, papa. Is that from Everett? Is he very +happy?' + +'Upon my word, I can't say whether he's happy or not. If he had +got a new horse he would have written at much greater length +about it. It seems, however, to be quite fixed.' + +'Oh yes. This is from Mary. She is happy at any rate. I +suppose men never say so much about these things as women.' + +'May I see Mary's letter?' + +'I don't think it would be quite fair, papa. It's only a girl's +rhapsody about the man she loves,--very nice and womanly, but +not intended for anyone but me. It does not seem that they mean +to wait very long.' + +'Why should they wait? Is any day fixed?' + +'Mary says that Everett talks about the middle of May. Of course +you will go down.' + +'We must both go.' + +'You will at any rate. Don't promise for me just at present. It +must make Sir Alured very happy. It is almost the same as +finding himself at last with a son of his own. I suppose they +will live at Wharton altogether now,--unless Everett gets into +Parliament.' + +But the reader may see the young lady's letter, though her future +father-in-law was not permitted to do so, and will perceive that +there was a paragraph at the close of it which perhaps was more +conducive to Emily's secrecy than her feelings as to the sacred +obligations of female correspondence. + +Monday, Wharton. + DEAREST EMILY, + I wonder whether you will be much surprised at the news I + have to tell you. You cannot be more so that I am at + having to write it. It has all been so very sudden that + I almost feel ashamed of myself. Everett has proposed to + me, and I have accepted him. There;--now you know it + all. Though you never can know how very dearly I love + him and how thoroughly I admire him, I do think that he + is everything that a man ought to be, and that I am the + most fortunate young woman in the world. Only isn't it + odd that I should always have to live my life in the same + house, and never change my name,--just like a man, or an + old maid? But I don't mind that because I do love him so + dearly and because he is so good. He has written to Mr + Wharton. I know. I was sitting by him and his letter + didn't take him a minute. But he says that long letters + about such things only give trouble. I hope you won't + think my letter troublesome. He is not sitting by me + now, but has gone over to Longbarns to help settle about + the hounds. John is going to have them after all. I + wish it hadn't happened just at this time because all the + gentlemen do think so much about it. Of course Everett + is one of the committee. + + Papa and mamma are both very, very glad of it. Of course + it is nice for them, as it will keep Everett and me here. + If I had married anybody else,--though I am sure I never + should,--she would have been very lonely. And of course + papa likes to think that Everett is already one of us. I + hope they will never quarrel about politics, but as + Everett says, the world does change as it goes on, and + young men and old men never will think quite the same + about things. Everett told papa the other day that if he + could be put back a century he would be a Radical. Then + there were ever so many words. But Everett always + laughs, and at last papa comes round. + + I can't tell you, my dear, what a fuss we are in already + about it all. Everett wants our marriage early in May, + so that we may have two months in Switzerland before + London is what he calls turned loose. And papa says that + there is no use in delaying, because he gets older every + day. Of course that is true of everybody. So that we + are all in flutter about getting things. Mamma did talk + of going up to town, but I believe they have things quite + as good at Hereford. Sarah, when she was married, had + all her things from London, but they say that there has + been a great change since that. I am sure I think that + you may get anything you want at Muddocks and Cramble's. + But mamma says I am to have my veil from Howell and + James's. + + Of course you and Mr Wharton will come. I shan't think + it any marriage without. Papa and mama talk of it as + quite of course. You know how fond papa is of the + bishop. I think he will marry us. I own I should like + to be married by a bishop. It would make it so sweet and + so solemn. Mr Higgenbottom could of course assist;--but + he is such an odd old man, with his snuff and his + spectacles always tumbling off, that I shouldn't like to + have no one else. I have often thought that if it were + only for marrying people we ought to have a nicer rector at + Wharton. + + Almost all the tenants have been to wish me joy. They + are very fond of Everett already, and now they feel that + there will never be any very great change. I do think it + is the very best thing that could be done, even if it + were not that I am so thoroughly in love with him. I + didn't think I should ever be able to own that I was in + love with a man; but now I feel quite proud of it. I + don't mind telling you because he is your brother, and I + think that you will be glad of it. + + He talks very often about you. Of course you know what + it is that we all wish. I love Arthur Fletcher almost as + much as if he were my brother. He is my sister's + brother-in-law, and if he could become my husband's + brother-in-law too, I should be so happy. Of course we + all know that he wishes it. Write immediately to wish me + joy. Perhaps you could go to Howell and James's about + the veil. And promise to come to us in May. Sarah says + the veil should cost about thirty pounds. +Dearest, dearest Emily, +I shall soon be your most affectionate sister, +MARY WHARTON + +Emily's answer was full of warm, affectionate congratulations. +She had much to say in favour of Everett. She promised to use +all her little skill at Howell and James's. She expressed a hope +that the overtures to be made in regard to the bishop might be +successful. And she made kind remarks even as to Muddocks and +Crumble. But she would not promise that she herself would be at +Wharton on the happy day. 'Dear Mary,' she said, 'remember what +I have suffered, and that I cannot be quite as other people are. +I could not stand at your marriage in black clothes,--nor should +I have the courage even if had the will to dress myself in +others.' None of the Whartons had come to her wedding. There +was no feeling of anger now left as to that. She was quite aware +that they had done right to stay away. But the very fact that it +had been right that they should stay away would make it wrong +that the widow of Ferdinand Lopez should now assist at the +marriage of one Wharton to another. This was all that a marriage +ought to be, whereas that had been--all that a marriage ought +not to be. In answer to the paragraph about Arthur Fletcher +Emily Lopez had not a word to say. + +Soon after this, early in April, Everett came up to town. Though +his bride might be content to get her bridal clothes in Hereford, +none but a London tailor could decorate him properly for such an +occasion. During these last weeks Arthur Fletcher had not been +seen at Manchester Square; nor had his name been mentioned there +by Mr Wharton. Of anything that may have passed between them +Emily was altogether ignorant. She observed, or thought that she +observed, that her father was more silent with her,--perhaps +less tender than he had been since the day on which her husband +had perished. His manner of life was the same. He almost always +dined at home in order that she might not be alone, and made no +complaint as to her conduct. But she could see that he was +unhappy, and she knew the cause of his grief. 'I think, papa,' +she said one day, 'that it would be better that I should go +away.' This was on the day before Everett's arrival,--of which, +however, he had given no notice. + +'Go away! Where would you go to?' + +'It does not matter. I do not make you happy.' + +'What do you mean? Who says that I am not happy? Why do you +talk like that?' + +'Do not be angry with me. Nobody says so. I can see it well +enough. I know how good you are to me, but I am making your life +wretched. I am a wet blanket to you, and yet I cannot help +myself. If I could go somewhere, where I could be of use.' + +'I don't know what you mean. This is your proper home.' + +'No;--it is not my home. I ought to have forfeited it. I ought +to go where I could work and be of some use in the world.' + +'You might use it if you chose, my dear. Your proper career is +before you if you would condescend to accept it. It is not for +me to persuade you, but I can see and feel the truth. Till you +can bring yourself to do that, your days will be blighted,--and +so will mine. You have made one great mistake in life. Stop a +moment. I do not speak often, but I wish to listen to me now. +Such mistakes do generally produce misery and ruin in all who are +concerned. With you it chances that it may be otherwise. You +can put your foot agin upon the firm ground and recover +everything. Of course there must be a struggle. One person has +to struggle with circumstances, another with his foes, and a +third with his own feelings. I can understand that there should +be a struggle with you; but it ought to be made. You ought to be +brave enough and strong enough to conquer your regrets, and to +begin again. In no other way can you do anything for me or for +yourself. To talk of going away is childish nonsense. Whither +would you go? I shall not urge you any more, but I would not +have you talk to me in that way.' Then he got up and left the +room and the house and went down to his club,--in order that she +might think of what he had said in solitude. + +And she did think of it;--but still continually with an +assurance to herself that her father did not understand her +feelings. The career of which he spoke was no doubt open to her, +but she could not regard it as that which it was proper that she +should fulfil, as he did. When she told her lover that she had +lain among the pots till she was black and defiled, she expressed +in the strongest language that which was her real conviction. He +did not think her to have been defiled,--or at any rate thought +that she might again bear the wings of a dove; but she felt it, +and therefore knew herself to be unfit. The next morning, when +he came into the parlour where she was already sitting, she +looked up at him almost reproachfully. Did he think that a woman +was a piece of furniture which you could mend, and re-varnish, +and fit out with new ornaments, and then send out for use, +second-hand indeed, but for all purposes good as new? + +Then, while she was in this frame of mind, Everett came in upon +her unawares, and with his almost boisterous happiness succeeded +for a while in changing the current of her thoughts. He was of +course now uppermost in his own thoughts. The last few months +had made so much of him that he might be excused for being unable +to sink himself in the presence of others. He was the heir to +the baronetcy,--and to the double fortunes of the two old men. +And he was going to be married in a manner as everyone told him +to increase the glory and stability of the family. 'It's all +nonsense about your not coming down,' he said. She smiled and +shook her head. 'I can only tell you that it will give the +greatest offence to everyone. If you knew how much they talk +about you down there I don't think you would like to hurt them.' + +'Of course I would not like to hurt them.' + +'And considering that you have no other brother--' + +'Oh, Everett!' + +'I think more about it, perhaps, than you do. I think you owe it +me to come down. You will never probably have another chance of +being present at your brother's marriage.' This he said in a +tone that was almost lachrymose. + +'A wedding, Everett, should be merry.' + +'I don't know about that. It is a very serious sort of thing, to +my way of thinking. When Mary got your letter it nearly broke +her heart. I think I have a right to expect it, and if you don't +come I shall feel myself injured. I don't see what is the use of +having a family if the members of it do not stick together. What +would you think if I were to desert you?' + +'Desert you, Everett!' + +Well, yes;--it is something of the kind. I have made my +request, and you can comply with it or not as you please.' + +'I will go,' she said very slowly. Then she left him and went to +her own room to think in what description of garments she could +appear at a wedding with the least violence to the condition of +her life. + +'I have got her to say she'll come,' he said to his father that +evening. 'If you leave her to me, I'll bring her round.' + +Soon after that,--within a day or two,--there came out a +paragraph in one of the fashionable newspapers of the day, saying +that an alliance had been arranged between the heir to the +Wharton title and property and the daughter of the present +baronet. I think that this had probably originated in the club +gossip. I trust it did not spring directly from the activity or +ambition of Everett himself. + + + +CHAPTER 76 + +WHO WILL IT BE? + +For the first day or two after the resignation of the Ministry +the Duchess appeared to take no further notice of the matter. An +ungrateful world had repudiated her husband, and he had foolishly +assisted and given way to the repudiation. All her grand +aspirations were at an end. All her triumphs were over. And +worse than that, there was present to her a conviction that she +had never really triumphed. There never had come the happy +moment in which she had felt herself to be dominant over other +women. She had toiled, struggled, she had battled and +occasionally submitted; and yet there was present to her a +feeling that she had stood higher in public estimation as Lady +Glencora Palliser,--whose position had been all her own and had +not depended on her husband,--than now she had done as the +Duchess of Omnium, and wife of the Prime Minister of England. +She had meant to be something, she knew not what, greater than +had been the wives of other Prime Ministers and other Dukes, and +now she felt that in her failure she had been almost ridiculous. +And the failure, she thought, had been his,--or hers,--rather +than that of circumstances. If he had been less scrupulous and +more persistent it might have been different,--of if she had +been more discreet. Sometimes she felt hew own failing so +violently as to acquit him almost entirely. At other times she +was almost beside herself with anger because all her losses +seemed to have arisen from want of stubbornness on his part. +When he had told her that he and his followers had determined to +resign because they had beaten their foes by only a majority of +nine, she took it into her head that he was in fault. Why should +he go while his supporters were more numerous than his opponents? +It was useless to bid him think it over again. Though she was +far from understanding all the circumstances of the game, she did +know that he could not remain after having arranged with his +colleagues that he would go. So she became cross and sullen, and +while he was going to Windsor and back and setting his house in +order, and preparing the way for his successor,--whoever that +successor might be,--she was moody and silent, dreaming over +some impossible condition of things in accordance with which he +might have remained Prime Minister--almost for ever. + +On the Sunday after the fatal division,--the division which the +Duchess would not allow to have been fatal,--she came across him +somewhere in the house. She had hardly spoken to him since he +had come into her room that night and told her that all was over. +She had said that she was unwell and had kept out of sight, and +he had been here and there, between Windsor and the Treasury +Chambers, and had been glad to escape from her ill-humour. But +she could not endure any longer the annoyance of having to get +all her news from Mrs Finn,--second hand, or third hand, and now +found herself driven to capitulate. 'Well,' she said, 'how is it +all going to be? I suppose you do not know or you would have +told me?' + +'There is very little to tell.' + +'Mr Monk is to be Prime Minister?' she asked. + +'I did not say so. But it is not impossible.' + +'Has the Queen sent for him?' + +'Not as yet. Her Majesty has seen both Mr Gresham and Mr Daubney +as well as myself. It does not seem a very easy thing to make a +Ministry at present.' + +'Why should not you go back?' + +'I do not think that is on the cards.' + +'Why not? Ever so many men have done it, after going out,--and +why not you? I remember Mr Mildmay doing it twice. It is always +the thing, when the man who has been sent for makes a mess of it, +for the old minister to have another chance.' + +'But what if the old minister will not take the chance?' + +'Then it is the old minister's fault. Why shouldn't you take the +chance as well as another? It isn't many days ago since you were +quite anxious to remain in. I thought you were going to break +your heart because people even talked of your going.' + +'I was going to break my heart, as you call it,' he said, +smiling, 'not because people talked of my ceasing to be minister, +but because the feeling of the House of Commons justified people +in so saying. I hope you see the difference.' + +'No, I don't. And there is no difference. The people we are +talking about are the members,--and they have supported you. +You could go on if you chose. I'm sure Mr Monk wouldn't leave +you.' + +'It is just what Mr Monk would do, and ought to do. No one is +less likely than Mr Monk to behave badly in such an emergency. +The more I see of Mr Monk, the higher I think of him.' + +'He has his own game to play as well as others.' + +'I think he has no game to play but that of his country. It is +no use our discussing it, Cora.' + +'Of course I understand nothing, because I'm a woman.' + +'You understand a great deal,--but not quite all. You may at +any rate understand this,--that our troubles are at an end. You +were saying the other day that the labours of being a Prime +Minister's wife had been almost too many for you.' + +'I never said so. As long as you didn't give way no labour was +too much for me. I would have done anything,--slaved morning +and night,--so that we might have succeeded. I hate being beat. +I'd sooner be cut to pieces.' + +'There's no help for it now, Cora. The Lord Mayor, you know, is +only Lord Mayor for one year, and must then go back to private +life.' + +'But men have been Prime Ministers for ten years at a time. If +you have made up your mind, I suppose we may as well give up. I +shall think it your own fault.' He still smiled. 'I shall,' she +said. + +'Oh, Cora!' + +'I can only speak as I feel.' + +'I don't think you would speak as you do if you knew how much +your words hurt me. In such a matter as this I should not be +justified in allowing your opinions to have weight with me. But +your sympathy would be so much to me!' + +'When I thought I was making you ill, I wished you might be +spared.' + +'My illness would be nothing, but my honour is everything. I, +too, have something to bear as well as you, and if you cannot +approve of what I do, at any rate be silent.' + +'Yes;--I can be silent.' Then he slowly left her. As he went +she was almost tempted to yield, and to throw herself into his +arms, and to promise that she would be soft to him, and to say +that she was sure that all that he did was for the best. But she +could not bring herself as yet to be good-humoured. If he had +only been a little stronger, a little thicker-skinned, made of +clay a little coarser, a little other than he was, it might have +been so different! + +Early on that Sunday afternoon she had herself driven to Mrs +Finn's house in Park Lane, instead of waiting for her friend. +Latterly she had but seldom done this, finding that her presence +at home was much wanted. She had been filled with, perhaps, +foolish ideas of the necessity of doing something,--of adding +something to the strength of her husband's position,--and had +certainly been diligent in her work. But now she might run about +like any other woman. 'This is an honour, Duchess,' said Mrs +Finn. + +'Don't be sarcastic, Marie. We have nothing further to do with +the bestowal of honours. Why didn't he make everybody a peer or +a baronet while he was about it? Lord Finn! I don't see why he +shouldn't have been Lord Finn. I'm sure he deserved it for the +way in which he attacked Sir Timothy Beeswax.' + +'I don't think he'd like it.' + +'They all say so, but I suppose they do like it, or they wouldn't +make it. And I'd have made Locock a knight;--Sir James Locock. +He's have made a more knightly knight that Sir Timothy. When a +man has power he ought to use it. It makes people respect him. +Mr Daubney made a duke, and people think more of that than +anything he did. Is Mr Finn going to join the new Ministry?' + +'If you can tell me, Duchess, who is to be the next minister, I +can give a guess.' + +'Mr Monk.' + +'Then he certainly will.' + +'Or Mr Daubney.' + +'Then he certainly won't.' + +'Or Mr Gresham.' + +'That I could not answer.' + +'Or the Duke of Omnium.' + +'That would depend on his Grace. If the Duke came back, Mr +Finn's services would be at his disposal, whether in or out of +office.' + +'Very prettily said, my dear. I never look round this room +without thinking of the first time I came here. Do you remember, +when I found the old man sitting there?' The old man alluded to +was the late Duke. + +'I am not likely to forget it, Duchess.' + +'How I hated you when I saw you! What a fright I thought you +were! I pictured you to myself as a sort of ogre, willing to eat +up everybody for the gratification of your own vanity.' + +'I was very vain, but there was a little pride with it.' + +'And now it has come to pass that I can't very well live without +you. How he did love you!' + +'His Grace was very good to me.' + +'It would have done no great harm, after all, if he had made you +Duchess of Omnium.' + +'Very great harm to me, Lady Glen. As it is I got a friend that +I love dearly, and a husband that I love dearly too. In the +other case I should have made neither. Perhaps I may say that, +in that other case my life would not have been brightened by the +affection of the present Duchess.' + +'One can't tell how it would have gone, but I well remember the +state I was in then.' The door opened and Phineas Finn entered +the room. 'What, Mr Finn, are you at home? I thought everybody +was crowding down at the clubs, to know who is to be what. We +are settled. We are quiet. We have nothing to do to disturb +ourselves. But you ought to be in all the flutter of renewed +expectation.' + +'I am waiting my destiny in calm seclusion. I hope the Duke is +well?' + +'As well as can be expected. He doesn't walk about his room with +a poniard in his hand,--ready for himself or Sir Orlando; nor is +he sitting crowned like Bacchus, drinking the health of the new +Ministry with Lord Drummond and Sir Timothy. He is probably +sipping a cup of coffee over a blue-book in dignified retirement. +You should go and see him.' + +'I should be unwilling to trouble him when he is so much +occupied.' + +'That is just what has done him all the harm in the world. +Everybody presumes that he has so much to think of that nobody +goes near him. Then he is left to boody over everything by +himself till he becomes a sort of political hermit, or +ministerial Lama, whom human eyes are not to look upon. It +doesn't matter now; does it?' Visitor after visitor came in, and +the Duchess chatted to them all, leaving the impression on +everybody that heard her that she at least was not sorry to be +relieved from the troubles attending her husband's late position. + +She sat there over an hour, and as she was taking her leave, she +had a few words to whisper to Mrs Finn. 'When this is all over,' +she said. 'I mean to call on that Mrs Lopez.' + +'I thought you did go there.' + +'That was soon after the poor man had killed himself,--when she +was going away. Of course I only left a card. But I shall see +her now if I can. We want to get her out of her melancholy if +possible. I have a sort of feeling, you know, that among us we +made the train run over him.' + +'I don't think that.' + +'He got so horribly abused for what he did at Silverbridge; and I +really don't see why he wasn't to have his money. It was I that +made him spend it.' + +'He was, I fancy, a thoroughly bad man.' + +'But a wife doesn't always want to be made a widow even if her +husband be bad. I think I owe her something, and I would pay my +debt if I knew how. I shall go and see her, and if she will +marry this other man we'll take her by the hand. Good-bye, dear. +You'd better come to me early to-morrow, as I suppose we shall +know something by eleven o'clock.' + +In the course of that evening the Duke of St Bungay came to +Carlton Terrace, and was closeted for some time with the late +Prime Minister. He had been engaged during that and the last two +previous days in lending his aid to various political manoeuvres +and ministerial attempts, from which our Duke had kept himself +altogether aloof. He did not go to Windsor, but as each +successive competitor journeyed thither and returned, someone +sent for the old Duke or went to seek his council. He was the +Nestor of the occasion, and strove heartily to compose all +quarrels, and so to arrange matters that a wholesome, moderately +Liberal Ministry might be again installed for the good of the +country and the comfort of all true Whigs. In such moments he +almost ascended to the grand heights of patriotism, being always +indifferent as to himself. Now he came to his late chief with a +new project. Mr Gresham would attempt to form a Ministry if the +Duke of Omnium would join him. + +'It is impossible!, said the younger politician, folding his +hands together and throwing himself back in the chair. + +'Listen to me before you answer me with such certainty. There +are three or four gentlemen who, after the work of the last three +years, bearing in mind the manner in which our defeat has just +been accomplished, feel themselves disinclined to join Mr Gresham +unless you will do so also. I may specially name Mr Monk and Mr +Finn. I might perhaps add myself, were it not that I had hoped +that in any event I might at length regard myself as exempt from +further service. The old horse should be left to graze out his +last days, ne peccet ad extremum ridendus. But you can't +consider yourself absolved on that score.' + +'There are other reasons.' + +'But the Queen's service should count before everything. Gresham +and Cantrip with their own friends can hardly make a Ministry as +things are now unless Mr Monk will join them. I do not think +that any other Chancellor of the Exchequer is at present +possible.' + +'I will beseech Mr Monk not to let any feeling as to me stand in +his way. Why should it?' + +'It is not only what you may think and he may think,--but what +others will think and say. The Coalition will have done all that +ought to have been expected from it if our party in it can now +join Mr Gresham.' + +'By all means. But I could give them no strength. They may be +sure at any rate of what little I can do for them out of office.' + +'Mr Gresham made his acceptance of office,--well, I will not say +strictly conditional on your joining him. That would hardly be +correct. But he has expressed himself quite willing to make the +attempt with your aid, and doubtful whether he can succeed +without it. He suggests that you should join him as President of +the Council.' + +'And you?' + +'If I were wanted at all I should take Privy Seal.' + +'Certainly not, my friend. If there were any question of my +return we could reverse the offices. But I think I may say that +my mind fixed. If you wish it I will see Mr Monk and do all that +I can to get him to go with you. But, for myself,--I feel that +it would be useless.' + +At last, at the Duke's pressing request, he agreed to take +twenty-four hours before he gave his final answer to the +proposition. + + + +CHAPTER 77 + +THE DUCHESS IN MANCHESTER SQUARE. + +The Duke said not a word to his wife as to this new proposition, +and when she asked him what tidings their old friend had brought +as to the state of affairs, he almost told a fib in his anxiety +to escape from her persecution. 'He is in some doubt what he +means to do himself,' said the Duke. The Duchess asked many +questions, but got no satisfactory reply to any of them. Nor did +Mrs Finn learn anything from her husband, whom, however, she did +not interrogate very closely. She would be contented to know +when the proper time might come for ladies to be informed. The +Duke, however, was determined to take his twenty-four hours all +alone,--or at any rate not to be driven to his decision by +feminine interference. + +In the meantime the Duchess went to Manchester Square intent on +performing certain good offices on behalf of the poor widow. It +may be doubted whether she had clearly made up her mind what it +was that she could do, though she was clear that some debt was +due by her to Mrs Lopez. And she knew too in what direction +assistance might be serviceable, if only in this case it could be +given. She had heard that the present member for Silverbridge +had been the lady's lover before Mr Lopez had come upon the +scene, and with those feminine wiles of which she was a perfect +mistress she had extracted from him a confession that his mind +was unaltered. She liked Arthur Fletcher,--as indeed she had +for a time liked Ferdinand Lopez,--and felt that her conscience +would be easier if she could assist in this good work. She built +castles in the air as to the presence of the bride and bridegroom at +Matching, thinking how she might thus repair the evil she had +done. But her heart misgave her a little as she drew near to the +house, and remembered how very slight was her acquaintance and +how extremely delicate the mission on which she had come. But +she was not the woman to turn back when she had once put her foot +to any work; and she was driven up to the door in Manchester +Square without any expressed hesitation on her own part. 'Yes;-- +his mistress was at home,' said the butler, still shrinking at +the sound of the name which he heard. The Duchess was then shown +upstairs, and was left alone for some minutes in the drawing- +room. It was a large handsome apartment hung round with valuable +pictures, and having signs of considerable wealth. Since she had +first invited Lopez to stand for Silverbridge she had heard much +about him, and had wondered how he had gained possession of such +a girl as Emily Wharton. And now, as she looked about her, her +wonder was increased. She knew enough of such people as the +Whartons and the Fletchers to be aware that as a class they are +more impregnable, more closely guarded by their feelings and +prejudices against strangers than any other. None keep their +daughters to themselves with greater care, or are less willing to +see their rules of life changed or abolished. And yet this man, +half foreigner, half Jew,--and as it now appeared, whole pauper, +had stepped in and carried off a prize of which such a one as +Arthur Fletcher was contending! The Duchess had never seen Emily +but once,--so as to observe her well,--and had then thought her +to be a very handsome woman. It had been at the garden party at +Richmond, and Lopez had then insisted that his wife should be +well dressed. It would perhaps have been impossible in the whole +of that assembly to find a more beautiful woman than Mrs Lopez +then was,--or one who carried herself with a finer air. Now +when she entered the room in her deep mourning it would have been +difficult to recognize her. Her face was much thinner, her eyes +apparently larger, and her colour faded. And there had come a +settled seriousness on her face which seemed to rob her of her +youth. Arthur Fletcher had declared that as he saw her now she +was more beautiful than ever. But Arthur Fletcher, in looking at +her, saw more then her mere features. To his eyes there was a +tenderness added by her sorrow which had its own attraction for +him. And he was so well versed in every line of her countenance, +that he could see there the old loveliness behind the sorrow; the +loveliness which would come forth again, as bright as ever, if +the sorrow could be removed. But the Duchess, though she +remembered the woman's beauty as she might that of any other +lady, now saw nothing but a thing of woe wrapped in customary +widow's weeds. 'I hope,' she said, 'I am not intruding in coming +to you; but I have been anxious to renew our acquaintance for +reasons which I am sure you will understand.' + +Emily at the moment hardly knew how to address her august +visitor. Though her father had lived all his life in what is +called good society, he had not consorted much with dukes and +duchesses. She herself had indeed on one occasion been for an +hour or two the guest of this grand lady, but on that occasion +she had hardly been called upon to talk to her. Now she doubted +how to name the Duchess, and with some show of hesitation decided +at last upon not naming her at all. 'It is very good of you to +come,' she said in a faltering voice. + +'I told you that I would when I wrote, you know. That is many +months ago, but I have not forgotten it. You have been in the +country since that, I think?' + +'Yes. In Hertfordshire. Hertfordshire is our county.' + +'I know all about it,' said the Duchess, smiling. She generally +did contrive to learn 'all about' people whom she chose to take +by the hand. 'We have a Hertfordshire gentleman sitting for,--I +must not say our borough of Silverbridge.' She was anxious to +make some allusion to Arthur Fletcher, but it was difficult to +travel on that Silverbridge ground, as Lopez had been her chosen +candidate when she still wished to claim the borough as an +appanage of the Palliser family. Emily, however, kept her +countenance and did not show by any sign that her thoughts were +running in that direction. 'And though we don't presume to +regard Mr Fletcher,' continued the Duchess, 'as in any way +connected with our local interests, he has always supported the +Duke, and I hope has become a friend of ours. I think he is a +neighbour of yours in that county.' + +'Oh yes. My cousin is married to his brother.' + +'I knew there was something of that kind. He told me that there +was some close alliance.' The Duchess as she looked at the woman +to whom she wanted to be kind did not as yet dare to express a +wish that there might be at some no very distant time a closer +alliance. She had come there intending to do so; and had still +some hope that she might do it before the interview was over. +But at any rate she would not do it yet. 'Have I not heard,' she +said, 'something of another marriage?' + +'My brother is going to marry his cousin, Sir Alured Wharton's +daughter.' + +'Ah;--I though it had been one of the Fletchers. It was our +member who told me, and spoke as if they were all his very dear +friends.' + +'They are our very dear friends,--very.' Poor Emily still +didn't know whether to call her Duchess, my Lady, or Grace,--and +yet she felt the need of calling her by some special name. + +'Exactly. I supposed it was so. They tell me Mr Fletcher will +become quite a favourite of the House. At this present moment +nobody knows on which side anybody is going to sit to-morrow. It +may be that Mr Fletcher will become the dire enemy of all the +Duke's friends.' + +'I hope not.' + +'Of course I'm speaking of political enemies. Political enemies +are often the best friends in the world; and I can assure you +from my own experience that political friends are often the +bitterest enemies. I never hated any people so much as some of +our supporters.' The Duchess made a grimace, and Emily could not +refrain from smiling. 'Yes, indeed. There's an old saying that +misfortune makes strange bedfellows, but political friendship +makes stranger alliances than misfortune. Perhaps you have never +heard of Sir Timothy Beeswax.' + +'Never.' + +'Well;--don't. But, as I was saying, there is no knowing who +may support whom now. If I were asked who would be Prime +Minister to-morrow, I should take half-dozen names and shake them +in a bag.' + +'Is it not settled then?' + +'Settled! No, indeed. Nothing is settled.' At that moment +indeed everything was settled, though the Duchess did not know +it. 'And so we none of us can tell how Mr Fletcher may stand +with us when things are arranged. I suppose he calls himself a +Conservative?' + +'Oh, yes!' + +'All the Whartons are, I suppose, Conservatives,--and all the +Fletchers.' + +'Very nearly. Papa calls himself a Tory.' + +'A very much better name to my thinking. We are all Whigs, of +course. A Palliser who is not a Whig would be held to have +disgraced himself for ever. Are not politics odd? A few years +ago I only barely knew what the word meant, and that not +correctly. I have been so eager about it, that there hardly +seems to be anything else worth living for. I suppose it's +wrong, but a state of pugnacity seems to me the greatest bliss +which we can reach here on earth.' + +'I shouldn't like to be always fighting.' + +'That's because you haven't known Sir Timothy Beeswax and two or +three other gentlemen whom I could name. The day will come, I +dare say, when you will care for politics.' + +Emily was about to answer, hardly knowing what to say, when the +door was opened and Mrs Roby came into the room. The lady was +not announced and Emily had heard no knock at the door. She was +forced to go through some ceremony of introduction. 'This is my +aunt, Mrs Roby,' she said, 'Aunt Harriet, the Duchess of Omnium.' +Mrs Roby was beside herself,--not all with joy. That feeling +would come afterwards when she would boast to her friends of her +new acquaintance. At present there was the embarrassment of not +quite knowing how to behave herself. The Duchess bowed from her +seat, and smiled sweetly,--as she had learned to smile since her +husband had become Prime Minister. Mrs Roby curtsied, and then +remembered that in these days only housemaids ought to curtsey. + +'Anything to our Mr Roby?' said the Duchess, continuing her +smile,--'ours as was till yesterday at least.' This she said in +an absurd wail of mock sorrow. + +'My brother-in-law, your Grace,' said Mrs Roby delighted. + +'Oh indeed. And what does Mr Roby think about it, I wonder? But +I dare say you have found, Mrs Roby, that when a crisis comes,-- +a real crisis,--the ladies are told nothing. I have.' + +'I don't think, your Grace, that Mr Roby ever divulges political +secrets.' + +'Doesn't he indeed! What a dull man your brother-in-law must be +to live with,--that is as politician! Good-bye, Mrs Lopez. You +must come and see me and let me come to you again. I hope, you +know,--I hope the time may come when things may once more be +bright with you.' These last words she murmured almost in a +whisper, as she held the hand of the woman she wished to +befriend. Then she bowed to Mrs Roby, and left the room. + +'What was it she said to you?' asked Mrs Roby. + +'Nothing in particular, Aunt Harriet.' + +'She seems to be very friendly. What made her come?' + +'She wrote to me some time ago to say she would call.' + +'But why?' + +'I cannot tell you. I don't know. Don't ask me aunt, about +things that are passed. You cannot do it without wounding me.' + +'I don't want to wound you, Emily, but I really think it is +nonsense. She is a very nice woman;--thought I don't think she +ought to have said that Mr Roby is dull. Did Mr Wharton know +that she was coming?' + +'He knew that she said she would come,' replied Emily very +sternly, so that Mrs Roby found herself compelled to pass on to +some other subject. Mrs Roby had heard the wish expressed that +something 'once more might be bright', and when she got home told +her husband that she was sure that Emily Lopez was going to marry +Arthur Fletcher. 'And why the d--shouldn't she?' said Dick. 'And +that poor man destroying himself not more than twelve months ago! +I couldn't do it,' said Mrs Roby. 'I don't mean to give you the +chance,' said Dick. + +The Duchess when she went away suffered under a sense of failure. +She had intended to bring about some sort of crisis of female +tenderness in which she might have rushed into future hopes and +joyous anticipations, and with the freedom which will come from +ebullitions of feeling, have told the widow that the peculiar +circumstances of her position would not only justify her in +marrying this other man but absolutely called upon her to do it. +Unfortunately she had failed in her attempt to bring the +interview to a condition in which this would have been possible, +and while she was still making the attempt that odious aunt had +come in. 'I have been on my mission,' she said to Mrs Finn +afterwards. + +'Have you done any good?' + +'I don't think I've done any harm. Women, you know, are so very +different. There are some who would delight to have an +opportunity of opening their hearts to a Duchess, and who might +almost be talked into anything in an ecstasy.' + +'Hardly women of the best sort, Lady Glen.' + +'Not of the best sort. But then one doesn't come across the very +best, very often. But that kind of thing does have an effect, +and as I only wanted to do good, I wish she had been one of the +sort for the occasion.' + +'Was she--offended?' + +'Oh dear, no. You don't suppose I attacked her with a husband at +the first. Indeed, I didn't attack her at all. She didn't give +me an opportunity. Such a Niobe you never saw.' + +'Was she weeping?' + +'Not actual tears, but her gown, and her cap, and her strings +were weeping. Her voice wept, and her hair, and her nose, and +her mouth. Don't you know that look of subdued mourning? And yet +they say that that man is dying for love. How beautiful it is to +see that there is such a thing as constancy left in the world.' + +When she got home she found that her husband had just returned +from the old Duke's house, where he had met Mr Monk, Mr Gresham, +and Lord Cantrip. 'It's all settled at last,' he said +cheerfully. + + + +CHAPTER 78 + +THE NEW MINISTRY. + +When the ex-Prime Minister was left by himself after the departure +of his old friend his first feeling had been one of regret that he +had been weak enough to doubt at all. He had long since made up +his mind that after all that had passed he could not return to +office as a subordinate. That feeling as to the impropriety of +Caesar descending to serve under others which he had been foolish +enough to express, had been strong with him from the very +commencement of his Ministry. When first asked to take the place +which he had filled the reason strong against it had been the +conviction that it would probably exclude him from political work +during the latter half of his life. The man who has written Q.C. +after his name, must abandon his practice behind the bar. As he +then was, although he had already driven by the unhappy +circumstance of his peerage from the House of Commons which he +loved so well, there was still open to him many fields of +political work. But if he should once consent to stand on the +top rung of the ladder, he could not, he thought, take a lower +place without degradation. Till he should have been placed quite +at the top no shifting his place from this higher to that lower +office would injure him in his own estimation. The exigencies of +the service and not defeat would produce such changes as that. +But he could not go down from being Prime Minister and serve +under some other chief without acknowledging himself to have been +unfit for the place he had filled. Of all that he had quite +assured himself. And yet he allowed the old Duke to talk him +into a doubt! + +As he sat considering the question he acknowledged that there +might have been room for doubt, though in the present emergency +there certainly was none. He could imagine circumstances in +which the experience of an individual in some special branch of +his country's service might be of paramount importance to the +country as to make it incumbent on a man to sacrifice all +personal feeling. But it was not so with him. There was nothing +now which he could do, which another might not do as well. That +blessed task of introducing decimals into all commercial +relations of British life, which had once kept him aloft in the +air, floating as upon eagle's wings, had been denied him. If +ever done it must be done from the House of Commons, and the +people of the country had become deaf to the charms of the great +reform. Othello's occupation was, in truth, altogether gone, and +there was no reason by which he could justify to himself the step +down in the world which the old Duke had proposed to him. + +Early on the following morning he left Carlton Terrace on foot +and walked to Mr Monk's house, which was close to St James's +Street. Here at eleven o'clock he found his late Chancellor of +the Exchequer in that state of tedious agitation in which a man +is kept who does not yet know whether he is or is not to be one +of the actors in the play just about to be performed. The Duke +had never before been in Mr Monk's very humble abode, and now +caused some surprise. Mr Monk knew that he might probably be +sent for, but had not expected any of the ex-Prime Ministers of +the day would come to him. People had said that not improbably +he himself might be the man,--but he himself had indulged in no +such dream. Office had had no great charms for him;--and if +there was one man of the late Government who could lay it down +without personal regret, it was Mr Monk. 'I wish you to come +with me to the Duke's house in St James's Square,' said the late +Prime Minister. 'I think we shall find him at home.' + +'Certainly I will come at this moment.' There was not a word +spoken till the two men were in the street together. 'Of course +I am a little anxious,' said Mr Monk. 'Have you anything to tell +me before we get there?' + +'You of course must return to office, Mr Monk.' + +'With your Grace--I certainly will do so.' + +'And without, if there be the need. They who are wanted should +be forthcoming. But perhaps you will let me postpone what I have +to say till we see the Duke. What a charming morning;--is it +not? How sweet it would be down in the country.' March had gone +out like a lamb, and even in London in the early April days were +sweet--to be followed, no doubt, by the usual nipping inclemency +of May. 'I never can get over the feeling,' said the Duke, 'that +Parliament should sit for the winter months, instead of in +summer. If we met on the first of October, how glorious it would +be to get away for the early spring!' + +'Nothing less strong than grouse could break up Parliament,' said +Mr Monk; 'and then what would the pheasants and foxes say?' + +'It is giving almost too much for our amusements. I used to +think that I should like to move for a return to the number of +hunting and shooting gentlemen in both Houses. I believe it +would be a small minority.' + +'But their sons shoot, and their daughters hunt, and all their +hangers-on would be against it.' + +'Custom is against us, Mr Monk; that is it. Here we are. I hope +my friend will not be out, looking up young Lords of the +Treasury.' The Duke of St Bungay was not in search of cadets for +the Government, but he was at this very moment closeted with Mr +Gresham, and Mr Gresham's especial friend Lord Cantrip. He had +been at this work so long and so constantly that his very +servants had their ministerial-crisis manners and felt and +enjoyed the importance of the occasion. The two newcomers were +soon allowed to enter the august conclave, and the five great +senators greeted each other cordially. 'I hope we have not come +inopportunely,' said the Duke of Omnium. Mr Gresham assured him +almost with hilarity that nothing could be less inopportune;-- +and then the Duke was sure that Mr Gresham was to be the new +Prime Minister, whoever might join him or whoever might refuse to +do so. 'I told my friend here,' continued our Duke, laying his +hand upon the old man's arm, 'that I would give him his answer to +a proposition he made with me within twenty-four hours. But I +find that I can do so without that delay.' + +'I trust your Grace's answer may be favourable to us,' said Mr +Gresham,--who indeed did not doubt much that it would be so, +seeing that Mr Monk had accompanied him. + +'I do not think it would be unfavourable, though I cannot do as +my friend has proposed.' + +'Any practicable arrangement--' began Mr Gresham, with a frown, +however, on his brow. + +'The most practicable arrangement, I am sure, will be for you to +form your Government, without hampering yourself with a beaten +predecessor.' + +'Not beaten,' said Lord Cantrip. + +'Certainly not,' said the other Duke. + +'It is because of your success that I ask your services,' said Mr +Gresham. + +'I have none to give,--none that I cannot better bestow out of +office than in. I must ask you, gentlemen, to believe that I am +quite fixed. Coming here with my friend Mr Monk, I did not state +my purpose to him; but I begged him to accompany me, fearing lest +in my absence he should feel it incumbent on himself to sail in +the same boat as his late colleague.' + +'I should prefer to do so,' said Mr Monk. + +'Of course it is not for me to say what may be Mr Gresham's +ideas, but as my friend here suggested to me that, were I to +return to office, Mr Monk would do so also, I cannot be wrong in +surmising that his services are desired.' Mr Gresham bowed +assent. 'I shall therefore take the liberty of telling Mr Monk +that I think he is bound to give his aid in the present +emergency. Were I as happily placed as he is in being the +possessor of a seat in the House of Commons, I too should hope +that I might do something.' + +The four gentlemen, with eager pressure, begged the Duke to +reconsider his decision. He could take this office and do +nothing in it,--there being, as we know, offices the holders are +not called upon for work,--or he could take that place which +required him to labour like a galley slave. Would he be Privy +Seal? Would he undertake the India Board? But the Duke of +Omnium was at last resolute. Of this administration he would not +at any rate be a member. Whether Caesar might or might not at +some future time condescend to command a legion he could not do +so when the purple had been but that moment stripped from his +shoulders. He soon afterwards left the house with a repeated +request to Mr Monk that he should not follow his late chief's +example. + +'I regret it greatly,' said Mr Gresham when he was gone. + +'There is no man,' said Lord Cantrip, 'whom all who know him more +thoroughly respect.' + +'He has been worried,' said the old Duke, 'and must take time to +recover himself. He has but one fault,--he is a little too +conscientious, a little too scrupulous.' Mr Monk, of course, did +join them, making one or two stipulations as he did so. He +required that his friend Phineas Finn should be included in the +Government. Mr Gresham yielded, though poor Phineas was not +among the most favoured friends of that statesman. And so the +Government was formed, and the crisis was again over, and the +lists which the newspapers had been publishing for the last three +days were republished in an amended and nearly correct condition. +The triumph of the "People's Banner", as to the omission of the +Duke, was of course complete. The editor had no hesitation in +declaring that he, by his own sagacity and persistency, had made +certain the exclusion of that very unfit and very pressing +candidate for office. + +The list was filled up after the usual fashion. For a while the +dilettanti politicians of the clubs, and the strong-minded women +who take an interest in such things, and the writers in +newspapers, had almost doubted whether in the emergency which had +been supposed to be so peculiar, any Government could be formed. +There had been,--so they had said,--peculiarities so peculiar +that it might be that the much-dreaded deadlock had come at last. +A Coalition had been possible, and, though antagonistic to +British feelings generally, had carried on the Government. But +what might succeed the Coalition, nobody had known. The Radicals +and Liberals together would be too strong for Mr Daubney and Sir +Orlando. Mr Gresham had no longer a party of his own at his +back, and a second Coalition would be generally spurned. In this +way there had been much political excitement, and a fair amount +of consequent enjoyment. But after a few days the old men had +rattled into their old places,--or, generally, old men into new +places. And it was understood that Mr Gresham would again be +supported by a majority. + +As we grow old it is a matter of interest to watch how the +natural gaps are filled in the two ranks of parliamentary workmen +by whom the Government is carried on, either in the one interest +or the other. Of course there must be gaps. Some men become too +old,--though that is rarely the case. A Peel may perish, or +even a Palmerston must die. Some men, though, long supported by +interest, family connection, or the loyalty of colleagues, are +weighed down at last by their own incapacity and sink into +peerages. Now and again a man cannot bear the bondage of office, +and flies into rebellion and independence which would have been +more respectable had it not been the result of discontent. Then +the gaps must be filled. Whether on this side or on that, the +candidates are first looked for among the sons of Earls and +Dukes,--and not unnaturally, as the sons of Earls and Dukes may +be educated for such work almost from their infancy. A few rise +by the slow process of acknowledged fitness,--men who probably +at first have not thought of offices, but are chosen because they +are wanted, and those whose careers are grudged them, not by +their opponents or rivals, but by the Browns and Joneses of the +world who cannot bear to see a Smith or a Walker become something +so different to themselves. These men have a great weight to +carry, and cannot always shake off the burden of their origin and +live among begotten statesman as though they too had been born to +the manner. But perhaps the most wonderful ministerial +phenomenon,--though now almost too common to be called a +phenomenon,--is he who rises high in power and place by having +made himself thoroughly detested and also--alas for +parliamentary cowardice!--thoroughly feared. Given sufficient +audacity, a thick skin, and power to bear for a few years the +evil looks and cold shoulders of his comrades, and that is the +man most sure to make his way to some high seat. But the skin +must be thicker than that of any animal known, and the audacity +must be complete. To the man who will once shrink at the idea of +being looked at askance for treachery, or hated for his ill +condition, the career is impossible. But let him be obdurate, +and the bid will come. 'Not because I want him, do I ask for +him,' says some groaning chief of party,--to himself, and also +sufficiently aloud for others' ears,--'but because he stings me +and goads me, and will drive me to madness as a foe.' Then the +pachydermous one enters into the other's heaven, probably with +the resolution already formed of ousting that unhappy angel. And +so it was in the present instance. When Mr Gresham's completed +list was published to the world, the world was astonished to find +that Sir Timothy Beeswax was to be Mr Gresham's Attorney-General. +Sir Gregory Grogram became Lord Chancellor, and the Liberal chief +was content to borrow his senior law adviser from the +Conservative side of the late Coalition. It could not be that Mr +Gresham was very fond of Sir Timothy;--but Sir Timothy in the +late debates had shown himself to be a man of whom a minister +might well be afraid. + +Immediately on leaving the old Duke's house, the late Premier +went home to his wife, and finding that she was out, waited for +her return. Now that he had put his own decision beyond his +power he was anxious to let her know how it was to be with them. +'I think it is settled at last,' he said. + +'Are you coming back?' + +'Certainly not that. I believe I may say that Mr Gresham is +Prime Minister.' + +'Then he oughtn't to be,' said the Duchess crossly. + +'I am sorry that I must differ from you, my dear, because I think +he is the fittest man in England for the place.' + +'And you?' + +'I am a private gentleman who will now be able to devote more of +his time to his wife and children than has hitherto been possible +with him.' + +'How very nice! Do you mean to say that you like it?' + +'I am sure that I ought to like it. At the present moment I am +thinking more of what you would like.' + +'If you ask me, Plantagenet, you know I shall tell the truth.' + +'Then tell the truth.' + +'After drinking brandy so long I hardly think that 12s claret +will agree with my stomach. You ask for the truth, and there it +is,--very plainly.' + +'Plain enough!' + +'You asked, you know.' + +'And I am glad to have been told, even though that which you tell +me is not pleasant hearing. When a man has been drinking too +much brandy, it may be well that he should be put on a course of +12s claret.' + +'He won't like it; and then,--it's kill or cure.' + +'I don't think you've gone so far, Cora, that we need fear that +the remedy will be fatal.' + +'I am thinking of you rather than myself. I can make myself +generally disagreeable, and get excitement in that way. But what +will you do? It's all very well to talk of me and the children, +but you can't bring in a bill for reforming us. You can't make +us go by decimals. You can't increase our consumption by +lowering our taxation. I wish you had gone back to some Board.' +This she said looking up into his face with an anxiety which was +half real and half burlesque. + +'I had made up my mind to go back on to no Board,--for the +present. I was thinking that we could spend some months in Italy, +Cora.' + +'What; for the summer,--so as to be in Rome in July! After that +we could utilize winter by visiting Norway.' + +'We might take Norway first.' + +'And be eaten up by mosquitoes! I've got to be too old to like +travelling.' + +'What do you like, dear?' + +'Nothing;--except being the Prime Minister's wife; and upon my +word there were times when I didn't like that very much. I don't +know anything that I am fit for. I wonder whether Mr Gresham +would have me as a housekeeper? Only we should have to lend him +Gatherum, or there would be no room for the display of my +abilities. Is Mr Monk in?' + +'He keeps his office.' + +'And Mr Finn?' + +'I believe so; but in what place I don't know.' + +'And who else?' + +'Our old friend the Duke and Lord Cantrip, and Mr Wilson,--and +Sir Gregory will be Lord Chancellor.' + +'Just the old stupid Liberal team. Put their names in a bag and +shake them, and you can always get a ministry. Well, Plantagenet;-- +I'll go anywhere you like to take me. I'll have something for +the malaria at Rome, and something for the mosquitoes in Norway, +and will make the best of it. But I don't see why you should run +away in the middle of the Session. I would stay and pitch into +them, all round, like a true ex-minister and independent member +of Parliament.' Then as he was leaving her she fired a last +shot. 'I hope you made Sir Orlando and Sir Timothy peers before +you gave up.' + +It was not until two days after this that she read in one of the +daily papers that Sir Timothy Beeswax was to be Attorney-General, +and then her patience almost deserted her. To tell the truth, +her husband had not dared to mention the appointment when he +first saw her after hearing it. Her explosion fell on the head +of Phineas Finn, whom she found at home with his wife, deploring +the necessity which had fallen upon him of filling the faineant +office of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. 'Mr Finn,' she +said, 'I congratulate you on your colleagues.' + +'Your Grace is very good. I was at any rate introduced to many +of them under the Duke's auspices.' + +'And ought, I think, to have seen enough of them to be ashamed of +them. Such a regiment to march through Coventry with!' + +'I do not doubt that we shall be good enough men for any enemies +we may meet.' + +'It cannot be that you should conquer all the world with such a +hero among you as Sir Timothy Beeswax. The idea of Sir Timothy +coming back again! What do you feel about it?' + +'Very indifferent, Duchess. He won't interfere much with me, as +I have an Attorney-General of my own. You see I'm especially +safe.' + +'I do believe men would do anything,' said the Duchess, turning +to Mrs Finn. 'Of course I mean in the way of politics! But I +did not think it possible that the Duke of St Bungay should again +be in the same Government with Sir Timothy Beeswax.' + + + +CHAPTER 79 + +THE WHARTON WEDDING. + +It was at last settled that the Wharton marriage should take +place during the second week in June. There were various reasons +for the postponement. In the first place Mary Wharton, after a +few preliminary inquiries, found herself forced to declare that +Messrs Muddocks and Cramble could not send her forth equipped as +she ought to be equipped for such a husband in so short a time. +'Perhaps they do it quicker in London,' she said to Everett with +a soft regret, remembering the metropolitan glories of her +sister's wedding. And then Arthur Fletcher could be present +during the Whitsuntide holidays, and the presence of Arthur +Fletcher was essential. And it was not only his presence at the +altar that was needed;--Parliament was not so exacting but that +he might have given that;--but it was considered by the united +families to be highly desirable that he should on this occasion +remain some days in the country. Emily had promised to attend +the wedding, and would of course be at Wharton for at least a +week. As soon as Everett had succeeded in wresting a promise +from his sister, the tidings were conveyed to the Fletchers. +It was a great step gained. When in London she was her own +mistress; but surrounded as she would be down in Hertfordshire by +Fletchers and Whartons, she must be stubborn indeed if she should +still refuse to be taken back into the flock, and be made once +more happy by marrying the man whom she confessed that she loved +with her whole heart. The letter to Arthur Fletcher containing +the news was from his brother John, and was written in a very +businesslike fashion. 'We have put off Mary's marriage for a few +days, so that you and she should be down here together. If you +mean to go on with it, now is your time.' Arthur, in answer to +this, merely said he would spend the Whitsuntide holidays at +Longbarns. + +It is probable that Emily herself had some idea in her own mind +of what was being done to entrap her. Her brother's words to her +had been so strong, and the occasion of the marriage was itself +so sacred to her, that she had not been able to refuse his +request. But from the moment that she had made the promise, she +felt that she had greatly added to her own difficulties. That she +could yield to Arthur never occurred to her. She was certain of +her own persistency. Whatever might be the wishes of others, the +fitness of things required that Arthur Fletcher's wife should not +have been the widow of Ferdinand Lopez,--and required also that +the woman who had married Ferdinand Lopez should bear the results +of her own folly. Though since his death she had never spoken a +syllable against him,--if those passionate words be excepted +which Arthur himself had drawn from her,--still she had not +refrained from acknowledging the truth to herself. He had been a +man disgraced,--and she as his wife, having become his wife in +opposition to the wishes of all her friends, was disgraced also. +Let them do what they will with her, she would not soil Arthur +Fletcher's name with his infamy. Such was still her steadfast +resolution; but she knew that it would be, not endangered, but +increased in difficulty by this visit to Hertfordshire. + +And there were other troubles. 'Papa,' she said, 'I must get a +dress for Everett's marriage.' + +'Why not?' + +'I can't bear, after all that I have cost you, putting you to +such useless expense.' + +'It is not useless, and such expenses as that I can surely afford +without groaning. Do it handsomely and you will please me best.' + +Then she went forth and chose her dress,--a grey silk, light +enough not to throw quite a gloom on the brightness of the day, +and yet dark enough to declare that she was not as other women +are. The very act of purchasing this, almost blushing at her own +request as she sat at the counter in her widow's weeds, was a +pain to her. But she had no one whom she could employ. On such +an occasion she could not ask her aunt Harriet to act for her, as +her aunt was distrusted and disliked. And then there was the +fitting on of the dress,--very grievous to her, as it was the +first time since the heavy black mourning came home that she had +clothed herself in other garments. + +The day before that fixed for the marriage she and her father +went down to Hertfordshire together, the conversation on the way +being all in respect to Everett. Where was he to live? What was +he to do? What income would he require till he should inherit +the good things which destiny had in store for him? The old man +seemed to feel that Providence, having been so very good to his +son in killing that other heir, had put rather a heavy burden on +himself. 'He'll want a house of his own, of course,' he said, in +a somewhat lachrymose tone. + +'I suppose he'll spend a good deal of his time at Wharton.' + +'He won't be content to live in another man's house altogether, +my dear, and Sir Alured can allow him nothing. It means, of +course, that I must give him a thousand a year. It seems very +natural to him, I dare say, but he might have asked the question +before he took a wife to himself.' + +'You won't be angry with him, papa!' + +'It's no good being angry. No;--I'm not angry. Only it seems +that everybody is uncommonly well pleased without thinking who +has to pay for the piper.' + +On that evening, at Wharton, Emily still wore her mourning dress. +No one, indeed, dared to speak to her on the subject, and Mary +was even afraid lest she might appear in black on the following +day. We all know in what condition is a house on the eve of a +marriage,--how the bride feels that all the world is going to be +changed, and that therefore everything is for the moment +disjointed; and how the rest of the household, including the +servants, are led to share the feeling. Everett was of course +away. He was over at Longbarns with the Fletchers, and was to be +brought to Wharton Church on the following morning. Old Mrs +Fletcher was at Wharton Hall,--and the bishop, whose services +had been happily secured. He was formally introduced to Mrs +Lopez, the use of the name for the occasion being absolutely +necessary, and with all the smiling urbanity, which as a bishop +he was bound to possess, he was hardly able not to be funereal as +he looked at her and remembered her story. Before the evening +was over Mrs Fletcher did venture to give a hint. 'We are so +glad you have come, my dear.' + +'I could not stay away when Everett said he wished it.' + +'It would have been very wrong; yes, my dear,--wrong. It is +your duty, and the duty of us all, to subordinate our feelings to +those of others. Even sorrow may be selfish.' Poor Emily +listened, but could make no reply. 'It is sometimes harder for +us to be mindful of others in our grief than in our joy. You +should remember, dear, that there are some who will never be +light-hearted till they see you smile.' + +'Do not say that, Mrs Fletcher.' + +'It is quite true;--and right that you should think of it. It +will be particularly necessary that you should think of it to- +morrow. You will have to wear a light dress, and--' + +'I have come provided,' said the widow. + +'Try then to make you heart as light as your frock. You will be +doing it for Everett's sake, and for your father's, and for +Mary's sake--and Arthur's. You will be doing it for the sake of +all of us on a day that should be joyous.' She could not make +any promise in reply to this homily, but in her heart of hearts +she acknowledged that it was true, and declared to herself that +she would make the effort required of her. + +On the following morning the house was of course in confusion. +There was to be a breakfast after the service, and after the +breakfast the bride was to be taken away in a carriage and four +as far as Hereford on her route to Paris;--but before the great +breakfast there was of course a subsidiary breakfast,--or how +could a bishop, bride, or bridesmaids have sustained the +ceremony? At this meal Emily did not appear, having begged for a +cup of tea in her own room. The carriages to take the party to +the church, which was but the other side of the park, were +ordered at eleven, and at a quarter before eleven she appeared +for the first time in her grey silk dress, and without a widow's +cap. Everything was very plain, but the alteration was so great +that it was impossible not to look at her. Even her father had +not seen the change before. Not a word was said, though old Mrs +Fletcher's thanks were implied by the graciousness of her smile. +As there were four bridesmaids and four other ladies besides the +bride herself, in a few minutes she became obscured by the +brightness of the others,--and then they were all packed in +their carriages and taken to the church. The eyes which she most +dreaded did not meet hers till they were all standing round the +altar. It was only then that she saw Arthur Fletcher, who was +there as her brother's best man, and it was then that he took her +hand and held it for half a minute as though he never meant to +part with it, hidden behind the widespread glories of the +bridesmaids' finery. + +The marriage was sweet and solemn as a kind-hearted bishop could +make it, and all the ladies looked particularly well. The veil +from London--with the orange wreath, also metropolitan--was +perfect, and as for the dress, I doubt whether any woman would +have it known it to be provincial. Everett looked the rising +baronet, every inch of him, and the old barrister smiled and +seemed, at least, to be well pleased. Then came the breakfast, +and the speech-making, in which Arthur Fletcher shone +triumphantly. It was a very nice wedding, and Mary Wharton--as +she then and still was--felt herself for a moment to be a +heroine. But, through it all, there was present to the hearts of +most of them a feeling that much more was to be effected, if +possible, than this simple and cosy marriage, and that the fate +of Mary Wharton was hardly so important to them as that of Emily +Lopez. + +When the carriage and four was gone there came upon the household +the difficulty usual on such occasions of getting through the +rest of the day. The bridesmaids retired and repacked their +splendours so that they might come out fresh for other second- +rate needs, and with the bridesmaids went the widow. Arthur +Fletcher remained at Wharton with all the other Fletchers for the +night, and was prepared to renew his suit on that very day, if an +opportunity were given him, but Emily did not again show herself +till a few minutes before dinner, and then she came down with all +the appurtenances of mourning which she usually wore. The grey +silk had been put on for the marriage ceremony, and for that +only. 'You should have kept your dress at any rate for the day,' +said Mrs Fletcher. She replied that she had changed it for +Everett, and that as Everett was gone there was no further need +for to wear clothes unfitted for her position. Arthur would have +cared very little for the clothes could he have had his way with +the woman who wore them;--could he have had his way even so far +as to have found himself alone with her for half-an-hour. But no +such chance was his. She retreated from the party early, and did +not show herself on the following morning till after he had +started for Longbarns. + +All the Fletchers went back,--not, however, with any intention +on the part of Arthur to abandon his immediate attempt. The +distance between the houses was not so great but that he could +drive himself over at any time. 'I shall go now,' he said to Mr +Wharton, 'because I have promised John to fish with him to- +morrow, but I shall come over on Monday or Tuesday, and stay till +I go back to town. I hope she will at any rate let me speak to +her.' The father said he would do his best, but that that +obstinate resumption of her weeds on her brother's very wedding +day had nearly broken his heart. + +When the Fletchers were back at Longbarns, the two ladies were +very severe on her. 'It was downright obstinacy,' said the +squire's wife, 'and it almost makes me think that it would serve +her right to leave her as she is.' + +'It's pride,' said the old lady. 'She won't give way. I said +ever so much to her, but it's no use. I feel it the more because +we have gone so much out of the way to be good to her after she +made such a fool of herself. If it goes on much longer, I shall +never forgive her again.' + +'You'll have to forgive her, mother,' said her eldest son, 'let +her sins be what they may,--or else you will have to quarrel +with Arthur.' + +'I do think it's very hard,' said the old lady, taking herself +out of the room. And it was hard. The offence in the first +instance had been very great and the forgiveness very difficult. +But Mrs Fletcher had lived long enough to know that when sons are +thoroughly respectable a widowed mother has to do their bidding. + +Emily, through the whole wedding day, and the next day, and day +after day, remembered Mrs Fletcher's words. 'There are some who +will never be light-hearted again till they see you smile.' And +the old woman had named her dearest friends, and had ended by +naming Arthur Fletcher. She had then acknowledged to herself +that it was her duty to smile in order that others might smile +also. But how is one to smile with a heavy heart? Should one +smile and lie? And how long and to what good purpose can such +forced contentment last? She had marred her whole life. In +former days she had been proud of all her virgin glories,--proud +of her intellect, proud of her beauty, proud of that obeisance +which beauty, birth, and intellect combined, exact from all +comers. She had been ambitious as to her future life;--had +intended to be careful not to surrender herself to some empty +fool;--had thought herself well qualified to pick her own steps. +And this had come of it! They told her that she might still make +everything right, annul the past and begin the world again as +fresh as ever;--if she would only smile and study to forget! Do +it for the sake of others, they said, and then it will be done +for yourself also. But she could not conquer the past. The fire +and water of repentance, adequate as they may be for eternity, +cannot burn out or wash away the remorse of this life. They +scorch and choke,--and unless it be so there is no repentance. +So she told herself,--and yet it was her duty to be light- +hearted that others around her might not be made miserable by her +sorrow! If she could in truth be light-hearted, then would she +know herself to be unfeeling and worthless. + +On the third day after the marriage Arthur Fletcher came back to +Wharton with the declared intention of remaining there till the +end of the holiday. She could make no objection to such an +arrangement, nor could she hasten her own return to London. That +had been fixed before her departure, and was to made together +with her father. She felt that she was being attacked with +unfair weapons, and that undue advantage was taken of the +sacrifice which she had made for her brother's sake. And yet,-- +yet how good to her they all were! How wonderful it was that +after the thing she had done, after the disgrace she had brought +on herself and them, after the destruction of all that pride +which had once been hers, they should still wish to have her +among them! As for him,--of whom she was always thinking,--of +what nature must be his love, when he was willing to take to +himself as his wife such a thing as she had made of herself! +But, thinking of this, she would only tell herself that, as he +would not protect himself, she was bound to be his protector. +Yes;--she would protect him, though she could dream of a world +of joy that might be hers if she could do as he would ask her. + +He caught her at last, and forced her to come out with him into +the grounds. He could tell his tale better as he walked by her +side than sitting restlessly on a chair and moving awkwardly +about the room, as on such an occasion he would be sure to do. +Within four walls she would have some advantage over him. She +could sit still and be dignified in her stillness. But in the +open air, when they would both be on their legs, she might not be +so powerful with him, and he perhaps might be stronger with her. +She could not refuse him when he asked her to walk with him. And +why should she refuse him? Of course he must be allowed to utter +his prayer,--and then she must be allowed to make her answer. +'I think the marriage went off very well,' he said. + +'Very well. Everett ought to be a happy man.' + +'No doubt he will be,--when he settles down to something. +Everything will come right for him. With some people things seem +to go smooth, don't they? They have not hitherto gone smoothly +with you and me, Emily.' + +'You are prosperous. You have everything before you that a man +can wish, if only you will allow yourself to think so. Your +profession is successful, and you are in Parliament, and everyone +likes you.' + +'It is all nothing.' + +'That is the general discontent of the world.' + +'It is all nothing--unless I have you too. Remember that I had +said so long before I was successful, when I did not dream of +Parliament; before we had heard the name of the man who came +between us and my happiness. I think I am entitled to be +believed when I say so. I think I know my own mind. There are +many men who would have been changed by the episode of such a +marriage.' + +'You ought to be changed by it,--and by its result.' + +'It had no such effect. Here I am, after it all, telling you as +I used to tell you before. I have to look to you for my +happiness.' + +'You should be ashamed to confess it, Arthur.' + +'Never;--not to you, nor to all the world. I know what it has +been. I know you are not now as you were then. You have been +his wife, and are now his widow.' + +'That should be enough.' + +'But, such as you are, my happiness is in your hands. If it were +not so, do you think that all my family as well as yours would +join in wishing that you may become my wife? There is nothing to +conceal. When you married this man, you know what my mother +thought of it, and what John thought of it, and his wife. They +had wanted you to be my wife; and they want it now--because they +are anxious for my happiness. And your father wishes it, and +your brother wishes it,--because they trust me, and I think that +I should be a good husband to you.' + +'Good!' she exclaimed, hardly knowing what she meant by repeating +the word. + +'After that you have no right to set yourself to judge what may +be best for my happiness. They who know how to judge are all +united. Whatever you may have been, they believe that it will be +good for me that you should now be my wife. After that you must +talk about me no longer, unless you will talk of my wishes.' + +'Do you think that I am not anxious for your happiness?' + +'I do not know;--but I shall find out in time. That is what I +have to say about myself. And as to you, is it not much the +same? I know you love me. Whatever the feeling was that +overcame you as to that other man,--it has gone. I cannot now +stop to be tender and soft in my words. The thing to be said is +too serious to me. And every friend you have wants you to marry +the man you love, and to put an end to the desolation which you +have brought on yourself. There is not one among us, Fletchers +and Whartons, whose comfort does not more or less depend on your +sacrificing the luxury of your own woe.' + +'Luxury!' + +'Yes; luxury. No man ever had a right to say more positively to +a woman that it is her duty to marry him, than I have to you. +And I do say it. I say it on behalf of all of us, that it is +your duty. I won't talk of my own love now, because you know it. +But I say that it is your duty to give up drowning us all in +tears, burying us in desolation. You are one of us, and should +do as all of us wish you. If, indeed, you could not love me it +would be different. There! I have said what I have got to say. +You are crying, and I will not take your answer now. I will come +again to-morrow, and then you shall answer me. But, remember when +you do so that the happiness of many people depends on what you +say.' Then he left her very suddenly and hurried back to the +house by himself. + +He had been very rough with her,--but not once attempted to +touch her hand or even her arm, had spoken no soft word to her, +speaking of his own love as a thing too certain to need further +words; and he had declared himself to be so assured of her love +that there was no favour for him now to ask, nothing for which he +was bound to pray as a lover. All that was past. He had simply +declared it to be her duty to marry him, and he had told her so +with much sternness. He had walked fast, compelling her to +accompany him, had frowned at her, and had more than once stamped +his foot upon the ground. During the whole interview she had +been so near to weeping that she could hardly speak. Once or +twice she had almost thought him to be cruel;--but he had forced +her to acknowledge to herself that all that he had said was true +and unanswerable. Had he pressed her for an answer at that +moment she would have known in what words to couch a refusal. +And yet as she made her way alone back to the house she assured +herself that she would have refused. + +He had given her four-and-twenty hours, and at the end of that +time she would be bound to give him an answer,--and answer which +must then be final. And as she said this to herself she found +that she was admitting a doubt. She hardly knew how not to +doubt, knowing as she did, that all whom she loved were on one +side, while on the other was nothing but the stubbornness of her +own convictions. But still the conviction was left to her. Over +and over again she declared to herself that it was not fit, +meaning thereby to assure herself that a higher duty even than +that which she owed to her friends, demanded from her that she +should be true to her convictions. She met him that day at +dinner, but he hardly spoke to her. They sat together in the +same room during the evening, but she hardly once heard his +voice. It seemed to her that he avoided even looking at her. +When they separated for the night, he parted from her almost as +though they had been strangers. Surely he was angry with her +because she was stubborn,--thought evil of her because she would +not do as others wished her! She lay awake during the long night +thinking of it all. If it might be so! Oh;--if it might be so! +If it might be done without utter ruin to her own self-respect as +a woman! + +In the morning she was down early,--not having anything to say, +with no clear purpose as yet before her;--but still with a +feeling that perhaps that morning might alter all things for her. +He was the latest of the party, not coming in for prayers as he +did all the others, but taking his seat when the others had half +finished their breakfast. As he sat down he gave a general half- +uttered greeting to them all, but spoke no special word to any of +them. It chanced that his seat was next to hers, but to her he +did not address himself at all. Then the meal was over, and the +chairs were withdrawn, and the party grouped itself about with +vague, uncertain movements, as men and women do before they leave +the breakfast table for the work of the day. She meditated her +escape, but felt that she could not leave the room before Lady +Wharton or Mrs Fletcher;--who had remained at Wharton to keep +her mother company for a while. At last they went;--but then, +just as she was escaping, he put his hand upon her and reminded +her of her appointment. 'I shall be in the hall in a quarter of +an hour,' he said. 'Will you meet me there?' Then she bowed her +head to him and passed on. + +She was there at the time named, and found him standing by the +hall door, waiting for her. His hat was already on his head and +his back was almost turned to her. He opened the door, and, +allowing her to pass out first, led the way to the shrubbery. He +did not speak to her till he had closed behind her the little +iron gate which separated the walk from the garden, and then he +turned upon her with one word. 'Well?' he said. She was silent +for a moment, and then he repeated his eager question: 'Well;-- +well?' + +'I should disgrace you,' she said, not firmly, as before, but +whispering the words. + +He waited for no other assent. The form of the words told him +that he had won the day. In a moment his arms were round her, +and her veil was off, and his lips were pressed to hers;--and +when she could see his countenance the whole form of his face was +altered to her. It was bright as it used to be bright in the old +days, and he was smiling on her as he used to smile. 'My own,' +he said;--'my wife--my own!' And she had no longer the power +to deny him. 'Not yet, Arthur; not yet,' was all that she could +say. + + + +CHAPTER 80 + +THE LAST MEETING AT MATCHING. + +The ex-Prime Minister did not carry out his purpose of leaving +London in the middle of the season and travelling either to Italy +or Norway. He was away from London at Whitsuntide longer perhaps +than he might have been if still in office, and during this +period regarded himself as a man from whose hands all work had +been taken--as one who had been found unfit to carry any longer +a burden serviceably; but before June was over he and the Duchess +were back in London, and gradually he allowed himself to open his +mouth on this or that subject in the House of Lords,--not +pitching into everybody all round, as his wife had recommended,-- +but expressing an opinion now and again, generally in support of +his friends, with the dignity which should belong to a retired +Prime Minister. The Duchess too recovered much of her good +temper,--as far at least as the outward show went. One or two +who knew her, especially Mrs Finn, were aware that her hatred and +her ideas of revenge were not laid aside; but she went on from +day to day anathematizing her special enemies, and abstained from +reproaching her husband for his pusillanimity. Then came the +question as to the autumn. 'Let's have everybody down at +Gatherum, just as we had before,' said the Duchess. + +The proposition almost took away the Duke's breath. 'Why do you +want a crowd, like that?' + +'Just to show them that we are not beaten because we are turned +out.' + +'But inasmuch as we were turned out, we were beaten. And what +has a gathering of people at my house to do with a political +manoeuvre? Do you especially want to go to Gatherum?' + +'I hate the place. You know I do.' + +'Then why should you propose to go there?' He hardly yet knew +his wife well enough to understand that the suggestion had been a +joke. 'If you don't wish to go abroad--' + +'I hate going abroad.' + +'Then we'll remain at Matching. You don't hate Matching.' + +'Ah dear! There are memories there too. But you like it.' + +'My books are there.' + +'Blue-books,' said the Duchess. + +'And there is plenty of room if you wish to have friends.' + +'I suppose we must have somebody. You can't live without your +mentor.' + +'You can ask whom you please,' he said almost fretfully. + +'Lady Rosina, of course,' suggested the Duchess. Then he turned +to the papers before him, and wouldn't say another word. The +matter ended in a party much as usual being collected at Matching +about the middle of October,--Telemachus having spent the early +part of the autumn with Mentor at Long Royston. There might +perhaps be a dozen guests in the house and among them were +Phineas Finn and his wife. And Mr Grey was there, having come +back from his eastern mission,--whose unfortunate abandonment of +his seat at Silverbridge had cause so many troubles,--and Mrs +Grey, who in days now long passed had been almost as necessary to +Lady Glencora, as was now her later friend Mrs Finn,--and the +Cantrips, and for a short time the St Bungays. But Lady Rosina +De Courcy on this occasion was not present. There were few there +whom my patient readers have not seen at Matching before; but +among those few was Arthur Fletcher. + +'So it is to be,' said the Duchess to the member for Silverbridge +one morning. She had by this time become intimate with 'her +member', as she would sometimes call him in a joke, and had +concerned herself much as to his matrimonial prospects. + +'Yes, Duchess, it is to be,--unless some unforeseen circumstance +should arise.' + +'What circumstance?' + +'Ladies and gentlemen do sometimes change their minds;--but in +this case I do not think it likely.' + +'And why ain't you being married now, Mr Fletcher?' + +'We have agreed to postpone it till next year;--so that we may +be quite sure of our own minds.' + +'I know you are laughing at me; but nevertheless I am very glad +that it is settled. Pray tell her from me that I shall again +call soon as ever she is Mrs Fletcher, though I don't think she +repaid either of the last two visits I made her.' + +'You must make excuses for her, Duchess.' + +'Of course. I know. After all she is a most fortunate woman. +And as for you,--I regard you as a hero among lovers.' + +'I'm getting used to it,' she said one day to Mrs Finn. + +'Of course you'll get used to it. We get used to anything that +chance sends us in a marvellously short time.' + +'What I mean is that I can go to bed and sleep, and get up and +eat my meals without missing the sound of trumpets so much as I +did at first. I remember hearing of people who lived in a mill, +and couldn't sleep when the mill stopped. It was like that with +me when our mill stopped at first. I had got myself so used to +the excitement of it, that I could hardly live without it.' + +'You might have all the excitement still, if you pleased. You +need not be dead to politics because your husband is not Prime +Minister.' + +'No; never again,--unless he should come back. If anyone had +told me ten years ago that I should have taken an interest in +this or that man being in Government, I should have laughed him +to scorn. It did not seem possible to me then that I should care +what became of men like Sir Timothy Beeswax and Mr Roby. But I +did get to be anxious about it when Plantagenet was shifted from +one office to another.' + +'Of course you did. Do you think I am not anxious about +Phineas?' + +'But when he became Prime Minister, I gave myself up to it +altogether. I shall never forget what I felt when he came to me +and told me that perhaps it might be so;--but told me also that +he would escape from it if it were possible. I was the Lady +Macbeth of the occasion all over;--whereas he was so scrupulous, +so burdened with conscience! As for me, I would have taken it by +any means. Then it was the old Duke played the part of the three +witches to a nicety. Well, there hasn't been any absolute +murder, and I haven't quite gone mad.' + +'Nor need you be afraid though all the woods of Gatherum should +come to Matching.' + +'God forbid! I will never see anything of Gatherum again. What +annoys me most is, and always was, that he wouldn't understand +what I felt about it;--how proud I was that he should be Prime +Minister, how anxious that he should be great and noble in his +office;--how I worked for him, and not at all for any pleasure +of my own.' + +'I think he did feel it.' + +'No;--not as I did. At last he liked the power,--or rather +feared the disgrace of losing it. But he had no idea of the +personal grandeur of the place. He never understood that to be +Prime Minister in England is as much as to be an Emperor in +France, and much more than being President of America. Oh, how I +did labour for him,--and how did he scold me for it in those +quiet little stinging words of his! I was vulgar!' + +'Is that a quiet word?' + +'Yes;--as he used it;--and indiscreet, and ignorant, and +stupid. I bore it all, though sometimes I was dying with +vexation. Now it's all over, and here we are as humdrum as +anyone else. And the Beeswaxes, and the Robys, and the Droughts, +and the Pountneys, and the Lopezes, have all passed over the +scene. Do you remember that Pountney affair, and how he turned +the poor man out of the house?' + +'It served him right.' + +'It would have served them all right to be turned out;--only +they were there for a purpose. I did like it in a way, and it +makes me sad to think that the feeling can never come back again. +Even if they should have him back again, it would be a very lame +affair to me then. I can never again rouse myself to the effort +of preparing food and lodging for half the Parliament and their +wives. I shall never again think that I can help to rule England +by coaxing unpleasant men. It is done and gone, and can never +come back again.' + +Not long after this the Duke took Mr Monk, who had come down to +Matching for a few days, out to the very spot on which he had sat +when he indulged himself in lecturing Phineas Finn on +Conservatism and Liberalism generally, and then asked the +Chancellor of the Exchequer what he thought of the present state +of public affairs. He himself had supported Mr Gresham's +government, and did not belong to it because he could not at +present reconcile himself to filling any office. Mr Monk did not +scruple to say that in his opinion the present legitimate +division of parties was preferable to the Coalition which had +existed for three years. 'In such an arrangement,' said Mr Monk, +'there must always be a certain amount of distrust, and such a +feeling is fatal to any great work.' + +'I think I distrusted no one till separation came,--and when it +did come it was not caused by me.' + +'I am not blaming anyone now,' said the other; 'but men who have +been brought up with opinions altogether different, even with +different instincts as to politics, who from their mother's milk +have been nourished on codes of thought altogether opposed to +each other, cannot work together with confidence even though they +may desire the same thing. The very ideas which are sweet as +honey to the one are bitter as gall to the other.' + +'You think, then, that we made a great mistake?' + +'I will not say that,' said Mr Monk. 'There was a difficulty at +the time, and that difficulty was overcome. The Government was +carried on, and was on the whole respected. History will give +you credit for patriotism, patience, and courage. No man could +have done it better than you did;--probably no other man of the +day so well.' + +'But it was not a great part to play?' The Duke in his +nervousness, as he said this, could not avoid the use of that +questioning tone which requires an answer. + +'Great enough to satisfy the heart of a man who has fortified +himself against the evil of ambition. After all, what is it that +the Prime Minister of such a country as this should chiefly +regard? Is it not the prosperity of the country? Is it not often +that we want great measures, or new arrangements that shall be +vital to the country. Politicians now look for grievances, not +because grievances are heavy, but trusting that the honour of +abolishing them may be great. It is the old story of the needy +knife-grinder who, if left to himself, would have no grievance of +which to complain.' + +'But there are grievances,' said the Duke. 'Look at monetary +denominations. Look at our weights and measures.' + +'Well; yes. I will not say that everything has as yet been +reduced to divine order. But when we took office three years ago +we certainly did not intend to settle those difficulties.' + +'No, indeed,' said the Duke, sadly. + +'But we did do all that we were meant to do. For my own part, +there is only one thing that I regret, and one only which you +should regret also till you have resolved to remedy it.' + +'What thing is that?' + +'Your retirement from official life. If the country is to lose +your services for the long course of years during which you will +probably sit in Parliament, then I shall think that the country +has lost more than it gained by the Coalition.' + +The Duke sat for a while silent, looking at the view, and, before +answering Mr Monk,--while arranging his answer,--once or twice +in a half-absent way, called his companion's attention to the +scene before him. But during this time he was going through an +act of painful repentance. He was condemning himself for a word +or two that had been ill-spoken by himself, and which, since the +moment of its utterance, he had never ceased to remember with shame. +He told himself now, after his own secret fashion, that he must +do penance for these words by the humiliation of a direct +contradiction of them. He must declare that Caesar would at some +future time be prepared to serve under Pompey. Then he made his +answer. 'Mr Monk,' he said, 'I should be false if I were to deny +that it pleases me to hear you say so. I have thought much of +all that for the last two or three months. You may probably have +seen that I am not a man endowed with that fortitude which +enables many to bear vexations with an easy spirit. I am given +to fretting, and I am inclined to think that a popular minister +in a free country should be so constituted as to be free from +that infirmity. I shall certainly never desire to be at the head +of Government again. For a few years I would prefer to remain +out of office. But I will endeavour to look forward to a time +when I may again perhaps be of some humble use.' + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext of The Prime Minister by Anthony Trollope + + diff --git a/old/prmns10.zip b/old/prmns10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8d84fdd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/prmns10.zip diff --git a/old/prmns11.txt b/old/prmns11.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1fdff74 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/prmns11.txt @@ -0,0 +1,31923 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext of The Prime Minister by Anthony Trollope + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This etext was prepared by KENNETH DAVID COOPER <cooper.kd@bigpond.com> + + + + + +THE PRIME MINISTER + +by Anthony Trollope + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + +VOLUME I + +1 Ferdinand Lopez +2 Everett Wharton +3 Mr Abel Wharton QC +4 Mrs Roby +5 'No one knows anything about him.' +6 An Old Friend Goes to Windsor +7 Another Old Friend +8 The Beginning of a New Career +9 Mrs Dicks' Dinner Party - No 1 +10 Mrs Dicks' Dinner Party - No 2 +11 Carlton Terrace +12 The Gathering of Clouds +13 Mr Wharton Complains +14 A Lover's Perseverance +15 Arthur Fletcher +16 Never Run Away! +17 Good-bye +18 The Duke of Omnium Thinks of Himself +19 Vulgarity +20 Sir Orlando's Policy + +VOLUME II + +21 The Duchess's New Swan +22 St James's Park +23 Surrender +24 The Marriage +25 The Beginning of the Honeymoon +26 The End of the Honeymoon +27 The Duke's Misery +28 The Duchess is Much Troubled +29 The Two Candidates for Silverbridge +30 'Yes;--a lie!' +31 'Yes;--with a horsewhip in my hand' +32 'What business is it of yours?' +33 Showing that a Man Should not Howl +34 The Silverbridge Election +35 Lopez Back in London +36 The Jolly Blackbird +37 The Horns +38 Sir Orlando Retires +39 'Get round him' +40 'Come and try it' + +VOLUME III + +41 The Value of a Thick Skin +42 Retribution +43 Kauri Gum +44 Mr Wharton Thinks of a New Will +45 Mrs Sexty Parker +46 'He wants to get rich too quick' +47 As for Love! +48 'Has he ill-treated you?' +49 Where is Guatemala? +50 Mr Slide's Revenge +51 Coddling the Prime Minister +52 'I can sleep here tonight, I suppose?' +53 Mr Hartlepool +54 Lizzie +55 Mrs Parker's Sorrows +56 What the Duchess Thought of Her Husband +57 The Explanation +58 'Quite settled' +59 The First and the Last +60 The Tenway Junction + +VOLUME III + +61 The Widow and her Friends +62 Phineas Finn Has a Book to Read +63 The Duchess and her Friend +64 The New K.G. +65 There Must Be Time +66 The End of the Session +67 Mrs Lopez Prepares to Move +68 The Prime Minister's Political Creed +69 Mrs Parker's Fate +70 At Wharton +71 The Ladies at Longbarns Doubt +72 'He thinks that our days are numbered' +73 Only the Duke of Omnium +74 'I am disgraced and shamed' +75 The Great Wharton Alliance +76 Who Will it Be? +77 The Duchess in Manchester Square +78 The New Ministry +79 The Wharton Wedding +80 The Last Meeting at Matching + + + + +The Prime Minister + + + + + +VOLUME I + + + +CHAPTER 1 + +FERDINAND LOPEZ. + +It is a certainty of service to a man to know who were his +grandfathers and who were his grandmothers if he entertain an +ambition to move in the upper circles of society, and also of +service to be able to speak of them as of persons who were +themselves somebodies in their time. No doubt we all entertain +great respect for those who by their own energies have raised +themselves in the world; and when we hear that the son of a +washerwoman has become Lord Chancellor or Archbishop of +Canterbury we do, theoretically and abstractedly, feel a higher +reverence for such self-made magnate than for one who has been as +it were born into forensic or ecclesiastical purple. But not the +less must the offspring of the washerwoman have had very much +trouble on the subject of his birth, unless he has been, when +young as well as when old, a very great man indeed. After the +goal has been absolutely reached, and the honour and the titles +and the wealth actually won, a man may talk with some humour, +even with some affection, of the maternal tub;--but while the +struggle is going on, with the conviction strong upon the +struggler that he cannot be altogether successful unless he be +esteemed a gentleman, not to be ashamed, not to conceal the old +family circumstances, not at any rate to be silent, is difficult. +And the difficulty is certainly not less if fortunate +circumstances rather than hard work and intrinsic merit have +raised above his natural place an aspirant to high social +position. Can it be expected that such a one when dining with a +duchess shall speak of his father's small shop, or bring into the +light of day his grandfather's cobbler's awl? And yet it is so +difficult to be altogether silent! It may not be necessary for +any of us to be always talking of our own parentage. We may be +generally reticent as to our uncles and aunts, and may drop even +our brothers and sisters in our ordinary conversation. But if a +man never mentions his belongings among those with whom he lives, +he becomes mysterious, and almost open to suspicion. It begins +to be known that nobody knows anything of such a man, and even +friends become afraid. It is certainly convenient to be able to +allude, if it be but once in a year, to some blood relation. + +Ferdinand Lopez, who in other respects had much in his +circumstances on which to congratulate himself, suffered trouble +in his mind respecting his ancestors such as I have endeavoured +to describe. He did not know very much himself, but what little +he did know he kept altogether to himself. He had no father or +mother, no uncle, aunt, brother or sister, no cousin even whom he +could mention in a cursory way to his dearest friend. He +suffered no doubt;--but with Spartan consistency he so hid his +trouble from the world that no one knew that he suffered. Those +with whom he lived, and who speculated often and wondered much as +to who he was never dreamed that the silent man's reticence was a +burden to himself. At no special conjuncture of his life, at no +period which could be marked with the finger of the observer, did +he glaringly abstain from any statement which at the moment might +be natural. He never hesitated, blushed, or palpably laboured at +concealment; but the fact remained that though a great many men +and not a few women knew Ferdinand Lopez very well, none of them +knew whence he had come, or what was his family. + +He was a man, however, naturally reticent, who never alluded to +his own affairs unless in pursuit of some object the way to which +was clear before his eyes. Silence therefore on a matter which +is common in the mouths of most men was less difficult to him +than to another, and the result less embarrassing. Dear old +Jones, who tells his friends at the club of every pound that he +loses or wins at the races, who boasts of Mary's favours and +mourns over Lucy's coldness almost in public, who issues +bulletins on the state of his purse, his stomach, his stable, and +his debts, could not with any amount of care keep from us the +fact that his father was an attorney's clerk, and made his first +money by discounting small bills. Everybody knows it, and Jones, +who like popularity, grieves at the unfortunate publicity. But +Jones is relieved from a burden which would have broken his poor +shoulders, and which even Ferdinand Lopez, who is a strong man, +often finds it hard to bear without wincing. + +It was admitted on all sides that Ferdinand Lopez was a +'gentleman'. Johnson says that any other derivation of this +difficult word than that which causes it to signify 'a man of +ancestry' is whimsical. There are many who, in defining the term +for their own use, still adhere to Johnson's dictum;--but they +adhere to it with certain unexpressed allowances for possible +exceptions. The chances are very much in favour of the well-born +man, but exceptions may exist. It was not generally believed +that Ferdinand Lopez was well born;--but he was a gentleman. +And this most precious rank was acceded to him although he was +employed,--or at least had been employed,--on business which +does not of itself give such a warrant of position as is supposed +to be afforded by the bar and the church, by the military +services and by physic. He had been on the Stock Exchange, and +still in some manner, not clearly understood by his friends, did +business in the City. + +At the time with which we are now concerned Ferdinand Lopez was +thirty-three years old, and as he had begun life early he had +been long before the world. It was known of him that he had been +at a good English private school, and it was reported, on the +solitary evidence of one of who had been there as his +schoolfellow, that a rumour was current in the school that his +school bills were paid by an old gentleman who was not related to +him. Thence, at the age of seventeen, he had been sent to a +German university, and at the age of twenty-one had appeared in +London, in a stockbroker's office, where he was soon known as an +accomplished linguist, and as a very clever fellow,--precocious, +not given to many pleasures, apt for work, but considered hardly +trustworthy by employers, not as being dishonest, but as having a +taste for being a master rather than a servant. Indeed his +period of servitude was very short. It was not in his nature to +be active on behalf of others. He was soon active for himself, +and at one time it was supposed that he was making a fortune. +Then it was known that he had left his regular business, and it +was supposed that he had lost all that he had ever made or had +ever possessed. But nobody, not even his own bankers, or his own +lawyer,--not even the old woman who looked after his linen,-- +ever really knew the state of his affairs. + +He was certainly a handsome man,--his beauty being of a sort +which men are apt to deny and women to admit lavishly. He was +nearly six feet tall, very dark and very thin, with regular well- +cut features, indicating little to the physiognomist unless it be +the great gift of self-possession. His hair was cut short, and +he wore no beard beyond an absolutely black moustache. His teeth +were perfect, in form and in whiteness,--a characteristic which +though it may be a valued item in a general catalogue of personal +attraction, does not generally recommend a man to the unconscious +judgment of his acquaintance. But about the mouth and chin of +this man there was a something of a softness, perhaps in the play +of his lips, perhaps in the dimple, which in some degree lessened +the feeling of hardness which was produced by the square brow and +bold, unflinching, combative eyes. They who knew him and like +him were reconciled by the lower face. The greater number who +knew him and did not like him, felt and resented,--even though +in nine cases out of ten they might, express no resentment even +to themselves,--the pugnacity of his steady glance. + +For he was essentially one of those men who are always, in the +inner workings of their minds, defending themselves and attacking +others. He could not give a penny to a woman at a crossing +without a look which argued at full length her injustice in +making her demand, and his freedom from all liability let him +walk the crossing as often as he might. He could not seat +himself in a railway carriage without a lesson to his opposite +neighbour that in all the mutual affairs of travelling, +arrangement of feet, disposition of bags, and opening of windows, +it would be that neighbour's duty to submit and his to exact. It +was, however, for the spirit rather than for the thing itself +that he combatted. The woman with the broom got her penny. The +opposite gentleman when once by a glance he had expressed +submission was allowed his own way with the legs and with the +window. I would not say that Ferdinand Lopez was prone to do +ill-natured things; but he was imperious, and he had learned to +carry his empire in his eye. + +The reader must submit to be told one or two further and still +smaller details respecting the man, and then the man shall be +allowed to make his own way. No one of those around him knew how +much care he took to dress himself well, or how careful he was +that no one should know it. His very tailor regarded him as +being simply extravagant in the number of his coats and trousers, +and his friends looked upon him as one of those fortunate beings +to whose nature belongs a facility of being well dressed, or +almost an impossibility of being ill dressed. We all know the +man,--a little man generally, who moves seldom and softly,--who +looks always as though he had just been sent home in a bandbox. +Ferdinand Lopez was not a little man, and moved freely enough; +but never, at any moment,--going into the city or coming out of +it, on horseback or on foot, at home over his book or after the +mazes of the dance,--was he dressed otherwise than with perfect +care. Money and time did it, but folk thought that it grew with +him, as did his hair and his nails. And he always rode a horse +which charmed good judges of what a park nag should be;--not a +prancing, restless, giggling, sideway-going, useless garran, but +an animal well made, well bitted, with perfect paces, on whom a +rider if it pleased him could be as quiet as a statue in a +monument. It often did please Ferdinand Lopez to be quiet on +horseback; and yet he did not look like a statue, for it was +acknowledged through all London that he was a good horseman. He +lived luxuriously too,--though whether at his ease or not nobody +knew,--for he kept a brougham of his own, and during the hunting +season, he had two horses down at Leighton. There had once been +a belief abroad that he was ruined, but they who interest +themselves in such matters had found out,--or at any rate +believed that they had found out,--that he paid his tailor +regularly: and now there prevailed an opinion that Ferdinand +Lopez was a monied man. + +It was known to some few that he occupied rooms in a flat at +Westminster,--but to very few exactly where the rooms were +situate. Among all his friends no one was known to have entered +them. In a moderate way he was given to hospitality,--that is +to infrequent but when the occasion came, to graceful +hospitality. Some club, however, or tavern perhaps, in the +summer, some river bank would be chosen as the scene of these +festivities. To a few,--if, as suggested, amidst summer flowers +on the water's edge to men and women mixed,--he would be a +courtly and efficient host; for he had the rare gift of doing +such things well. + +Hunting was over, and the east wind was still blowing, and a +great portion of the London world was out of town taking its +Easter holiday, when on an unpleasant morning, Ferdinand Lopez +travelled into the city by the Metropolitan railway from +Westminster Bridge. It was his custom to go thither when he did +go,--not daily like a man of business, but as chance might +require, like a capitalist or a man of pleasure,--in his own +brougham. But on this occasion he walked down the river side, +and then walked from the Mansion House into a dingy little court +called Little Tankard Yard, near the Bank of England, and going +through a narrow dark long passage got into a little office at +the back of a building, in which there sat at a desk a greasy +gentleman with a new hat on one side of his head, who might +perhaps be about forty years old. The place was very dark, and +the man was turning over the leaves of a ledger. A stranger to +city ways might probably have said that he was idle, but he was +no doubt filling his mind with that erudition which would enable +him to earn his bread. On the other side of the desk there was a +little boy copying letters. These were Mr Sextus Parker,-- +commonly called Sexty Parker,--his clerk. Mr Parker was a +gentleman very well known and at the present moment favourably +esteemed on the Stock Exchange. 'What, Lopez!' said he. +'Uncommon glad to see you. What can I do for you?' + +'Just come inside,--will you?' said Lopez. Now within Mr +Parker's very small office there was a smaller office, in which +there were a safe, a small rickety Pembroke table, two chairs, +and an old washing-stand with a tumbled towel. Lopez led the way +into this sanctum as though he knew the place well, and Sexty +Parker followed him. + +'Beastly day, isn't it?' said Sexty. + +'Yes,--a nasty east wind.' + +'Cutting one in two, with a hot sun at the same time. One ought +to hybernate at this time of the year.' + +'Then why don't you hybernate?' said Lopez. + +'Business is too good. That's about it. A man has to stick to +it when it does come. Everybody can't do like you;--give up +regular work, and make a better thing of an hour now and an hour +then, just as it pleases you. I shouldn't dare go in for that +kind of thing. + +'I don't suppose you or any one else know what I go in for,' said +Lopez, with a look that indicated offence. + +'Nor don't care,' said Sexty;--'only hope it's something good, +for your sake.' Sexty Parker had known Mr Lopez well, now for +some years, and being an overbearing man himself,--somewhat even +of a bully if the truth be spoken,--and by no means apt to give +way unless hard pressed, had often tried his 'hand' on his +friend, as he himself would have said. But I doubt whether he +could remember any instance in which he could congratulate +himself on success. He was trying his hand again now, but did it +with a faltering voice, having caught a glance of his friend's +eye. + +'I dare say not,' said Lopez. Then he continued without changing +his voice or the nature of his eye. 'I'll tell you what I want +you to do now. I want your name to this bill for three months.' + +Sexty Parker opened his mouth and his eyes, and took the bit of +paper that was tendered to him. It was a promissory note for 750 +pounds, which, if signed by him, would at the end of the +specified period make him liable for that sum were it not +otherwise paid. His friend Mr Lopez was indeed applying to him +for the assistance of his name in raising a loan to the amount of +the sum named. This was a kind of favour which a man should ask +almost on his knees,--and which, if so asked, Mr Sextus Parker +would certainly refuse. And here was Ferdinand Lopez asking it, +who, Sextus Parker had latterly regarded as an opulent man,--and +asking it not at all on his knees, but, as one might say, at the +muzzle of a pistol. 'Accommodation bill!' said Sexty. 'Why, you +ain't hard up, are you?' + +'I'm not going just at present to tell you much about my affairs, +and yet I expect you to do what I ask you. I don't suppose you +doubt my ability to raise 750 pounds.' + +'Oh, dear, no,' said Sexty, who had been looked at and who had not +borne the inspection well. + +'And I don't suppose you would refuse me even if I were hard up, +as you call it.' There had been affairs before between the two +men in which Lopez had probably been the stronger, and the memory +of them, added to the inspection which was still going on, was +heavy upon poor Sexty. + +'Oh, dear, no;--I wasn't thinking of refusing, I suppose a +fellow may be a little surprised at such a thing.' + +'I don't know why you should be surprised, as such things are +very common. I happen to have taken a share in a loan a little +beyond my immediate means, and therefore want a few hundreds. +There is no one I can ask with a better grace than you. If you +ain't--afraid about it, just sign it.' + +'Oh, I ain't afraid,' said Sexty, taking his pen and writing his +name across the bill. But even before the signature was +finished, when his eye was taken away from the face of his +companion and fixed upon the disagreeable piece of paper beneath +his hand, he repented of what he was doing. He almost arrested +his signature half-way. He did hesitate, but had not pluck +enough to stop his hand. 'It does seem to be an odd +transaction all the same,' he said as he leaned back in his +chair. + +'It's the commonest thing in the world,' said Lopez picking up +the bill in a leisurely way, folding it and putting it into his +pocket-book. 'Have our names never been together on a bit of +paper before?' + +'When we both had something to make by it.' + +'You've nothing to make and nothing to lose by this. Good day +and many thanks,--though I don't think so much of the affair as +you seem to do.' Then Ferdinand Lopez took his departure, and +Sexty Parker was left alone in bewilderment. + +'By George,--that's queer,' he said to himself. 'Who'd have +thought of Lopez being hard up for a few hundred pounds? But it +must be all right. He wouldn't have come in that fashion, if it +hadn't been all right. I oughtn't to have done it though! A man +ought never to do that kind of thing,--never,--never!' And Mr +Sextus Parker was much discontented with himself, so that when he +got home that evening to the wife of his bosom and his little +family at Ponders End, he by no means made himself agreeable to +them. For that sum of 750 pounds sat upon his bosom as he ate +his supper, and lay upon his chest as he slept,--like a +nightmare. + + + +CHAPTER 2 + +EVERETT WHARTON. + +On that same day Lopez dined with his friend Everett Wharton at a +new club, called the Progress, of which they were both members. +The Progress was certainly a new club, having as yet been open +hardly more than three years; but still it was old enough to have +seen many of the hopes of its early youth become dim with age and +inaction. For the Progress had intended to do great things for +the Liberal Party,--or rather for political liberality in +general,--and had in truth done little or nothing. It had been +got up with considerable enthusiasm, and for a while certain +fiery politicians had believed that through the instrumentality +of this institution men of genius and spirit, and natural power, +but without wealth,--meaning always themselves,--would be +supplied with sure seats in Parliament and a probably share in +the Government. But no such results had been achieved. There +had been a want of something,--some deficiency felt but not yet +defined,--which had hitherto been fatal. The young men said it +was because no old stager who knew the way of pulling the wires +would come forward and put the club in the proper groove. The +old men said it was because the young men were pretentious +puppies. It was, however, not to be doubted that the party of +Progress had become slack, and that the Liberal politicians of +the country, although a special new club had been opened for the +furtherance of their views, were not at present making much way. +'What we want is organization,' said one of the leading young +men. But the organization was not as yet forthcoming. + +The club, nevertheless, went on its way, like other clubs, and +men dined and smoked and played billiards and pretended to read. +Some few energetic members still hoped that a good day would come +in which their grand ideas might be realized,--but as regarded +the members generally, they were content to eat and drink and +play billiards. It was a fairly good club,--with a sprinkling +of Liberal lordlings, a couple of dozen of members of Parliament +who had been made to believe that they would neglect their party +duties unless they paid their money, and the usual assortment of +barristers, attorneys, city merchants, and idle men. It was good +enough, at any rate, for Ferdinand Lopez, who was particular +about his dinner, and had an opinion of his own about wines. He +had been heard to assert that, for real quiet comfort, there was +not a club in London equal to it, but his hearers were not aware +that in the past days he had been black-balled at the T and the +G. These were accidents which Lopez had a gift of keeping in +the background. His present companion, Everett Wharton, had, as +well himself, been an original member;--and Wharton had been one +of those who had hoped to find in the club a stepping-stone to +high political life, and who now talked often with idle energy of +the need for organization. + +'For myself,' said Lopez, 'I can conceive no vainer object of +ambition than a seat in the British Parliament. What does any +man gain by it? The few are successful work very hard for little +pay and no thanks,--or nearly equally hard for no pay and as +little thanks. The many who fail sit idly for hours, undergoing +the weary task of listening to platitudes, and enjoy in return +the now absolutely valueless privilege of having MP written on +their letters.' + +'Somebody must make the laws for the country.' + +'I don't see the necessity. I think the country would do +uncommonly well if it were to know that no old law would be +altered or new law made for the next twenty years.' + +'You wouldn't have repealed the corn laws?' + +'There are no corn laws to repeal now.' + +'Nor modify the income tax?' + +'I would modify nothing. But at any rate, whether laws are to be +altered or to be left, it is a comfort to me that I need not put +my finger into that pie. There is one benefit indeed in being in +the House.' + +'You can't be arrested.' + +'Well;--that, as far as it goes, and one other. It assists a +man in getting a seat as the director of certain companies. +People are still such asses that they trust a Board of Directors +made up of members of Parliament, and therefore of course members +are made welcome. But if you want to get into the House, why +don't you arrange it with your father, instead of waiting for +what the club may do for you?' + +'My father wouldn't pay a shilling for such a purpose. He was +never in the House himself.' + +'And therefore despises it.' + +'A little of that, perhaps. No man ever worked harder than he +did, or, in his way, more successfully; and having seen one after +another of his juniors become members of Parliament, while he +stuck to the attorneys, there is perhaps a little jealousy about +it.' + +'From what I see of the way you live at home, I should think your +father would do anything for you,--with proper management. +There is no doubt, I suppose, that he could afford it?' + +'My father never in his life said anything to me about his own +money affairs though he says a great deal about mine. No man +ever was closer than my father. But I believe he could afford +almost anything.' + +'I wish I had such a father,' said Ferdinand Lopez. 'I think +that I should succeed in ascertaining the extent of his +capabilities, and in making some use of them too.' + +Wharton nearly asked his friend,--almost summoned courage to ask +him,--whether his father had done much for him. They were very +intimate; and on one subject, in which Lopez was much interested, +their confidence had been very close. But the younger and weaker +man of the two could not quite bring himself to the point of +making an inquiry which he thought would be disagreeable. Lopez +had never before, in all their intercourse, hinted at the +possibility of his having or having had filial aspirations. He +had been as though he had been created self-sufficient, +independent of mother's milk or father's money. Now the question +might have been asked almost naturally. But it was not asked. + +Everett Wharton was a trouble to his father,--but not an +agonizing trouble, as are some sons. His faults were not of a +nature to rob his father's cup of all its sweetness and to bring +grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. Old Wharton had never had +to ask himself whether he should now, at length, let his son fall +into the lowest abysses, or whether he should yet again struggle +to put him on his legs, again forgive him, again pay his debts, +again endeavour to forget dishonour, and place it all to the +score of thoughtless youth. Had it been so, I think that, if not +on the first or second fall, certainly on the third, the young +man would have gone into the abyss, for Mr Wharton was a stern +man, and capable of coming to a clear conclusion on things that +were nearest and even dearest to himself. But Everett Wharton +had simply shown himself to be inefficient to earn his own bread. +He had never declined even to do this,--but had simply been +inefficient. He had not declared, either by words or by actions, +that as his father was a rich man, and as he was an only son, he +would therefore do nothing. But he had tried his hand thrice, +and in each case, after but short trial, had assured his father +and his friends that the thing had not suited him. Leaving +Oxford without a degree,--for reading of the schools did not +suit him,--he had gone into a banking-house, by no means as a +mere clerk, but with an expressed proposition from his father, +backed by the assent of a partner, that he should work his way up +to wealth and a great commercial position. But six months taught +him that banking was an 'abomination', and he at once went into a +course of reading with a barrister. He remained at this till he +was called,--for a man may be called with very little continuous +work. But after he was called the solitude of his chambers was +too much for him, and at twenty-five he found that the Stock +Exchange was the mart in the world for such talents and energies +as he possessed. What was the nature of his failure during the +year that he went into the city, was know only to himself and his +father,--unless Ferdinand Lopez knew something of it also. But +at six-and-twenty the Stock Exchange was also abandoned; and now, +at eight-and-twenty, Everett Wharton had discovered that a +parliamentary career was that for which nature and his special +genius had intended him. He had probably suggested this to his +father, and had met with some cold rebuff. + +Everett Wharton was a good-looking, manly fellow, six feet high, +with broad shoulders with light hair, wearing a large silky bushy +beard, which made him look older than his years, who neither by +his speech nor by his appearance would ever be taken for a fool, +but who showed by the very actions of his body as well as by the +play of his face, that he lacked firmness of purpose. He +certainly was no fool. He had read much, and though he generally +forgot what he read, there were left with him from his readings +certain nebulous lights, begotten by other men's thinking, which +enabled him to talk on most subjects. It cannot be said of him +that he did much thinking for himself;--but he thought what he +thought. He believed of himself that he had gone rather deep +into politics, and that he was entitled to call many statesmen +asses because they did not see the things which he saw. He had +the great question of labour, and all that refers to unions, +strikes, and lock-outs, quite at his fingers' ends. He knew how +the Church of England should be disestablished and recomposed. +He was quite clear on questions of finance, and saw to a 't' how +progress should be made towards communism, so that no violence +should disturb that progress, and that in due course of centuries +all desire for personal property should be conquered and +annihilated by a philanthropy so general as hardly be accounted a +virtue. In the meantime he could never contrive to pay his +tailor's bill regularly out of the allowance of 400 pounds a year +which his father made him, and was always dreaming of the +comforts of a handsome income. + +He was a popular man certainly,--very popular with women, to +whom he was always courteous, and generally liked by men, to whom +he was genial and good-natured. Though he was not himself aware +of the fact, he was very dear to his father, who in his own +silent way almost admired and certainly liked the openness and +guileless freedom of a character which was very opposite to his +own. The father, though he had never said a word to flatter the +son, did in truth give his offspring credit for greater talent +than he possessed, and, even when appearing to scorn them, would +listen to the young man's diatribes almost with satisfaction. +And Everett was very dear also to a sister, who was the only +other living member of this branch of the Wharton family. Much +will be said of her in these pages, and it is hoped that the +reader may take an interest in her fate. But here, in speaking +of the brother, it may suffice to say, that the sister, who was +endowed with infinitely finer gifts than his, did give credit to +the somewhat pretentious claims of her less noble brother. + +Indeed it had been perhaps a misfortune with Everett Wharton that +some people had believed in him,--and a further misfortune that +some others had thought it worth their while to pretend to +believe in him. Among the latter might probably be reckoned the +friend with whom he was now dining at the Progress. A man may +flatter another, as Lopez occasionally did flatter Wharton, +without preconcerted falsehood. It suits one man to be well with +another, and the one learns gradually and perhaps unconsciously +the way to take advantage of the foibles of the other. Now it +was most material to Lopez that he should stand well with all the +members of the Wharton family, as he aspired to the hand of the +daughter of the house. Of her regard he already thought himself +nearly sure. Of the father's sanction to such a marriage he had +reason to be almost more than doubtful. But the brother was his +friend,--and in such circumstances a man is almost justified in +flattering a brother. + +'I'll tell you what it is, Lopez,' said Wharton, as they strolled +out of the club together, a little after ten o'clock, 'the men of +the present day won't give themselves the trouble to occupy their +minds with matters which have, or should have, real interest. +Pope knew all about when he said that "The proper study of +mankind is man." But people don't read Pope now, or if they do +they don't take the trouble to understand him.' + +'Men are too busy making money, my dear fellow.' + +'That's just it. Money's a very nice thing.' + +'Very nice,' said Lopez. + +'But the search after it is debasing. If a man could make money +for four, or six, or even eight hours a day, and then wash his +mind of the pursuit, as a clerk in an office washes the copies +and ledgers out of his mind, then--' + +'He would never make money in that way--and keep it.' + +'And therefore the whole thing is debasing. A man ceases to care +for the great interests of the world, or even to be aware of +their existence, when his whole soul is in Spanish bonds. They +wanted to make a banker of me, but I found that it would kill +me.' + +'It would kill me, I think if I had to confine myself to Spanish +bonds.' + +'You know what I mean. You at any rate understand me, though I +fear you are too far gone to abandon the idea of making a +fortune.' + +'I would abandon it to-morrow if I could come into a fortune +ready made. A man must at any rate eat.' + +'Yes,--he must eat. But I am not quite sure,' said Wharton +thoughtfully, 'that he need think about what he eats.' + +'Unless the beef is sent up without horse radish!' It had +happened that when the two men sat down to their dinner the +insufficient quantity of that vegetable supplied by the steward +of the club had been all consumed, and Wharton had complained of +the grievance. + +'A man has a right to that for which he has paid,' said Wharton, +with mock solemnity, 'and if he passes over laches of that nature +without observation, he does an injury to humanity at large. I'm +not going to be caught in a trap, you know, because I like horse +radish with my beef. Well, I can't go farther out of my way, as +I have a deal of reading to do before I court my Morpheus. If +you'll take my advice, you'll go straight to the governor. +Whatever Emily may feel, I don't think she'll say much to +encourage you unless you go about it after that fashion. She has +prim notions of her own, which perhaps are not after all so much +amiss when a man wants to marry a girl.' + +'God forbid that I should think that anything about your sister +was amiss!' + +'I don't think there is much myself. Women are generally +superficial,--but some are honestly superficial and some +dishonestly. Emily at any rate is honest.' + +'Stop half a moment.' Then they sauntered arm in arm down the +broad pavement leading from Pall Mall to the Duke of York's +column. 'I wish I could make out your father more clearly. He +is always civil to me, but he has a cold way of looking at me +which makes me think I am not in his good books.' + +'He is like that to everybody.' + +'I never seem to get beyond the skin with him. You must have +heard him speak of me in my absence.' + +'He never says very much about anybody.' + +'But a word would let me know how the land lies. You know me +well enough to be aware that I am the last man to be curious as +to what others think of me. Indeed I do not care about it as +much as a man should do. I am utterly indifferent to the opinion +of the world at large, and would never object to the company of a +pleasant person because the pleasant person abused me behind my +back. What I value is the pleasantness of the man, and not the +liking or disliking for myself. But here the dearest aim of my +life is concerned, and I might be guided either this way or that, +or to my great advantage, by knowing whether I stand well or ill +with him.' + +'You have dined three times within the last three months in +Manchester Square, and I don't know any other man,--certainly no +other young man,--who has had such strong proof of intimacy from +my father.' + +'Yes, and I know my advantages. But I have been there as your +friend, not his.' + +'He doesn't care twopence about my friends. I wanted to give +Charlie Skate a dinner, but my father wouldn't have him at any +price.' + +'Charlie Skate is out at elbows, and bets at billiards. I am +respectable,--or at any rate your father thinks so. Your father +is more anxious about you than you are aware of, and wishes to +make his house pleasant to you as long as he can do so to your +advantage. As far as you are concerned he rather approves of me, +fancying that my turn for making money is stronger than my turn +for spending it. Nevertheless, he looks upon me as a friend of +yours rather than his own. Though he has given me three dinners +in three months,--and I own the greatness of his hospitality,-- +I don't suppose he ever said a word in my favour. I wish I knew +what he does say.' + +'He says he knows nothing about you.' + +'Oh;--that's it, is it? Then he can know no harm. When next he +says so ask him how many of the men who dine at his house he can +say as much. Good night;--I won't keep you any longer. But I +can tell you this;--if between us we can manage to handle him +rightly, you may get your seat in Parliament and I may get my +wife;--that is, of course, if she will have me.' + +Then they parted, but Lopez remained in the pathway, walking up +and down by the side of the old military club, thinking of +things. He certainly knew his friend, the younger Wharton +intimately, appreciating the man's good qualities, and being +fully aware of the man's weakness. By his questions he had +extracted quite enough to assure himself that Emily's father +would be adverse to his proposition. He had not felt much doubt +before, but now he was certain. 'He doesn't know much about me,' +he said, musing to himself. 'Well, no; he doesn't;--and there +isn't very much that I can tell him. Of course he's wise,--as +wisdom goes. But then, wise men do do foolish things at +intervals. The discreetest of city bankers are talked out of +their money; the most scrupulous of matrons are talked out of +their virtue; the most experienced of statesmen are talked out of +their principles. And who can really calculate chances? Men who +lead forlorn hopes generally push through without being wounded; +--and the fifth or sixth heir comes to a title.' So much he +said, palpably, though to himself with his inner voice. Then-- +impalpably, with no even inner voice,--he asked himself what +chance he might have of prevailing with the girl herself; and he +almost ventured to tell himself that in that direction, he need +not despair. + +In very truth he loved the girl and reverenced her, believing her +to be better and higher and nobler than other human beings,--as +a man does when he is in love; and so believing, he had those +doubts as to his own success which such reverence produces. + + + +CHAPTER 3 + +MR ABEL WHARTON Q.C. + +Lopez was not a man to let grass grow under his feet when he had +anything to do. When he was tired of walking backwards and +forwards over the same bit of pavement, subject all the while to +a cold east wind, he went home and thought of the same matter +while he lay in bed. Even were he to get the girl's assurances +of love, without her father's consent he might find himself +farther from his object than ever. Mr Wharton was a man of old +fashions, who would think himself ill-used and his daughter ill- +used, and who would think also that a general offence would have +been committed against good social manners, if his daughter were +to be asked for her hand without his previous consent. Should he +absolutely refuse,--why then the battle, though it would be a +desperate battle, might perhaps be fought with other strategy; +but, giving to the matter his best consideration, Lopez thought +it expedient to go at once to the father. In doing this he would +have no silly tremors. Whatever he might feel in speaking to the +girl, he had sufficient self-confidence to be able to ask the +father, if not with assurance, at any rate without trepidation. +It was, he thought, probable that the father, at the first +attack, would neither altogether accede, or altogether refuse. +The disposition of the man was averse to the probability of an +absolute reply at the first moment. The lover imagined that it +might be possible for him to take advantage of the period of +doubt which would be created. + +Mr Wharton was and had for a great many years been a barrister +practising in the Equity Courts,--or rather in one Equity Court, +for throughout a life's work, now extending to nearly fifty +years, he had hardly ever gone out of the single Vice- +Chancellor's Court which was much better known by Mr Wharton's +name than by that of the less eminent judge who now sat there. +His had been a very peculiar, a very toilsome, but yet probably a +very satisfactory life. He had begun his practice early, and had +worked in a stuff gown till he was nearly sixty. At that time, +he had amassed a large fortune, mainly from his profession, but +partly also by the careful use of his own small patrimony and by +his wife's money. Men knew that he was rich, but no one knew the +extent of his wealth. When he submitted to take a silk gown, he +declared among his friends that he did so as a step preparatory +to his retirement. The altered method of work would not suit him +at his age, nor,--as he said,--would it be profitable. He +would take his silk, as a honour for his declining years, so that +he might become a bencher at his Inn. But he had now been +working for the last twelve or fourteen years with his silk gown, +--almost as hard as in younger days, and with pecuniary results +almost as serviceable; and though from month to month he declared +his intention of taking no fresh briefs, and though he did now +occasionally refuse work, still he was there with his mind as +clear as ever, and with his body apparently as little affected by +fatigue. + +Mr Wharton had not married till he was forty, and his wife had +now been two years dead. He had had six children,--of whom but +two were now left to make a household for his old age. He had +been nearly fifty years when his youngest daughter was born, and +was therefore now an old father of a young child. But he was one +of those men who, as in youth they are never very young, so in +age are they never very old. He could still ride his cob in the +park jauntily; and did so carefully every morning in his life, +after an early cup of tea and before his breakfast. And he could +walk home from his chambers every day, and on Sundays could to +the round of the parks on foot. Twice a week, on Wednesdays and +Saturdays, he dined at that old law club, the Eldon, and played +whist after dinner till twelve o'clock. This was the great +dissipation and, I think, the chief charm of his life. In the +middle of August he and his daughter usually went for a month to +Wharton Hall in Hertfordshire, the seat of his cousin Sir Alured +Wharton;--and this was the one duty of his life which was a +burden to him. But he had been made to believe that it was +essential to his health, and to his wife's, and then to his +girl's, health, that he should every summer leave town for a +time,--and where else was there to go? Sir Alured was a +relation and a gentleman. Emily liked Wharton Hall. It was the +proper thing. He hated Wharton Hall, but then he did not know +any place out of London that he would not hate worse. He had +once been induced to go up the Rhine; but had never repeated the +experiment of foreign travel. Emily sometimes went abroad with +her cousins during which periods it was supposed that the old +lawyer spent a good deal of his time at the Eldon. He was a +spare, thin, strongly made man, with spare light brown hair, +hardly yet grizzled, with small grey whiskers, clear eyes, bushy +eyebrows, with a long ugly nose, on which young barristers had +been heard to declare that you might hang a small kettle, and +with considerable vehemence of talk when he was opposed in +argument. For, with all his well-known coolness of temper, Mr +Wharton could become very hot in an argument, when the nature of +the case in hand required heat. On one subject all who knew him +were agreed. He was a thorough lawyer. Many doubted his +eloquence, and some declared that he had known well the extent of +his own powers in abstaining from seeking the higher honours of +his profession; but no one doubted his law. He had once written +a book,--on the mortgage of stocks in trade; but that had been +in early life, and he had never since dabbled in literature. + +He was certainly a man of whom men were generally afraid. At the +whist-table no one would venture to scold him. In the court no +one ever contradicted him. In his own house, though he was very +quiet, the servants dreaded to offend him, and were attentive to +his slightest behests. When he condescended to ride with any +acquaintance in the park, it was always acknowledged that old +Wharton was to regulate the pace. His name was Abel, and all his +life he had been known as able Abe,--a silent, far-seeing, +close-fisted, just old man, who, was not, however, by any means +deficient in sympathy either with the sufferings or with the joys +of humanity. + +It was Easter time, and the courts were not sitting, but Mr +Wharton was in his chamber as a matter of course at ten o'clock. +He knew no real homely comforts elsewhere,--unless at the whist- +table at the Eldon. He ate and drank and slept in his own house +in Manchester Square, but he could hardly be said to live there. +It was not there that his mind was awake, and the powers of the +man were exercised. When he came up from the dining-room to join +his daughter after dinner, he would get her to sing him a song, +and would then seat himself with a book. But he never read in +his own house, invariably falling into a sweet and placid +slumber, from which he was never disturbed till his daughter +kissed him as she went to bed. Then he would walk about the room +and look at his watch, and shuffle uneasily through half an hour, +till his conscience allowed him to take himself to his chamber. +He was a man of no pursuits in his own house. But from ten in +the morning til five, or often six, in the evening, his mind was +active in some work. It was not now all law, as it used to be. +In the drawer of the old piece of furniture which stood just at +the right hand of his own arm-chair there were various books +hidden away, which he was sometimes ashamed to have seen by his +clients,--poetry and novels, and even fairy tales. For there +was nothing Mr Wharton could not read in his chambers, though +there was nothing that he could read in his own house. He had a +large pleasant room in which to sit, looking out from the ground +floor of Stone Buildings on to the gardens belonging to the Inn, +--and here, in the centre of the metropolis, but in perfect quiet +as far as the outside world was concerned, he had lived and still +lived his life. + +At about noon on the day following that on which Lopez had made +his sudden swoop on Mr Parker and had then dined with Everett +Wharton, he called at Stone Buildings, and was shown into the +lawyer's room. His quick eye at once discovered the book which +Mr Wharton half hid away, and saw upon it Mr Mudie's suspicious +ticket. Barristers certainly never get their law books from +Mudie, and Lopez at once knew that his hoped-for father-in-law +had been reading a novel. He had not suspected such weakness, +but argued well from it for the business he had in hand. There +must be a soft spot to be found about the heart of an old lawyer +who spent his mornings in such occupation. 'How do you do, sir?' +said Mr Wharton rising from his seat. 'I hope you are well, +sir.' Though he had been reading a novel his tone and manner +were very cold. Lopez had never been in Stone Buildings before, +and was not quite sure that he might not have committed some +offence in coming there. 'Take a seat, Mr Lopez. Is there +anything I can do for you in my way?' + +There was a great deal that could be done 'in his way' as father, +--but how was it to be introduced and the case made clear? Lopez +did not know whether the old man had as yet ever suspected such a +feeling as that which he now intended to declare. He had been +intimate at the house at Manchester Square, and had certainly +ingratiated himself very closely with a certain Mrs Roby, who had +been Mr Wharton's sister and constant companion, who lived in +Berkeley Street, close round the corner from Manchester Square, +and spent very much of her time with Emily Wharton. They were +together daily, as though Mrs Roby had assumed the part of a +second mother, and Lopez was well aware that Mrs Roby knew of his +love. If there was a real confidence between Mrs Roby and the +old man, the old lawyer knew about it also;--but as to that +Lopez felt that he was in the dark. + +The task of speaking to an old father is not unpleasant when the +lover knows that he has been smiled upon, and, in fact, approved +for the last six months. He is going to be patted on the back, +and made much of, and received in the family. He is to be told +that his Mary or his Augusta has been the best daughter in the +world, and will therefore certainly be the best wife, and he +himself will probably on that special occasion be spoken of with +unqualified praise,--and all will be pleasant. But the subject +is one very difficult to broach when no previous light has been +thrown on it. Ferdinand Lopez, however, was not the man to stand +shivering on the brink when a plunge was necessary,--and +therefore he made his plunge. 'Mr Wharton, I have taken the +liberty to call upon you, because I want to speak to you about +your daughter.' + +'About my daughter!' The old man's surprise was quite genuine. +Of course when he had given himself a moment to think, he knew +what must be the nature of his visitor's communication. But up +to that moment he had never mixed his daughter and Ferdinand +Lopez in his thoughts together. And now, the idea having come +upon him, he looked at the aspirant with severe and unpleasant +eyes. It was manifest to the aspirant that the first flash of +the thing was painful to the father. + +'Yes, sir. I know how great is my presumption. But, yet having +ventured, I will hardly say to entertain any hope, but to have +come to such a state that I can only by happy by hoping, I have +thought it best to come to you at once.' + +'Does she know anything of this?' + +'Of my visit to you? Nothing.' + +'Of your intentions;--of your suit generally? Am I to +understand that this has any sanction from her?' + +'None at all.' + +'Have you told her anything of it?' + +'Not a word. I come to ask you for your permission to address +her.' + +'You mean that she has no knowledge whatever of your, your +preference for her.' + +'I cannot say that. It is hardly possible that I should have +learned to love her as I do without some consciousness on her +part that it is so.' + +'What I mean is, without any beating about the bush,--have you +been making love to her?' + +'Who is to say what making love consists, Mr Wharton?' + +'D it, sir, a gentleman knows. A gentleman knows whether he +has been playing on a girl's feelings, and a gentleman, when he +is asked as I have asked you, will at any rate tell the truth. I +don't want any definitions. Have you been making love to her?' + +'I think, Mr Wharton, that I have behaved like a gentleman; and +that you will acknowledge at least so much when you come to know +exactly what I have done and what I have not done. I have +endeavoured to commend myself to your daughter, but I have never +spoken a word of love to her.' + +'Does Everett know of all this?' + +'Yes.' + +'And has he encouraged it?' + +'He knows of it because he is my intimate friend. Whoever the +lady might have been, I should have told him. He is attached to +me, and would not I think, on his own account, object to call me +his brother. I spoke to him yesterday on the matter very +plainly, and he told me that I ought certainly to see you first. +I quite agreed with him, and therefore I am here. There has +certainly been nothing in his conduct to make you angry, and I do +not think that there has been anything in mine.' + +There was a dignity of demeanour and a quiet assured courage +which had its effect upon the old lawyer. He felt that he could +not storm and talk in ambiguous language of what a 'gentleman' +would or would not do. He might disapprove of this man +altogether as a son-in-law,--and at the present moment he +thought he did,--but still the man was entitled to a civil +answer. How were lovers to approach the ladies of their love in +any manner more respectful than this? 'Mr Lopez,' he said, 'you +must forgive me if I say that you are comparatively a stranger to +us.' + +'That is an accident which would easily be cured if your will in +that direction were as good as mine.' + +'But, perhaps, it isn't. One has to be explicit in these +matters. A daughter's happiness is a very serious consideration; +--and some people, among whom I confess that I am one, consider +that like people should marry like. I should wish to see my +daughter marry,--not only in my own sphere, neither higher nor +lower,--but with someone of my own class.' + +'I hardly know, Mr Wharton, whether that is intended to exclude +me.' + +'Well,--to tell you the truth I know nothing about you. I don't +know who your father was,--whether he was an Englishman, whether +he was a Christian, whether he was a Protestant,--not even +whether he was a gentleman. These are questions which I should +not dream of asking under any other circumstances;--would be +matters with which I should have no possible concern, if you were +simply an acquaintance. But when you talk to a man about his +daughter--?' + +'I acknowledge freely your right of inquiry.' + +'And I know nothing of your means;--nothing whatever. I +understand that you live as a man of fortune, but I presume that +you earn your bread. I know nothing of the way in which you earn +it, nothing of the certainty or amount of your means.' + +'Those things are of course matters for inquiry; but may I +presume that you have no objection which satisfactory answers to +such questions may not remove?' + +'I shall never willingly give my daughter to anyone who is not +the son of an English gentleman. It may be a prejudice, but that +is my feeling.' + +'My father was certainly not an English gentleman. He was a +Portuguese.' In admitting this, and subjecting himself at once +to one clearly-stated ground of objection,--the objection being +one which, though admitted, carried with it neither fault nor +disgrace,--Lopez felt that he had got a certain advantage. He +could not get over the fact that he was the son of a Portuguese +parent, but by admitting that openly he thought he might avoid +present discussion on matters which might, perhaps, be more +disagreeable, but to which he need not allude if the accident of +birth were to be taken by the father as settling the question. + +'My mother was an English lady,' he added, 'but my father +certainly was not an Englishman. I never had the common +happiness of knowing either of them. I was an orphan before I +understood what it was to have a parent.' + +This was said with a pathos, which for the moment stopped the +expression of any further harsh criticism from the lawyer. Mr +Wharton could not instantly repeat his objection to a parentage +which was matter for such melancholy reflections; but he felt at +the same time that as he had luckily landed himself on a positive +and undeniable ground of objection to a match which was +distasteful to him, it would be unwise for him to go to other +matters in which he might be less successful. By doing so, he +would seem to abandon the ground which he had already made good. +He thought it probable that the man might have an adequate +income, and yet he did not wish to welcome him as a son-in-law. +He thought it possible that the Portuguese father might be a +Portuguese nobleman, and therefore one whom he might be driven to +admit to have been some sort of gentleman;--but yet this man who +was now in his presence and whom he continued to scan with the +closest observation, was not what he called a gentleman. The +foreign blood was proved, and that would suffice. As he looked +at Lopez, he thought that he detected Jewish signs, but he was +afraid to make any allusions to religion, lest Lopez should +declare his ancestors had been noted as Christians since St James +first preached in the Peninsula. + +'I was educated altogether in England,' continued Lopez, 'till I +was sent to a German university in the idea that the languages of +the Continent are not generally well learned in this country;--I +can never be sufficiently thankful to my guardian for doing so.' + +'I dare say;--I dare say. French and German are very useful. I +have a prejudice of my own in favour of Greek and Latin.' + +'But I rather fancy I picked up more Greek and Latin at Bonn than +I should have got here, had I stuck to nothing else.' + +'I dare say;--I dare say. You may be an Admirable Crichton for +what I know.' + +'I have not intended to make any boast, sir, but simply to +vindicate those who had the care of my education. If you have +no objection except that founded on my birth, which is an +accident--' + +'When one man is a peer and another a ploughman, that is an +accident. One doesn't find fault with the ploughman, but one +doesn't ask him to dinner.' + +'But my accident,' said Lopez smiling, 'is one which you would +hardly discover unless you were told. Had I called myself Talbot +you would not know but that I was as good an Englishman as +yourself.' + +'A man of course may be taken in by falsehoods,' said the lawyer. + +'If your have no other objection than that raised, I hope you +will allow me to visit in Manchester Square.' + +'There may be ten thousand other objections, Mr Lopez, but I +really think that the one is enough. Of course I know nothing of +my daughter's feelings. I should imagine that the matter is as +strange to her as it is to me. But I cannot give you anything +like encouragement. If I am ever to have a son-in-law, I should +wish to have an English son-in-law. I do not even know what your +profession is.' + +'I am engaged in foreign loans.' + +'Very precarious I should think. A sort of gambling, isn't it?' + +'It is the business by which many of the greatest mercantile +houses in the city have been made.' + +'I dare say;--I dare say;--and by which they come to ruin. I +have the greatest respect in the world for mercantile enterprise, +and I have had as much to do as most men with mercantile +questions. But I ain't sure that I wish to marry my daughter in +the City. Of course it's all prejudice. I won't deny that on +general subjects I can give as much latitude as any man; but when +one's own heart is attacked--' + +'Surely such a position as mine, Mr Wharton, is no attack!' + +'In my sense it is. When a man proposes to assault and invade +the very kernel of another man's heart, to share with him, and +indeed to take from him, the very dearest of his possessions, to +become part and parcel with him either for infinite good or +infinite evil, then a man has a right to guard even his +prejudices as precious bulwarks.' Mr Wharton as he said this was +walking about the room with his hands in his trouser pockets. 'I +have always been for absolute toleration in matters of religion, +--have always advocated the admission of Roman Catholics and Jews +into Parliament, and even to the Bench. In ordinary life I never +question a man's religion. It is nothing to do with me whether +he believes in Mahomet, or has no belief at all. But when a man +comes to ask for my daughter--' + +'I have always belonged to the Church of England,' said Ferdinand +Lopez. + +'Lopez is at any rate a bad name to go to a Protestant church +with, and I don't want my daughter to bear it if I am very frank +with you, as in such a matter men ought to understand each other. +Personally I have liked you well enough, and have been glad to +see you at my house. Everett and you have seemed to be friends, +and I have had no objection to make. But marrying into a family +is a very serious thing indeed.' + +'No man feels that more strongly than I do, Mr Wharton.' + +'There had better be an end of it.' + +'Even though I should be happy enough to obtain her favour?' + +'I can't think that she cares about you. I don't think it for a +moment. You say that you haven't spoken to her, and I am sure +she's not a girl to throw herself at a man's head. I don't +approve it, and it had better fall to the ground. It must fall +to the ground.' + +'I wish you would give me a reason.' + +'Because you are not English.' + +'But I am English. My father was a foreigner.' + +'It doesn't suit my ideas. I suppose I may have my own ideas +about my own family, Mr Lopez? I feel perfectly certain that my +child will do nothing to displease me, and this would displease +me. If we were to talk for an hour, I could say nothing +further.' + +'I hope that I may be able to present things to you in an aspect +so altered,' said Lopez as he prepared to take his leave, 'as to +make you change your mind.' + +'Possibly;--possibly,' said Wharton; 'but I do not think it is +possible. Good morning to you, sir. If I have said anything +that has seemed to be unkind, put it down to my anxiety as a +father and to not to my conduct as a man.' Then the door was +closed behind his visitor, and Mr Wharton was left walking up and +down his room alone. He was by no means satisfied with himself. +He felt that he had been rude and at the same time not decisive. +He had not explained to the man as he would wish to have done, +that it was monstrous and out of the question that a daughter of +the Whartons, one of the oldest families in England, should be +given to a friendless Portuguese, a probable Jew,--about whom +nobody knew nothing. Then he remembered that sooner or later his +girl would have at least 60,000 pounds, a fact of which no human +being but himself was aware. Would it not be well that somebody +should be made aware of it, so that his girl might have the +chance of suitors preferable to the swarthy son of Judah? He +began to be afraid, as he thought of it, that he was not managing +his matters well. How would it be with him if he should find +that the girl was really in love with this swarthy son of Judah? +He had never inquired about his girl's heart, though there was +one to whom he hoped that his girl's heart might some day be +given. He almost made up his mind to go home at once, so anxious +was he. But the prospect of having to spend an entire afternoon +in Manchester Square was too much for him, as he remained in his +chamber till the usual hour. + +Lopez, as he returned from Lincoln's Inn, westward to his club, +was, on the whole, contented with the interview. He had expected +opposition. He had not thought the cherry would fall easily into +his mouth. But the conversation generally had not taken those +turns which he thought would be most detrimental to him. + + + +CHAPTER 4 + +MRS ROBY. + +Mr Wharton, as he walked home, remembered that Mrs Roby was to +dine at his house that evening. During the remainder of the day, +after the departure of Lopez, he had been unable to take his mind +from the consideration of the proposition made to him. He had +tried the novel, and he had tried Huggins v. the Trustees of the +Charity of St Ambox, a case of undeniable importance in which he +was engaged on the part of Huggins, but neither was sufficiently +powerful to divert his thoughts. Throughout the morning he was +imagining what he would say to Emily about this lover of hers,-- +in what way he would commence the conversation, and how he would +express his own opinion should he find that she was in any degree +favourable to the man. Should she altogether ignore the man's +pretensions, there would be no difficulty. But if she hesitated, +--if, as was certainly possible, she should show any partiality +for the man, then there would be a knot which would required +untying. Hitherto the intercourse between the father and +daughter had been simple and pleasant. He had given her +everything she had asked for, and she had obeyed him in all the +very few matters as to which he had demanded obedience. +Questions of discipline, as far as there had been any discipline, +had generally been left to Mrs Roby. Mrs Roby was to dine at +Manchester Square to-day, and perhaps it would be well that he +should have a few words with Mrs Roby before he spoke to his +daughter. + +Mrs Roby had a husband, but Mr Roby had not been asked to dine in +the Square on this occasion. Mrs Roby dined in the Square very +often, but Mr Roby very seldom,--not probably above once a year, +on some special occasion. He and Mr Wharton had married sisters, +but they were quite unlike in character, and had never become +friends. Mrs Wharton had been nearly twenty years younger than +her sister; and Mr Roby a year or two younger than his wife. The +two men therefore belonged to different periods of life, Mr Roby +at the present time being a florid youth of forty. He had a +moderate fortune, inherited from his mother, of which he was +sufficiently careful; but he loved races, and read sporting +papers; he was addicted to hunting and billiards; he shot +pigeons,--and, so Mr Wharton had declared calumniously more than +once to an intimate friend,--had not an H in his vocabulary. +The poor man did drop an aspirate now and again; but he knew his +defect and strove hard, and with fair average success, to +overcome it. But Mr Wharton did not love him, and they were not +friends. Perhaps neither did Mrs Roby love him very ardently. +She was at any rate almost always willing to leave her own house +to come to the Square, and on such occasions Mr Roby was always +willing to dine at the Nimrod, the club which it delighted him to +frequent. + +Mr Wharton on entering his own house, met his son on the +staircase. 'Do you dine at home to-day, Everett?' + +'Well, sir, no, sir. I don't think I do. I think I half +promised to dine with a fellow at the club.' + +'Don't you think you'd make things meet more easily about the end +of the year if you dined oftener here, where you have nothing to +pay, and less frequently at the club, where you pay for +everything?' + +'But what should I save you would lose, sir. That's the way I +look at it.' + +'Then I advise you to look at it the other way, and leave me to +take care of myself. Come in here, I want to speak to you.' +Everett followed his father into a dingy back parlour, which was +fitted up with book shelves and was generally called the study, +but which was gloomy and comfortless because it was seldom used. +'I have had your friend Lopez with me at my chambers to-day. I +don't like your friend Lopez.' + +'I am sorry for that, sir.' + +'He is a man to whom I should wish to have a good deal of +evidence before I would trust him to be what he seems to be. I +dare say he's clever.' + +'I think he's more than clever.' + +'I dare say;--and well instructed in some respects.' + +'I believe him to be a thorough linguist, sir.' + +'I dare say. I remember a waiter in a hotel in Holborn who could +speak seven languages. It's an accomplishment very necessary for +a Courier or Queen's Messenger.' + +'You don't mean to say, sir, that you disregard foreign +languages?' + +'I have said nothing of the kind. But in my estimation they +don't stand in the place of principles, or a profession, or +birth, or country. I fancy there has been some conversation +between you about your sister.' + +'Certainly there has.' + +'A young man should be very chary about how he speaks to another +man, to a stranger, about his sister. A sister's name should be +too sacred for club talk.' + +'Club talk! Good heavens, sir, you don't think that I have +spoken of Emily in that way? There isn't a man in London who has +a higher respect for his sister than I have for mine. This man, +by no means in a light way, but with all seriousness, has told me +that he was attached to Emily; and I believing him to be a +gentleman and well to do in this world, have referred him to you. +Can that have been wrong?' + +'I don't know how he's "to do", as you call it. I haven't asked, +and I don't mean to ask. But I doubt his being a gentleman. He +is not an English gentleman. What was his father?' + +'I haven't the least idea.' + +'Or his mother?' + +'He has never mentioned her to me.' + +'Nor his family; nor anything of their antecedents? He is a man +fallen out of the moon. All that is nothing to us as passing +acquaintances. Between men such ignorance should I think bar +absolute intimacy;--but that may be a matter of taste. But it +should be held to be utterly antagonistic to any such alliance as +that of marriage. He seems to be a friend of yours. You had +better make him understand that it is quite out of the question. +I have told him so, and you had better repeat it.' So saying, Mr +Wharton went upstairs to dress, and Everett, having received his +father's instructions, went away to the club. + +When Mr Wharton reached the drawing-room, he found Mrs Roby +alone, and he at once resolved to discuss the matter with her +before he spoke to his daughter. 'Harriet,' he said abruptly, +'do you know anything of Mr Lopez?' + +'Mr Lopez! Oh, yes, I know him.' + +'Do you mean that he is an intimate friend?' + +'As friends go on London, he is. He comes to our house, and I +think that he hunts with Dick.' Dick was Mr Roby. + +'That's a recommendation.' + +'Well, Mr Wharton, I hardly know what you mean by that,' said Mrs +Roby, smiling. 'I don't think my husband will do Mr Lopez any +harm; and I am sure Mr Lopez won't do my husband any.' + +'I dare say not. But that's not the question. Roby can take +care of himself.' + +'Quite so.' + +'And so I dare say can Mr Lopez.' At this moment Emily entered +the room. 'My dear,' said her father, 'I am speaking to your +aunt. Would you mind going downstairs and waiting for us? Tell +them we shall be ready for dinner in ten minutes.' Then Emily +passed out of the room, and Mrs Roby assumed a grave demeanour. +'The man we are speaking of has been to me and has made an offer +for Emily.' As he said this he looked anxiously into his sister- +in-law's face, in order that he might tell from that how far she +favoured the idea of such a marriage,--and he thought that he +perceived at once, that she was not averse to it. 'You know it +is quite out of the question,' he continued. + +'I don't know why it should be out of the question. But of +course your opinion would have great weight with Emily.' + +'Great weight! Well;--I should hope so. If not, I do not know +whose opinion is to have weight. In the first place, the man is +a foreigner.' + +'Oh, no;--he is English. But if he were a foreigner many +English girls marry foreigners.' + +'My daughter shall not;--not with my permission. You have not +encouraged her, I hope.' + +'I have not interfered at all,' said Mrs Roby. But this was a +lie. Mrs Roby had interfered. Mrs Roby, in discussing the +merits and character of the lover to the young lady, had always +lent herself to the lover's aid,--and had condescended to accept +from the lover various presents which she could hardly have taken +had she been hostile to him. + +'And now tell me about herself. Has she seen him often?' + +'Why, Mr Wharton, he has dined here, in the house, over and over +again. I thought you were encouraging him.' + +'Heavens and earth!' + +'Of course she has seen him. When a man dines at a house he is +bound to call. Of course he has called,--I don't know how +often. And she has met him round the corner.'--"Round the +corner" in Manchester Square, meant Mrs Roby's house in Berkeley +Street.--'Last Sunday they were at the Zoo together. Dick got +them tickets. I thought you knew about it.' + +'Do you mean that my daughter went to the Zoological Gardens +alone with this man?' the father asked in dismay. + +'Dick was with them. I should have gone, only I had a headache. +Did you not know that she went?' + +'Yes,--I heard about the Gardens. But I heard nothing about the +man.' + +'I thought, Mr Wharton, you were all in his favour.' + +'I am not at all in his favour. I dislike him particularly. For +anything I know he may have sold pencils about the streets like +any other Jew-boy.' + +'He goes to church, just as you do,--that is, if he goes +anywhere; which I dare say he does about as often as yourself, Mr +Wharton.' Now Mr Wharton, though he was a thorough and perhaps +bigoted member of the Church of England, was not fond of going to +church. + +'Do you mean to tell me,' he said, pressing his hands together, +and looking very seriously into his sister-in-law's face; 'do you +mean to tell me that she--likes him?' + +'Yes;--I think she does like him.' + +'You don't mean to say--she's in love with him?' + +'She has never told me that she is. Young ladies are shy of +making such assertions as to their own feelings before due time +for doing so has come. I think she prefers him to anybody else; +and that were he to propose to herself, she would give him her +consent to go to you.' + +'He shall never enter this house again,' said Mr Wharton +passionately. + +'You must arrange that with her. If you have so strong an +objection to him. I wonder that you should have had him here at +all.' + +'How was I to know? God bless my soul!--just because a man was +allowed to dine here once or twice! Upon my word, it's too bad.' + +'Papa, won't you and aunt come down to dinner?' asked Emily, +opening the door gently. Then they went down to dinner, and +during the meal nothing was said about Mr Lopez. But they were +not very merry together, and poor Emily felt sure her own affairs +had been discussed in a troublesome manner. + + + +CHAPTER 5 + +'NO ONE KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT HIM.' + +Neither at dinner on that evening at Manchester Square, nor after +dinner, as long as Mrs Roby remained in the house, was a word +said about Lopez by Mr Wharton. He remained longer than usual +with his bottle of port wine in the dining-room, and when he went +upstairs, he sat himself down and fell asleep, almost without a +sign. He did not ask for a song, nor did Emily offer to sing. +But as soon as Mrs Roby was gone,--and Mrs Roby went home, round +the corner, somewhat earlier than usual,--then Mr Wharton woke up +instantly and made inquiry of his daughter. + +There had, however, been a few words spoken on the subject +between Mrs Roby and her niece, which had served to prepare Emily +for what was coming. 'Lopez has been to your father,' said Mrs +Roby, in a voice not specially encouraging for such an occasion. +Then she paused a moment, but her niece said nothing, and she +continued, 'Yes,--and your father has been blaming me,--as if I +had done anything! If he did not mean you to choose for +yourself, why didn't he keep a closer look-out?' + +'I haven't chosen anyone, Aunt Harriet.' + +'Well;--to speak fairly. I thought you had; and I have nothing +to say against your choice. As young men go, I think Mr Lopez is +as good as the best of them. I don't know why you shouldn't have +him. Of course you'll have money, but then I suppose he makes a +large income himself. As to Mr Fletcher, you don't care a bit +about him.' + +'Not in that way certainly.' + +'No doubt your papa will have it out with you just now; so you +had better make up your mind what you will say to him. If you +really like the man, I don't see why you shouldn't say so, and +stick to it. He has made a regular offer, and girls these days +are not expected to be their father's slaves.' Emily said +nothing further to her aunt on that occasion, but finding that +she must in truth 'have it out' with her father presently, gave +herself up to reflection. It might probably be the case that the +whole condition of her future life would depend on the way in +which she might now 'have it out' with her father. + +I would not wish the reader to be prejudiced against Miss Wharton +by the most unnatural feeling which perhaps may be felt in regard +to the aunt. Mrs Roby was pleased with little intrigues, was +addicted to the amusement of fostering love affairs, was fond of +being thought to be useful in such matters, and was not averse to +having presents given to her. She had married a vulgar man; and +though she had not become like the man, she had become vulgar. +She was not an eligible companion for Mr Wharton's daughter,--a +matter as to which the father had not given himself proper +opportunities of learning the facts. An aunt in his close +neighbourhood was so great a comfort to him,--so ready and so +natural an assistance to him in his difficulties! But Emily +Wharton was not in the least like her aunt, nor had Mrs Wharton +been at all like Mrs Roby. No doubt the contact was dangerous. +Injury had perhaps already been done. It may be that some +slightest soil had already marred the pure white of the girl's +natural character. But if so, the stain was yet too impalpable +to be visible to ordinary eyes. + +Emily Wharton was a tall fair girl, with grey eyes, rather +exceeding the average proportions as well as height of women. +Her features were regular and handsome, and her form was perfect, +but it was by her manner and her voice that she conquered, rather +than by her beauty,--by those gifts and by a clearness of +intellect joined with that feminine sweetness which has its most +frequent foundation in self-denial. Those who knew her well, and +had become attached to her, were apt to endow her with all +virtues, and to give her credit for a loveliness which strangers +did not find on her face. But as we do not light up our houses +with our brightest lamps for all comers, so neither did she emit +from her eyes their brightest sparks till special occasion for +such shining had arisen. To those who were allowed to love her +no woman was more lovable. There was innate in her an +appreciation of her own position as a woman, and with it a +principle of self-denial as a human being, which it was beyond +the power of any Mrs Roby to destroy or even defile by small +stains. + +Like other girls she had been taught to presume that it was her +destiny to be married, and like other girls she had thought much +about her destiny. A young man generally regards it as his +destiny either to succeed or to fail in this world, and he thinks +about that. To him marriage, when it comes, is an accident to +which he has hardly as yet given a thought. But to the girl the +matrimony which is or is not to be her destiny contains within +itself the only success or failure which she anticipates. The +young man may become Lord Chancellor, or at any rate earn his +bread comfortably as a country court judge. But the girl can +look forward to little else than the chance of having a good man +for her husband;--a good man, or if her tastes lie in that +direction, a rich man. Emily Wharton had doubtless thought about +those things, and she sincerely believed that she had found the +good man in Ferdinand Lopez. + +The man, certainly, was one strangely endowed with the power of +creating a belief. When going to Mr Wharton in his chambers, he +had not intended to cheat the lawyer into any erroneous idea +about his family, but he had resolved that he would so discuss +the question of his own condition, which would probably be +raised, as to leave upon the old man's mind an unfounded +conviction that, in regard to money and income, he had no reason +to fear question. Not a word had been said about his money or +his income. And Mr Wharton had felt himself bound to abstain +from allusions to such matters from an assured feeling that he +could not in that direction plant an enduring objection. In this +way Lopez had carried his point with Mr Wharton. He had +convinced Mrs Roby that among all the girl's attractions the +greatest attraction for him was the fact that she was Mrs Roby's +niece. He had made Emily herself believe that the one strong +passion of his life was his love for her, and this he had done +without ever having asked for her love. And he had even taken +the trouble to allure Dick, and had listened to and had talked +whole pages out of "Bell's Life". On his own behalf it must be +acknowledged that he did love the girl, as well perhaps as he was +capable of loving anyone;--but he had found out many particulars +as to Mr Wharton's money before he had allowed himself to love +her. + +As soon as Mrs Roby had gathered up her knitting, and declared, +as she always did on such occasions, that she could go round the +corner without having anyone to look after her. Mr Wharton +began, 'Emily, my dear, come here.' Then she came and sat on a +footstool at his feet, and looked up into his face. 'Do you know +what I am going to speak about, my darling?' + +'Yes, papa; I think I do. It is about--Mr Lopez.' + +'Your aunt has told you, I suppose. Yes, it is about Mr Lopez. +I have been very much astonished to-day by Mr Lopez,--a man of +whom I have seen very little and know less. He came to me to-day +and asked for my permission--to address you.' She sat perfectly +quiet, still looking at him, but did not say a word. 'Of course +I did not give my permission.' + +'Why of course, papa?' + +'Because he is a stranger and a foreigner. Would you have wished +me to tell him that he might come?' + +'Yes, papa.' He was sitting on a sofa and shrank back a little +from her as she made this free avowal. 'In that case I could +have judged for myself. I suppose every girl would like to do +that.' + +'But should you have accepted him?' + +'I think I should have consulted you before I did that. But I +should have wished to accept him. Papa, I do love him. I have +never said that before to anyone. I would not say so to you now, +if he had not--spoken to you as he has done.' + +'Emily, it must not be.' + +'Why not, papa? If you say it shall not be so, it shall not, I +will do as you bid me.' Then he put out his hand and caressed +her, stroking down her hair. 'But I think you ought to tell me +why it must not be,--as I do love him.' + +'He is a foreigner.' + +'But is he? And why should not a foreigner be as good as an +Englishman? His name is foreign, but he talks English and lives +as an Englishman.' + +'He has no relatives, no family, no belongings. He is what we +call an adventurer. Marriage, my dear, is a most serious thing.' + +'Yes, papa, I know that.' + +'One is bound to be very careful. How can I give you to a man I +know nothing about,--an adventurer? What would they say in +Hertfordshire?' + +'I don't know why they should say anything, but if they did I +shouldn't much care.' + +'I should, my dear. I should care very much. One is bound to +think of one's family. Suppose it should turn out afterwards +that he was--disreputable?' + +'You may say that of any man, papa.' + +'But when a man has connections, a father and a mother, or uncles +and aunts, people that everybody knows about, then there is some +guarantee of security. Did you ever hear this man speak of his +father?' + +'I don't know that he ever did.' + +'Or his mother,--or his family? Don't you think that is +suspicious?' + +'I will ask him, papa, if you wish.' + +'No. I would have you ask him nothing. I would not wish that +there should be an opportunity for such asking. If there has +been intimacy between you, such information should have come +naturally,--as a thing of course. You have made him no +promise?' + +'Oh no, papa.' + +'Nor spoken to him--of your regard for him?' + +'Never;--not a word. Nor to me,--except in such words as one +understands even though they say nothing.' + +'I wish he had never seen you.' + +'Is he a bad man, papa?' + +'Who knows? I cannot tell. He may be ever so bad. How is one +to know whether a man be bad or good when one knows nothing about +him?' At this point the father got up and walked about the room. +'The long and the short of it is that you must not see him any +more.' + +'Did you tell him so?' + +'Yes;--well; I don't know whether I said exactly that, but I +told him that the whole thing must come to an end. And it must. +Luckily it seems that nothing has been said on either side.' + +'But papa;--is there to be no reason?' + +'Haven't I given reasons? I will not have my daughter encourage +an adventurer,--a man of whom nobody knows anything. That is +reason sufficient.' + +'He has a business, and lives with gentlemen. He is Everett's +friend. He is well educated;--oh, so much better than most men +that one meets. And he is clever. Papa, I wish you knew him +better than you do.' + +'I do not want to know him better.' + +'Is not that prejudice, papa?' + +'My dear Emily,' said Mr Wharton, striving to wax into anger that +he might be firm against her. 'I don't think it becomes you to +ask your father such a question as that. You ought to believe +that it is the chief object of my life to do the best I can for +my children.' + +'I am sure it is.' + +'And you ought to feel that, as I have had a long experience in +the world, my judgement about a young man might be trusted.' + +That was a statement which Miss Wharton was not prepared to +admit. She had already professed herself willing to submit to +her father's judgement, and did not now by any means contemplate +rebellion against parental authority. But she did feel that on a +matter so vital to her she had a right to plead her cause before +judgement should be given, and she was not slow to assure +herself, even as this interview went on, that her love for the +man was strong enough to entitle her to assure her father that +her happiness depended on his reversal of the sentence already +pronounced. 'You know, papa, that I trust you,' she said, 'And I +have promised you that I will not disobey you. If you tell me +that I am never to see Mr Lopez again, I will not see him.' + +'You are a good girl. You were always a good girl.' + +'But I think that you ought to hear me.' Then he stood still +with his hands in his trouser pockets looking at her. He did not +want to hear a word, but he felt that he would be a tyrant if he +refused. 'If you tell me that I am not to see him, I shall not +see him. But I shall be very unhappy. I do love him, and I +shall never love anyone else in the same way.' + +'That is nonsense, Emily. There is Arthur Fletcher.' + +'I am sure you will never ask me to marry a man I do not love, +and I shall never love Arthur Fletcher. If this is to be as you +say, it will make me very, very wretched. It is right that you +should know the truth. If it is only because Mr Lopez has a +foreign name--' + +'It isn't only that; no one knows anything about him, or where +one might inquire even.' + +'I think you should inquire, papa, and be quite certain before +you pronounce such a sentence against me. It will be a crushing +blow.' He looked at her, and saw that there was a fixed purpose +in her countenance of which he had never before seen similar +signs. 'You claim a right to my obedience, and I acknowledge it. +I am sure you believe me when I promise not to see him without +your permission.' + +'I do believe you. Of course I believe you.' + +'But if I do that for you, papa, I think that you ought to be +very sure, on my account, that I haven't to bear such unhappiness +for nothing. You'll think about it, papa,--will you not, before +you quite decide?' She leaned against him as she spoke, and he +kissed her. 'Good night, now, papa. You will think about it?' + +'I will. I will. Of course I will.' + +And he began the process of thinking about it immediately,-- +before the door was closed behind her. But what was there to +think about? Nothing that she had said altered in the least +his idea about the man. He was convinced as ever that unless +there was much to conceal there would not be so much concealment. +But a feeling began to grow upon him already that his daughter +had a mode of pleading with him which he would not ultimately be +able to resist. He had the power, he knew, of putting an end to +the thing altogether. He had only to say resolutely and +unchangeably that the thing shouldn't be, and it wouldn't. If he +could steel his heart against his daughter's sorrow for, say, a +twelvemonth, the victory would be won. But he already began to +fear that he lacked the power to steel his heart against his +daughter. + + + +CHAPTER 6 + +AN OLD FRIEND GOES TO WINDSOR. + +'And what are they going to make you now?' + +This question was asked of her husband by a lady with whom +perhaps the readers of this volume may have already formed some +acquaintance. Chronicles of her early life have been written, at +any rate copiously. The lady was the Duchess of Omnium, and her +husband was of course the Duke. In order that the nature of the +question asked by the Duchess may be explained, it must be stated +that just at this time the political affairs of the nation had +got themselves tied up into one of those truly desperate knots +from which even the wisdom and experience of septuagenarian +statesmen can see no unravelment. The heads of parties were at a +standstill. In the House of Commons, there was, so to say, no +majority on either side. The minds of members were so astray +that, according to the best calculation that could be made, there +would be a majority of about ten against any possible Cabinet. +There would certainly be a majority against either of those well- +tried, but, at this moment, little trusted Prime Ministers, Mr +Gresham and Mr Daubney. There were certain men, nominally +belonging to this or to the other party, who would certainly +within a week of the nomination of a Cabinet in the House, oppose +the Cabinet which they ought to support. Mr Daubney had been in +power,--nay, was in power, though he had twice resigned. Mr +Gresham had been twice sent for to Windsor, and had on one +occasion undertaken and on another had refused to undertake to +form a Ministry. Mr Daubney had tried two or three combinations, +and had been at his wits' end. He was no doubt still in power,-- +could appoint bishops, and make peers, and give away ribbons. +But he couldn't pass a law, and certainly continued to hold his +present uncomfortable position by no will of his own. But a +Prime Minister cannot escape till he has succeeded in finding a +successor; and though the successor be found and consents to make +an attempt, the old unfortunate cannot be allowed to go free when +the attempt is shown to be a failure. He has not absolutely +given up the keys of his boxes, and no one will take them from +him. Even a sovereign can abdicate; but the Prime Minister of a +constitutional government is in bonds. The reader may therefore +understand that the Duchess was asking her husband what place +among the political rulers of the country had been offered to him +by the last aspirant to the leadership of the Government. + +But the reader should understand more than this, and may perhaps +do so, if he has ever seen those former chronicles to which +allusion has been made. The Duke, before he became a duke, had +held very high office, having been the Chancellor of the +Exchequer. When he was transferred, perforce, to the House of +Lords, he had,--as it is not uncommon in such cases,--accepted +a lower political station. This had displeased the Duchess, who +was ambitious both on her own behalf and that of her lord,--and +who thought that a Duke of Omnium should be nothing in the +Government if not at any rate near the top. But after that, with +the simple and single object of doing some special piece of work +for the nation,--something which he fancied that nobody else +would do if he didn't do it,--his Grace, of his own motion, at +his own solicitation, had encountered further official +degradation, very much to the disgust of the Duchess. And it was +not the way with her Grace to hide such sorrows in the depth of +her bosom. When affronted she would speak out, whether to her +husband, or to another,--using irony rather than argument to +support her cause and to vindicate her ways. The shafts of +ridicule hurled by her against her husband in regard to his +voluntary abasement had been many and sharp. They stung him, but +never for a moment influenced him. It was her nature to say such +things,--and he knew that they came rather from her uncontrolled +spirit than from any malice. She was his wife too, and he had an +idea that of little injuries of that sort there should be no end +of bearing on the part of a husband. Sometimes he would +endeavour to explain to her the motives which actuated him; but +he had come to fear that they were and must be unintelligible to +her. But he credited her with less than her real intelligence. +She did understand the nature of his work and his reasons for +doing it; and, after her own fashion, did what she conceived to +be her own work in endeavouring to create within his bosom a +desire for higher things. 'Surely,' she said to herself, 'if a +man of his rank is to be a minister, he should be a great +minister;--at any rate as great as his circumstances will make +him. A man never can save his country by degrading himself.' In +this he would probably have agreed; but his idea of degradation +and hers hardly tallied. + +When therefore she asked him what they were going to make him, it +was as though some sarcastic housekeeper in a great establishment +should ask the butler,--some butler too prone to yield in such +matters,--whether the master had appointed him lately to the +cleaning of shoes or the carrying of coals. Since these knots +had become so very tight, and since the journeys to Windsor had +become so very frequent, her Grace had asked many such questions, +and had received but very indifferent replies. The Duke had +sometimes declared that the matter was not ripe enough to allow +him to make any answer. 'Of course,' said the Duchess, 'you +should keep the secret. The editors of the evening papers +haven't known it for above an hour.' At another time he told her +that he had undertaken to give Mr Gresham his assistance in any +way that might be asked. + +'Joint undersecretary with Lord Fawn, I should say,' answered the +Duchess. Then he told her that he believed an attempt would be +made at a mixed ministry, but that he did not in the least know +to whom the work of doing so would be confided. 'You will be +about the last man who will be told,' replied the Duchess. Now, +at this moment, he had, as she knew, come direct from the house +of Mr Gresham, and she asked her question in her usual spirit. + +'And what are they going to make you now?' + +But he did not answer the question in his usual manner. He would +customarily smile gently at her badinage, and perhaps say a word +intended to show that he was not in the least moved by her +raillery. But in this instance he was very grave, and stood +before her a moment making no answer at all, looking at her in a +sad and almost solemn manner. 'They have told you that they can +do without you,' she said, breaking out almost into a passion. +'I knew it would be. Men are always valued by others as they +value themselves.' + +'I wish it were so,' he replied. 'I should sleep easier to- +night.' + +'What is it, Plantagenet?' she exclaimed, jumping up from her +chair. + +'I never cared for your ridicule hitherto, Cora, but now I feel +that I want your sympathy.' + +'If you are going to do anything,--to do really anything, you +shall have it. Oh, how you shall have it!' + +'I have received her Majesty's orders to go down to Windsor at +once. I must start within half an hour.' + +'You are going to be Prime Minister!' she exclaimed. As she +spoke she threw her arms up, and then rushed into his embrace. +Never since their first union had she been so demonstrative +either of love or admiration. 'Oh, Plantagenet,' she said, 'if I +can do anything I will slave for you.' As he put his arm round +her waist he already felt the pleasantness of her altered way to +him. She had never worshipped him yet, and therefore her worship +when it did come had all the delight to him which it ordinarily +has to the newly married hero. + +'Stop a moment, Cora. I do not know how it may be yet. But this +I know, that if without cowardice I could avoid this task, I +would certainly avoid it.' + +'Oh no! And there would be cowardice; of course there would,' +said the Duchess, not much caring what might be the bonds which +bound him to the task so long as he should certainly feel himself +to be bound. + +'He has told me that he thinks it my duty to make the attempt.' + +'Who is he?' + +'Mr Gresham. I do not know that I should have felt myself bound +by him, but the Duke said also.' This duke was our duke's old +friend, the Duke of St Bungay. + +'Was he there? And who else?' + +'No one else. It is no case for exultation, Cora, for the +chances are that I shall fail. The Duke has promised to help me, +on condition that one or two he has named are included, and that +one or two whom he has also named are not. In each case, I +should myself have done exactly as he proposes.' + +'And Mr Gresham?' + +'He will retire. That is a matter of course. He will intend to +support me, but all that is veiled in the obscurity which is +always, I think, darker as to the future of politics than any +other future. Clouds arise, one knows not why or whence, and +create darkness when one expected light. But as yet, you must +understand, nothing is settled. I cannot even say what answer I +may make to her Majesty, till I know what commands her Majesty +may lay upon me.' + +'You must keep a hold of it now, Plantagenet,' said the Duchess, +clenching her own fist. + +'I will not even close a finger on it with any personal +ambition,' said the Duke. 'If I could be relieved from the +burden of this moment, it would be an ease to my heart. I +remember once,' he said,--and as he spoke he again put his arm +around her waist, 'when I was debarred from taking office, by a +domestic circumstance.' + +'I remember that too,' she said, speaking very gently and looking +up at him. + +'It was a grief to me at the time, though it turned out so well, +--because the office then suggested to me was one which I thought +I could fill with credit to the country. I believed in myself +then, as far as that work went. But for this attempt I have no +belief in myself. I doubt whether I have any gift for governing +men.' + +'It will come.' + +'It may be that I must try;--and it may be that I must break my +heart because I fail. But I shall make the attempt if I am +directed to do so in any manner that shall seem feasible. I must +be off now. The Duke is to be here this evening. They had +better have dinner ready for me whenever I may be able to eat +it.' Then he took his departure before she could say another +word. + +When the Duchess was alone she took to thinking of the whole +thing in a manner which they who best knew her would have thought +to be very unusual with her. She already possessed all that rank +and wealth could give her, and together with those good things a +peculiar position of her own, of which she was proud, and which +she had made her own not by her wealth and rank, but by a certain +fearless energy and power of raillery which never deserted her. +Many feared her, and she was afraid of none, and many also loved +her,--whom she also loved, for her nature was affectionate. She +was happy with her children, happy with her friends, in the +enjoyment of perfect health, and capable of taking an exaggerated +interest in anything that might come uppermost for the moment. +One would have been inclined to say that politics were altogether +unnecessary to her, and that as Duchess of Omnium, lately known +as Lady Glencora Palliser, she had a wider and pleasanter +influence than could belong to any woman as wife of a Prime +Minister. And she was essentially one of those women who are not +contented to be known simply as the wives of their husbands. She +had a celebrity of her own, quite independent of his position, +and which could not be enhanced by any glory or any power added +to him. Nevertheless, when he left her to go down to the Queen +with the prospect of being called upon to act as chief of the +incoming ministry, her heart throbbed with excitement. It had +come at last, and he would be, to her thinking, the leading man +in the greatest kingdom in the world. + +But she felt in regard to him somewhat as did Lady Macbeth +towards her lord. + + What thou would'st highly, + That would'st thou holily. + +She knew him to be full of scruples, unable to bend when aught +was to be got by bending, unwilling to domineer when men might be +brought to subjection only by domination. The first duty never +could be taught to him. To win support by smiles when his heart +was bitter within him would never be within the power of her +husband. He could never be brought to buy an enemy by political +gifts,--would never be prone to silence his keenest opponent by +making him his right hand supporter. But the other lesson was easier +and might she thought be learned. Power is so pleasant that men +quickly learn to be greedy in the enjoyment of it, and to flatter +themselves that patriotism requires them to be imperious. She +would be constant with him day and night to make him understand +that his duty to his country required him to be in very truth its +chief ruler. And then with some knowledge of things as they are, +--and also with much ignorance,--she reflected that he had at +his command a means of obtaining popularity and securing power, +which had not belonged to his immediate predecessors, and had +perhaps never to the same extent been at the command of any +minister of England. His wealth as Duke of Omnium had been +great; but hers, as available for immediate purposes, had been +greater than even his. After some fashion, of which she was +profoundly ignorant, her own property was separated from his and +reserved to herself and her children. Since her marriage she had +never said a word to him about her money,--unless it were to ask +that something out of the common course might be spent on some, +generally absurd, object. But now had come the time for +squandering money. She was not only rich, but she had a +popularity that was exclusively her own. The new Prime Minister +and the new Prime Minister's wife should entertain after a +fashion that had never yet been known even among the nobility of +England. Both in town and country those great mansions should be +kept open which were now rarely much used because she found them +dull, cold, and comfortless. In London there should not be a +member of Parliament whom she would not herself know and +influence by her flattery and grace,--or if there were men whom +she could not influence, they should live as men tabooed and +unfortunate. Money mattered nothing. Their income was enormous, +and for a series of years,--for half a dozen years if the game +could be kept up so long,--they could spend treble what they +called their income without real injury to their children. +Visions passed through her brain of wondrous things which might +be done,--if only her husband would be true to his own +greatness. + +The Duke had left her at about two. She did not stir out of the +house that day, but in the course of the afternoon she wrote a +line to a friend who lived not very far from her. The Duchess +dwelt in Carlton Terrace, and her friend in Park Lane. The note +was as follows: + + DEAR M, + Come to me at once. I am too + excited to go to you. Yours G + +This was addressed to one Mrs Finn, a lady as to whom chronicles +have been written, and who has been known to the readers of such +chronicles as a friend dearly loved by the Duchess. As quickly +as she could put on her carriage garments and get herself to +Carlton Terrace, Mrs Finn was there. 'Well, my dear, how do you +think it's all settled at last?' said the Duchess. It will +probably be felt that the new Prime Minister's wife was +indiscreet, and hardly worthy of the confidence placed in her by +her husband. But surely we all have some one friend to whom we +tell everything, and with the Duchess Mrs Finn was that one +friend. + +'Is the Duke to be Prime Minister?' + +'How on earth should you have guessed that?' + +'What else could make you so excited? Besides, it is by no means +strange. I understand that they have gone on trying the two old +stages till it is useless to try them any longer; and if there is +to be a fresh man, no one would be more likely than the Duke.' + +'Do you think so?' + +'Certainly. Why not?' + +'He has frittered away his political position by such meaningless +concessions. And then he had never done anything to put himself +forward,--at any rate since he left the House of Commons. +Perhaps I haven't read things right--but I was surprised, very +much surprised.' + +'And gratified?' + +'Oh yes. I can tell you everything, because you will neither +misunderstand me nor tell tales of me. Yes,--I shall like him +to be Prime Minister, though I know that I shall have a bad time +of it myself.' + +'Why a bad time?' + +'He is so hard to manage. Of course, I don't mean about +politics. Of course it must be a mixed kind of thing at first, +and I don't care a straw whether it run to Radicalism or Toryism. +The country goes on its own way; either for better or for worse, +which ever of them are in. I don't think it makes any difference +what sort of laws are passed. But among ourselves, in our set, +it makes a deal of difference who gets the garters, and the +counties, who are made barons and then earls, and whose name +stands at the head of everything.' + +'That is your way of looking at politics?' + +'I own it to you;--and I must teach it to him.' + +'You never will do that, Lady Glen.' + +'Never is a long word. I mean to try. For look back and tell me +of any Prime Minister who has become sick of his power. They +become sick of the want of power when it's falling away from +them,--and then they affect to disdain and put aside the thing +they can no longer enjoy. Love of power is a kind of feeling +which comes to man as he grows older.' + +'Politics with the Duke have been simple patriotism,' said Mrs +Finn. + +'The patriotism may remain, my dear, but not the simplicity. I +don't want him to sell his country to Germany, or to turn it into +an American republic in order that he may be president. But when +he gets the reins into his hands, I want him to keep them there. +If he's so much honester than other people, of course he's the +best man for the place. We must make him believe that the very +existence of the country depends on his firmness.' + +'To tell you the truth, Lady Glen, I don't think you'll ever make +the Duke believe anything. What he believes, he believes either +from very old habit, or from the working of his own mind.' + +'You're always singing his praises, Marie.' + +'I don't know that there is any special praise in what I say; but +as far as I can see, it is the man's character.' + +'Mr Finn will come in, of course,' said the Duchess. + +'Mr Finn will be like the Duke in one thing. He'll take his own +way as to being in or out, quite independent of his wife.' + +'You'd like him to be in office?' + +'No, indeed! Why should I? He would be more often at the House, +and keep later hours, and be always away all the morning into the +bargain. But I shall like him to do as he likes himself.' + +'Fancy thinking of all that, I'd sit up all night every night of +my life,--I'd listen to every debate in the House myself,--to +have Plantagenet Prime Minister. I like to be busy. Well now, +if it does come off--' + +'It isn't settled, then?' + +'How can one hope that a single journey will settle it, when +those other men have been going backwards and forwards between +Windsor and London, like buckets in a well, for the last three +weeks? But if it is settled, I mean to have a cabinet of my own, +and I mean that you shall do the foreign affairs.' + +'You'd better let me be at the exchequer. I'm very good at +accounts.' + +'I'll do that myself. The accounts that I intend to set a-going +would frighten anyone less audacious. And I mean to be my own +home secretary, and to keep my own conscience,--and to be my own +master of the ceremonies certainly. I think a small cabinet gets +on best. Do you know,--I should like to put the Queen down.' + +'What on earth do you mean?' + +'No treason; nothing of that kind. But I should like to make +Buckingham Palace second-rate; and I'm not quite sure but I can. +I dare say you don't quite understand me.' + +'I don't think that I do, Lady Glen.' + +'You will some of these days. Come in to-morrow before lunch. I +suppose I shall know all about it then, and shall have found that +my basket of crockery has been kicked over and everything +smashed.' + + + +CHAPTER 7 + +ANOTHER OLD FRIEND. + +At about nine the Duke returned, and was eating his very simple +dinner in the breakfast-room,--a beefsteak and a potato, with a +glass of sherry and Apollinaris water. No man more easily +satisfied as to what he eat and drank lived in London in those +days. As regarded the eating and drinking he dined alone, but +his wife sat with him and waited on him, having sent the servant +out of the room. 'I have told her Majesty I would do the best I +could,' said the Duke. + +'Then you are Prime Minister.' + +'Not at all. Mr Daubney is Prime Minister. I have undertaken to +form a ministry, if I find it practicable, with the assistance of +such friends as I possess, I never felt before that I had to lean +so entirely on others as I do now.' + +'Lean on yourself only. Be enough for yourself.' + +'Those are empty words, Cora;--words that are quite empty. In +one sense a man should always be enough for himself. He should +have enough of principle and enough of conscience to restrain him +from doing what he knows to be wrong. But can a shipbuilder +build his ship single-handed, or the watchmaker make his watch +without assistance? On former occasions such as this, I could +say, with little or no help from without, whether I would or +would not undertake the work that was proposed to me, because I +had only a bit of the ship to build, or a wheel of the watch to +make. My own efficacy for my present task would depend entirely +on the co-operation of others, and unfortunately upon that of +some others with whom I have no sympathy, nor they with me.' + +'Leave them out,' said the Duchess boldly. + +'But they are men who will not be left out, and whose services +the country has a right to expect.' + +'Then bring them in, and think no more about it. It is no good +crying for pain that cannot be cured.' + +'Co-operation is difficult without community of feeling. I find +myself to be too stubborn-hearted for the place. It was nothing +to me to sit in the same Cabinet with a man I disliked when I had +not put him there myself. But now--. As I have travelled up I +have almost felt that I could not do it! I did not know before +how much I might dislike a man.' + +'Who is the one man?' + +'Nay;--whoever he be, I will have to be a friend now, and +therefore I will not name him, even to you. But it is not one +only. If it were one, absolutely marked and recognised, I might +avoid him. But my friends, real friends, are so few! Who is +there besides the Duke on whom I can lean with both confidence +and love?' + +'Lord Cantrip.' + +'Hardly so, Cora. But Lord Cantrip goes out with Mr Gresham. +They will always cling together.' + +'You used to like Mr Mildmay.' + +'Mr Mildmay,--yes! If there could be a Mr Mildmay in the +Cabinet this trouble would not come upon my shoulders.' + +'Then I'm very glad that there can't be Mr Mildmay. Why +shouldn't there be as good fish in the sea as ever were caught +out of it?' + +'When you've got a good fish you like to make as much of it as +you can.' + +'I suppose Mr Monk will join you.' + +'I think we shall ask him. But I am not prepared to discuss +men's names as yet.' + +'You must discuss them with the Duke immediately.' + +'Probably;--but I had better discuss them with him before I fix +my own mind by naming them even to you.' + +'You'll bring in Mr Finn, Plantagenet?' + +'Mr Finn!' + +'Yes,--Phineas Finn,--the man who was tried.' + +'My dear Cora, we haven't come down to that yet. We need not at +any rate trouble ourselves about the small fishes till we are +sure that we can get the big fishes to join us.' + +'I don't know why he should be a small fish. No man has done +better than he has; and if you want a man to stick to you--' + +'I don't want a man to stick to me. I want a man to stick to his +country.' + +'You were talking about sympathy.' + +'Well, yes;--I was. But do not name anyone else just at +present. The Duke will be here soon, and I would be alone till +he comes.' + +'There is one thing more I want to say, Plantagenet.' + +'What is it?' + +'One favour I want to ask.' + +'Pray do not ask anything for any man at present.' + +'It is not anything for any man.' + +'Nor for any woman.' + +'It is for a woman,--but one whom I think you would wish to +oblige.' + +'Who is it?' Then she curtsied, smiling at him drolly, and put +her hand upon her breast. 'Something for you! What on earth can +you want that I can do for you?' + +'Will you do it,--if it be reasonable?' + +'If I think it reasonable, I certainly will do it.' + +Then her manner changed altogether, and she became serious and +almost solemn. 'If, as I suppose, all the great places about her +Majesty be changed, I should like to be Mistress of the Robes.' + +'You!' said he, almost startled out of his usual quiet demeanour. + +'Why not? Is not my rank high enough?' + +'You burden yourself with the intricacies and subserviences, with +the tedium and pomposities of the Court life! Cora, you do not +know what you are talking about, or what you are proposing for +yourself.' + +'If I am willing to try to undertake a duty, why should I be +debarred from it any more than you?' + +'Because I have put myself into a groove, and ground myself into +a mould, and clipped and pared and pinched myself all round,-- +very ineffectually, as I fear,--to fit myself for this thing. +You have lived as free as air. You have disdained,--and though +I may have grumbled I have still been proud to see you disdain,-- +to wrap yourself in the swaddling bandages of Court life. You +have ridiculed all those who have been near her Majesty as Court +ladies.' + +'The individuals, Plantagenet, perhaps, but not the office. I am +getting older now, and I do not see why I should not begin a new +life.' She had been somewhat quelled by the unexpected energy, +and was at the moment hardly able to answer him with her usual +spirit. + +'Do not think of it, my dear. You asked whether your rank was +high enough. It must be so, as there is, as it happens, none +higher. But your position, should it come to pass that your +husband is the head of Government, will be too high. I may say +that in no condition should I wish to my wife to be subject to +other restraint than that which is common to all married women. +I should not choose that she should have any duties unconnected +with our joint family and home. But as First Minister of the +Crown I would altogether object to her holding an office believed +to be at my disposal.' She looked at him with her large eyes +wide open, and then left him without a word. She had no other +way of showing her displeasure, for she knew that when he spoke +as he had spoken now all argument was unavailing. + +The Duke remained an hour alone before he was joined by the other +Duke, during which he did not for a moment apply his mind to the +subject which might be thought to be most prominent in his +thoughts,--the filling up, namely, of a list of his new +government. All that he could do in that direction without +further assistance had been already done very easily. There were +four or five certain names,--names that is of certain political +friends, and three or four almost equally certain of men who had +been political enemies, but who would not clearly be asked to +join the ministry. Sir Gregory Grogram, the late Attorney- +General, would of course be asked to resume his place, but Sir +Timothy Beeswax, who was up to this moment Solicitor-General for +the Conservatives, would also be invited to retain that which he +held. Many details were known, not only to the two dukes who +were about to patch up the ministry between them, but to the +political world at large,--and where facts upon which the +newspapers were able to display their wonderful foresight and +general omniscience, with their usual confidence. And as to the +points which were in doubt,--whether or not, for instance, that +consistent old Tory, Sir Orlando Drought, should be asked to put +up with the Post-office or should be allowed to remain at the +Colonies,--the younger Duke did not care to trouble himself till +the elder should have come to his assistance. But his own +position and his questionable capacity for filling it,--that +occupied all his mind. If nominally first he would be really +first. Of so much it seemed to him that his honour required him +to assure himself. To be a faneant ruler was in direct +antagonism both to his conscience and to his predilections. To +call himself by a great name before the world, and then to be +something infinitely less than that name, would be to him a +degradation. But though he felt fixed as to that, he was by no +means assured as to that other point, which to most men firm in +their resolves as he was, and backed up as he had been by the +confidence of others, would be cause of small hesitation. He did +doubt his ability to fill that place which it would now be his +duty to occupy. He more than doubted. He told himself again and +again that there was wanting to him a certain noble capacity for +commanding support and homage from other men. With things and +facts he could deal, but human beings had not opened themselves +to him. But now it was too late! And yet,--as he said to his +wife,--to fail would break his heart! No ambition had prompted +him. He was sure of himself there. One only consideration had +forced him into this great danger, and that had been the +assurance of others that it was his manifest duty to encounter +it. And how there was clearly no escape,--no escape compatible +with that clean-handed truth from which it was not possible for +him to swerve. He might create difficulties in order that +through them a way might still be opened to him of restoring to +the Queen the commission which had been entrusted to him. He +might insist on this or that impossible concession. But the +memory of escape such as that would break his heart as surely as +the failure. + +When the Duke was announced, he rose to greet his old friend +almost with fervour. 'It is a shame,' he said, 'to bring you out +so late. I ought to have gone to you.' + +'Not at all. It is always the rule in these cases that the man +who has most to do should fix himself as well as he can where +others may be able to find him.' The Duke of St Bungay was an +old man between seventy and eighty, with hair nearly white, and +who on entering the room had to unfold himself out of various +coats and comforters. But he was in full possession not only of +his intellects but of his bodily power, showing, as many +politicians do show, that the cares of the nation may sit upon a +man's shoulders for many years without breaking or even bending +them. For the Duke had belonged to ministries nearly for the +last half century. As the chronicles have also dealt with him, +no further records of his past like shall now be given. + +He had said something about the Queen, expressing gracious wishes +for the comfort of her Majesty in all these matters, something of +the inconvenience of these political journeys to and fro, +something also of the delicacy and difficulty of the operations +on hand which were enhanced by the necessity of bringing together +as cordial allies who had hitherto acted with bitter animosity +one to another, before the younger Duke said a word. 'We may as +well,' said the elder, 'make out some small provisional list, and +you can ask those you name to be with you early tomorrow. But +perhaps you have already made a list.' + +'No indeed. I have not even had a pencil in my hand.' + +'We may as well begin then,' said the elder facing the table when +he saw that his less-experienced companion made no attempt at +beginning. + +'There is something horrible to me in the idea of writing down +men's names for such a work as this, just as boys at school used +to draw out the elevens for a cricket match.' The old stager +turned round and stared at the younger politician. 'The thing +itself is so momentous that one ought to have aid from heaven.' + +Plantagenet Palliser was the last man from whom the Duke of St +Bungay would have expected romance at any time, and, least of +all, at such a time as this. 'Aid from heaven you may have,' he +said, 'by saying your prayers; and I don't doubt you ask for this +and all other things generally. But an angel won't come to tell +you who ought to be Chancellor of the Exchequer.' + +'No angel will, and therefore I wish I could wash my hands of +it.' His old friend stared at him. 'It is like sacrilege to me, +attempting this without feeling one's own fitness for the work. +It unmans me,--this necessity of doing that which I know I +cannot do with fitting judgement.' + +'You mind has been a little too hard at work to-day.' + +'It hasn't been at work at all. I've had nothing to do, and have +been unable really to think of work. But I feel that chance +circumstances have put me into a position for which I am unfit, +and which yet I have been unable to avoid. How much better would +it be that you should do this alone,--you yourself.' + +'Utterly out of the question. I do know and think that I always +have known my own powers. Neither has my aptitude in debate nor +my capacity for work justified me in looking to the premiership. +But that, forgive me, is now not worthy of consideration. It is +because you do work and can work, and because you have fitted +yourself for that continued course of lucid explanation which we +now call debate, that men on both sides have called upon you as +the best man to come forward in this difficulty. Excuse me, my +friend, again, if I say that I expect to find your manliness +equal to your capacity.' + +'If I could only escape from it!' + +'Psha;--nonsense!' said the Duke, getting up. 'There is such a +thing as conscience with so fine an edge that it will allow a man +to do nothing. You've got to serve your country. On such +assistance as I can give you you know that you may depend with +absolute assurance. Now let us get to work. I suppose you would +wish that I should take the chair at the Council.' + +'Certainly;--of course,' said the Duke of Omnium, turning to the +table. The once practical suggestion had fixed him, and from +that moment he gave himself to the work in hand with all his +energies. It was not very difficult, nor did it take them a very +long time. If the future Prime Minister had not his names at his +fingers' ends, the future President of the Council had them. +Eight men were soon named whom it was thought well that the Duke +of Omnium should consult early in the morning as to their +willingness to fill certain places. + +'Each one of them may have some other one or some two whom he may +insist on bringing with him,' said the elder Duke; 'and though of +course you cannot yield to the pressure in every such case, it +will be wise to allow yourself scope for some amount of +concession. You'll find they'll shake down after the usual +amount of resistance and compliance. No;--don't leave your +house to-morrow to see anybody unless it be Mr Daubney or Her +Majesty. I'll come to you at two, and if her Grace will give me +luncheon, I'll lunch with her. Good night, and don't think too +much of the bigness of the thing. I remember dear old Lord Brock +telling me how much more difficult it was to find a good coachman +than a good Secretary of State.' + +The Duke of Omnium, as he sat thinking of things for the next +hour in his chair, succeeded in proving to himself that Lord +Brock never ought to have been Prime Minister of England after +having ventured to make so poor a joke on so solemn a subject. + + + +CHAPTER 8 + +THE BEGINNING OF A NEW CAREER. + +By the time that the Easter holidays were over,--holidays which +had been used so conveniently for the making of a new government, +--the work of getting a team together had been accomplished by +the united energy of the two dukes and other friends. The +filling up of the great places had been by no means so difficult +or so tedious,--nor indeed the cause of half so many heartburns, +--as the completion of the list of subordinates. Noblesse +oblige. The Secretaries of State, and the Chancellors, and the +First Lords, selected from this or the other party felt that the +eyes of mankind were upon them, and that it behoved them to +assume a virtue if they had it not. They were habitually +indifferent to self-exaltation, and allowed themselves to be +thrust into this or that unfitting role, professing that the +Queen's Government and the good of the country were their only +considerations. Lord Thrift made way for Sir Orlando Drought at +the Admiralty, because it was felt on all sides that Sir Orlando +could not join the new composite party without a high place. And +the same grace was shown in regard to Lord Drummond, who remained +at the Colonies, keeping the office to which he had lately been +transferred under Mr Daubney. And Sir Gregory Grogram said not a +word, whatever he may have thought, when he was told that Mr +Daubney's Lord Chancellor, Lord Ramsden, was to keep the seals. +Sir Gregory did, no doubt, think very much about it, for legal +offices have a signification differing much from that which +attaches itself to places simply political. A Lord Chancellor +becomes a peer, and on going out of office enjoys a large +pension. When the woolsack has been reached there comes an end +of doubt, and a beginning of ease. Sir Gregory was not a young +man, and this was a terrible blow. But he bore it manfully, +saying not a word when the Duke spoke to him; but he became +convinced from that moment that no more inefficient lawyer ever +sat upon the English bench, or a more presumptuous politician in +the British Parliament, than Lord Ramsden. + +The real struggle, however, lay in the appropriate distribution +of the Rattlers, the Robys, the Fitzgibbons, and the Macphersons +among the subordinate offices of State. Mr Macpherson and Mr +Roby, with a host of others who had belonged to Mr Daubney, were +prepared, as they declared from the first, to lend their +assistance to the Duke. They had consulted Mr Daubney on the +subject, and Mr Daubney told them that their duty lay in that +direction. At the first blush of the matter the arrangement took +the form of a gracious tender from themselves to a statesman +called upon to act in very difficult circumstances,--and they +were thanked accordingly by the Duke, with something of real +cordial gratitude. But when the actual adjustment of things was +in hand, the Duke, having but little power of assuming a soft +countenance and using soft words while his heart was bitter, felt +on more than one occasion inclined to withdraw his thanks. He +was astounded not so much by the pretensions as by the unblushing +assertion of these pretensions in reference to places which he +had been innocent enough to think were always bestowed at any +rate without direct application. He had measured himself rightly +when he told the older Duke in one of those anxious conversations +which had been held before the attempt was made, that long as he +had been in office himself he did not know what was the way of +bestowing office. 'Two gentlemen have been here this morning,' +he said one day to the Duke of St Bungay, 'one on the heels of +the other, each assuring me not only that the whole stability of +the enterprise depends on my giving a certain office to him,-- +but actually telling me to my face that I had promised it to +him!' The old statesman laughed. 'To be told within the same +half-hour by two men that I had made promises to each of them +inconsistent with each other.' + +'Who were the two men?' + +'Mr Rattler and Mr Roby.' + +'I am assured that they are inseparable since the work has begun. +They always had a leaning to each other, and now I hear they pass +their time between the steps of the Carlton and Reform Clubs.' + +'But what am I to do? One must be Patronage Secretary, no +doubt.' + +'They're both good men in their way, you know.' + +'But why do they come to me with their mouths open, like dogs +craving a bone? It used not to be so. Of course men were always +anxious for office as they are now.' + +'Well; yes. We've heard of that before to-day, I think.' + +'But I don't think any man ever ventured to ask Mr Mildmay.' + +'Time has done much for him in consolidating his authority, and +perhaps the present world is less reticent in its eagerness than +it was in his younger days. I doubt, however, whether it is more +dishonest, and whether struggles were not made quite as +disgraceful to the strugglers as anything that is done now. You +can't alter the men, and you must use them.' The younger Duke +sat down and sighed over the degenerate patriotism of the age. + +But at last even the Rattlers and Robys were fixed, if not +satisfied, and a complete list of the ministry appeared in all +the newspapers. Though the thing had been long a-doing, still it +had come suddenly,--so that the first proposition to form a +coalition ministry, the newspapers had hardly known whether to +assist or to oppose the scheme. There was no doubt, in the minds +of all these editors and contributors, the teaching of a +tradition that coalitions of this kind have been generally +feeble, sometimes disastrous, and on occasions, even disgraceful. +When a man, perhaps through a long political life, has bound +himself to a certain code of opinions, how can he change that +code at a moment? And when at the same moment, together with the +change, he secures power, patronage, and pay, how shall the +public voice absolve him? But then again, men, who have by the +work of their lives grown into a certain position in the country, +and have unconsciously but not therefore less actually made +themselves indispensable either to this side of politics, or to +that, cannot free themselves altogether from the responsibility +of managing them when a period comes such as that now reached. +This also the newspapers perceived, and having, since the +commencement of the session been very loud in exposing the +disgraceful collapse of government affairs, could hardly refuse +their support to any attempt at a feasible arrangement. When it +was first known that the Duke of Omnium had consented to make the +attempt, they had both on one side and the other been loud in his +praise, going so far as to say that he was the only man in +England who could do the work. It was probably this +encouragement which had enabled the new Premier to go on with an +undertaking which was personally distasteful to him, and for +which from day to day he believed himself to be less and less +fit. But when the newspapers told him that he was the only man +for the occasion, how could he be justified in crediting himself +in preference to them? + +The work in Parliament began under the new auspices with great +tranquillity. That there would soon come causes of hot blood,-- +the English Church, the county suffrage, the income tax, and +further education questions,--all men knew who knew anything. +But for the moment, for the months even, perhaps for the session, +there was to be peace, with full latitude for the performance of +routine duties. There was so to say no opposition, and at first +it seemed that one special bench in the House of Commons would +remain unoccupied. But after a day or two,--on one which Mr +Daubney had been seen sitting just below the gangway,--that +gentleman returned to the place usually held by the Prime +Minister's rival, saying with a smile that it might be for the +convenience of the House that the seat should be utilized. Mr +Gresham, at this time, had with declared purpose, asked and +obtained the Speaker's leave of absence, and was abroad. Who +should lead the House? That had been a great question, caused by +the fact that the Prime Minister was in the House of Lords;--and +what office should the leader hold? Mr Monk had consented to +take the Exchequer, but the right to sit opposite to the Treasure +Box and to consider himself for the time the principal spirit in +that chamber was at last assigned to Sir Orlando Drought. 'It +will never do,' said Mr Rattler to Mr Roby. 'I don't mean to say +anything against Drought, who had always been a very useful man +to your party;--but he lacks something of the position.' + +'The fact is,' said Roby, 'that we've trusted to two men so long +that we don't know how to suppose anyone else big enough to fill +their places. Monk wouldn't have done. The House doesn't care +about Monk.' + +'I always thought it should have been Wilson, and so I told the +Duke. He had an idea that it should be one of your men.' + +'I think he's right there,' said Roby. 'There ought to be +something like a fair division. Individuals might be content, +but the party would be dissatisfied. For myself, I'd have sooner +stayed out as an independent member, but Daubney said that he +thought I was bound to make myself useful.' + +'I told the Duke from the beginning,' said Rattler, 'that I +didn't think that I could be of any service to him. Of course, I +would support him, but I had been too thoroughly a party man for +a new movement of this kind. But he said just the same?--that +he considered I was bound to join him. I asked Gresham, and when +Gresham said so too, of course I had no help for it.' + +Neither of these excellent public servants had told a lie in +this. Some such conversations as those reported had passed;-- +but a man doesn't lie when he exaggerates an emphasis, or even +when he gives by a tone a meaning to a man's words exactly +opposite to that which another tone would convey. Or, if he does +lie in doing so, he does not know that he lies. Mr Rattler had +gone back to his old office at the Treasury and Mr Roby had been +forced to content himself with the Secretaryship at the +Admiralty. But, as the old Duke had said, they were close +friends, and prepared to fight together any battle which might +keep them in the present position. + +Many of the cares of office the Prime Minister did succeed in +shuffling off altogether on to the shoulders of his elder friend. +He would not concern himself with the appointment of ladies, +about whom he said he knew nothing, and as to whose fitness and +claims he professed himself to be as ignorant as the office +messenger. The offers were of course made in the usual form, as +though coming direct from the Queen, through the Prime Minister; +--but the selections were in truth effected by the old Duke in +council with--an illustrious personage. The matter affected our +Duke,--only in so far as he could get out of his mind that +strange application from his own wife. 'That she should have +even dreamed of it!' he would say to himself, not yet having +acquired sufficient experience of his fellow creatures to be +aware how wonderfully temptations will affect even those who +appear to be least subject to them. The town horse, used to +gaudy trappings, no doubt despises the work of his country +brother; but yet, now and again, there comes upon him a sudden +desire to plough. The desire for ploughing had come upon the +Duchess, but the Duke could not understand it. + +He perceived, however, in spite of the multiplicity of his +official work, that his refusal sat heavily on his wife's breast, +and that, though she spoke no further word, she brooded over her +injury. And his heart was sad within him when he thought he had +vexed her,--loving her as he did with all his heart, but with a +heart that was never demonstrative. When she was unhappy he was +miserable, though he would hardly know the cause of his misery. +Her ridicule and raillery he could bear, though they stung him; +but her sorrow, if ever she were sorrowful, or her sullenness, if +ever she were sullen, upset him altogether. He was in truth so +soft of heart that he could not bear the discomfort of the one +person in the world who seemed to him to be near to him. He had +expressly asked her for her sympathy for the business he had on +hand,--thereby going much beyond his usual coldness of manner. +She, with an eagerness which might have been expected from her, +had promised that she would slave for him, if slavery were +necessary. Then she had made her request, had been refused, and +was now moody. 'The Duchess of ------ is to be Mistress of The +Robes,' he said to her one day. He had gone to her, up to her +own room, before he dressed for dinner, having devoted much more +time that as Prime Minister he ought to have done to a resolution +that he would make things straight with her, and to the best way +of doing it. + +'So I am told. She ought to know her away about the place, as I +remember she was at the same work when I was a girl of eleven.' + +'That's not so very long ago, Cora.' + +'Silverbridge is older now than I was then, and I think that +makes it a very long time ago.' Lord Silverbridge was the Duke's +eldest son. + +'But what does it matter? If she began her career at the time of +George the Fourth, what is it to you?' + +'Nothing on earth,--only that she did in truth begin her career +in the time of George the Third. I'm sure she's nearer sixty +than fifty.' + +'I'm glad to see you remember your dates so well.' + +'It's a pity she should not remember hers in the ways she +dresses,' said the Duchess. + +This was marvellous to him,--that his wife, who as Lady Glencora +Palliser had been so conspicuous for a wild disregard of social +rules as to be looked upon by many as an enemy of her own class, +should be so depressed by not being allowed to be the Queen's +head servant as to descend to personal invective! 'I'm afraid,' +said he, attempting to smile, 'that it won't come within the +compass of my office to effect or even to propose any radical +change in her Grace's apparel. But don't you think that you and +I can afford to ignore all that?' + +'I can certainly. She may be an antiquated Eve for me.' + +'I hope, Cora, you are not still disappointed because I did not +agree with you when you spoke about the place for yourself.' + +'Not because you did not agree with me,--but because you did not +think me fit to be trusted with any judgement of my own. I don't +know why I'm always to be looked upon as different from other +women,--as though I were half a savage.' + +'You are what you made yourself, and I have always rejoiced that +you are as you are, fresh, untrammelled, without many prejudices +which afflict other ladies, and free from bonds by which they are +cramped and confined. Of course such a turn of character is +subject to certain dangers of its own.' + +'There is no doubt about the dangers. The chances are that when +I see her Grace, I shall tell her what I think about her.' + +'You will I am sure say nothing unkind to a lady who is supposed +to be in the place she now fills by my authority. But do not let +us quarrel about an old woman.' + +'I won't quarrel with you even about a young one.' + +'I cannot be at ease within myself while I think you are +resenting my refusal. You do not know how constantly I carry you +about with me.' + +'You carry a very unnecessary burden then,' she said. But he +could tell at once from the altered tone of voice, and from the +light of her eye as he glanced into her face, that her anger +about 'The Robes' was appeased. + +'I have done as you have asked about a friend of yours,' he said. +This occurred just before the final and perfected list of the new +men had appeared in all the newspapers. + +'What friend?' + +'Mr Finn is to go to Ireland.' + +'Go to Ireland!--How do you mean?' + +'It is looked upon as being a very great promotion. Indeed, I am +told that he is considered to be the luckiest man in all the +scramble.' + +'You don't mean as Chief Secretary?' + +'Yes, I do. He certainly couldn't go as Lord Lieutenant.' + +'But they said that Barrington Erle was going to Ireland.' + +'Well; yes. I don't know that you'd be interested by all the ins +and outs of it. But Mr Erle declined. It seems that Mr Erle is +after all the one man in Parliament modest enough not to consider +himself to be fit for any place that can be offered to him.' + +'Poor Barrington! He does not like the idea of crossing the +Channel so often. I quite sympathize with him. And so Phineas +is to be Secretary for Ireland! Not in the Cabinet?' + +'No.--not in the Cabinet. It is not by any means usual that he +should be.' + +'That is promotion, and I'm glad! Poor Phineas! I hope they +won't murder him, or anything of that kind. They do murder +people, you know, sometimes.' + +'He's an Irishman himself.' + +'That just the reason why they should. He must pass up with that +of course. I wonder whether she'll like going. They'll be able +to spend money, which they always like, over there. He comes +backwards and forwards every week,--doesn't he?' + +'Not quite that, I believe.' + +'I shall miss her, if she has to stay away so long. I know you +don't like her.' + +'I do like her. She has always behaved well, both to me and to +my uncle.' + +'She was an angel to him,--and to you too, if you only knew it. +I dare say you're sending him to Ireland so as to get her away +from me.' This she said with a smile, as though not meaning it +altogether, but yet half meaning it. + +'I have asked him to undertake the office,' said the Duke +solemnly, 'because I am told he is fit for it. But I did have +some pleasure in proposing it to him because I thought it would +please you.' + +'It does please me, and I won't be cross any more, and the +Duchess of -- may wear her clothes just as she pleases, or go without +them. And as for Mrs Finn, I don't see why she should be with +him always when he goes. You can quite understand how necessary +she is to me. But she is in truth the only woman in London to +whom I can say what I think. And it is a comfort, you know, to +have someone.' + +In this way the domestic peace of the Prime Minister was +readjusted, and that sympathy and co-operation for which he had +first asked was accorded to him. It may be a question whether on +the whole the Duchess did not work harder than he did. She did +not at first dare to expound to him those grand ideas which she +had conceived in regard to magnificence and hospitality. She +said nothing of any extraordinary expenditure of money. But she +set herself to work after her own fashion, making to him +suggestions as to dinners and evening receptions, to which he +objected only on the score of time. 'You must eat your dinner +somewhere,' she said, 'and you need only come in just before we +sit down, and go into your room if you please without coming +upstairs at all. I can at any rate do that part of it for you.' +And she did do that part of it with marvellous energy all through +the month of May,--so that by the end of the month, within six +weeks of the time at which she first heard of the Coalition +Ministry, all the world had begun to talk of the Prime Minister's +dinners, and of the receptions given by the Prime Minister's +wife. + + + +CHAPTER 9 + +MRS DICK'S DINNER PARTY----NO 1. + +Our readers must not forget the troubles of poor Emily Wharton +amidst the gorgeous festivities of the new Prime Minister. +Throughout April and May she did not once see Ferdinand Lopez. +It may be remembered that on the night when the matter was +discussed between her and her father, she promised him that she +would not do so without his permission,--saying, however, at the +same time very openly that her happiness depended on such +permission being given to her. For two or three weeks not a word +further was said between her and her father on the subject, and +he had endeavoured to banish the subject from his mind,--feeling +no doubt that if nothing further were ever said it would be so +much the better. But then his daughter referred to the matter, +very plainly, with a simple question, and without disguise of her +own feeling, but still in a manner which he could not bring +himself to rebuke. 'Aunt Harriet has asked me once or twice to +go there of an evening, when you have been out. I have declined +because I thought Mr Lopez would be there. Must I tell her that +I am not to meet Mr Lopez, papa?' + +'If she has asked him there on purpose to throw him in your way, +I shall think very badly of her.' + +'But he has been in the habit of being there, papa. Of course if +you are decided about this, it is better that I should not see +him.' + +'Did I not tell you that I was decided?' + +'You said you would make some further inquiry, and speak to me +again.' Now Mr Wharton had made inquiry, but had learned nothing +to reassure himself;--neither had been able to learn any fact, +putting his finger on which he could point out to his daughter +clearly that the marriage would be unsuitable for her. Of the +man's ability and position, as certainly also of his manners, the +world at large seemed to speak well. He had been black-balled at +two clubs, but apparently without defined reason. He lived as +though he possessed a handsome income, and yet was in no degree +fast or flashy. He was supposed to be an intimate friend of Mr +Mills Happerton, one of the partners in the world-famous +commercial house of Hunky and Sons, which dealt in millions. +Indeed there had been at once time a rumour that he was going to +be taken into the house of Hunky and Sons as a junior partner. +It was evident that many people had been favourably impressed by +his outward demeanour, by his mode of talk, and by his way of +living. But no one knew anything about him. With regard to his +material position, Mr Wharton could of course ask direct +questions if he pleased, and require evidence as to his alleged +property. But he felt that by doing so he would abandon his +right to object to the man as being a Portuguese stranger, and he +did not wish to have Ferdinand Lopez as son-in-law, even though +he should be a partner in Hunky and Sons, and able to maintain a +gorgeous palace at South Kensington. + +'I have made inquiry.' + +'Well, papa.' + +'I don't know anything about him. Nobody knows anything about +him.' + +'Could you not ask him yourself anything you want to know? If I +might see him I would ask him.' + +'That would not do at all.' + +'It comes to this, papa, that I am to sever myself from a man to +whom I am attached, and who you must admit that I have been +allowed to meet from day to day with no caution that his intimacy +was unpleasant to you, because he is called,--Lopez.' + +'It isn't that at all. There are English people of that name, +but he isn't an Englishman.' + +'Of course, if you say so, papa, it must be so. I have told Aunt +Harriet that I consider myself prohibited from meeting Mr Lopez +by what you have said; but I think, papa, you are a little +cruel to me.' + +'Cruel to you!' said Mr Wharton, almost bursting into tears. + +'I am ready to obey as a child;--but, not being a child, I think +I ought to have a reason.' To this Mr Wharton made no further +immediate answer, but pulled his hair, and shuffled his feet +about, and then escaped out of the room. + +A few days afterwards his sister-in-law attached him. 'Are we to +understand, Mr Wharton, that Emily is not to meet Mr Lopez again? +It makes it very unpleasant, because he has been an intimate at +our house.' + +'I never said word about her not meeting him. Of course I do not +wish that any meeting should be contrived between them.' + +'As it stands now it is prejudicial to her. Of course it cannot +but be observed, and it so odd that a young lady should be +forbidden to meet a certain man. It looks so unpleasant for her, +--as though she had misbehaved herself.' + +'I have never thought so for a moment.' + +'Of course you have not. How could you have thought so, Mr +Wharton?' + +'I say that I never did.' + +'What must he think when he knows,--as of course he does know,--- +that she has been forbidden to meet him? It must make him fancy +that he is very much made of. All that is so very bad for a +girl! Indeed it is, Mr Wharton.' Of course there was absolute +dishonesty in all this on the part of Mrs Roby. She was true +enough to Emily's lover,--too true to him; but she was false to +Emily's father. If Emily would have yielded to her she would +have arranged meetings at her own house between the lovers +altogether in opposition to the father. Nevertheless, there was +a show of reason about what she said which Mr Wharton was unable +to overcome. And at the same time there was a reality about the +girl's sorrow which overcame him. He had never hitherto +consulted anyone about anything in his family, having always +found his own information and intellect sufficient for his own +affairs. But now he felt grievously in want of some pillar,--- +some female pillar,--on which he could lean. He did not know +all Mrs Roby's iniquities; but still he felt that she was not the +pillar of which he was in need. There was no such pillar for his +use, and he was driven to acknowledge to himself that in this +distressing position he must be guided by his own strength, and +his own lights. He thought it all out as well as he could in his +own chamber, allowing his book or brief to lie idle beside him +for many a half-hour. But he was much puzzled both as to the +extent of his own authority and the manner in which it should be +used. He certainly had not desired his daughter not to meet the +man. He could understand that unless some affront had been +offered such an edict enforced as to the conduct of a young lady +would induce all her acquaintance to suppose that she was either +very much in love or else she was very prone to misbehave +herself. He feared, indeed, that she was very much in love, but +it would not be prudent to tell her secret to all the world. +Perhaps it would be better that she should meet him, always with +the understanding that she was not to accept from him any +peculiar attention. If she would be obedient in one particular, +she would probably be so in the other, and, indeed, he did not at +all doubt her obedience. She would obey, but would take care to +show him that she was made miserable by obeying. He began to +foresee that he had a bad time before him. + +And then as he still sat idle, thinking of it all, his mind +wandered off to another view of the subject. Could he be happy, +or even comfortable, if she were unhappy? Of course he +endeavoured to convince himself that if he were bold, determined +and dictatorial with her, it would only be in order that her +future happiness might be secured. A parent is often bound to +disregard the immediate comfort of a child. But then was he sure +that he was right? He of course had his own way of looking at +life, but was it reasonable that he should force his girl to look +at things with his eyes? The man was distasteful to him as being +unlike his idea of an English gentleman, and as being without +those far-reaching fibres and roots by which he thought that the +solidity and stability of a human tree should be assured. But +the world was changing around him every day. Royalty was +marrying out of its degree. Peers' sons were looking only for +money. And, more than that, peers' daughters were bestowing +themselves on Jews and shopkeepers. Had he not better make the +usual inquiry about the man's means, and, if satisfied on that +head, let the girl do as she would? Added to all this, there was +growing on him a feeling that ultimately youth would as usual +triumph over age, and that he would be beaten. If that were so, +why worry himself, or why worry her? + +On the day after Mrs Roby's attack upon him he again saw that +lady, having on this occasion sent round to ask her to come to +him. 'I want you to understand that I put no embargo on Emily as +to meeting Mr Lopez. I can trust her fully. I do not wish her +to encourage his attentions, but I by no means wish her to avoid +him.' + +'Am I to tell Emily what you say?' + +'I will tell her myself. I think it better to say as much to +you, as you seemed to be embarrassed by the fear that they might +happen to see each other in your drawing-room.' + +'It was rather awkward, wasn't it?' + +'I have spoken to you now because you seemed to think so.' His +manner to her was not very pleasant, but Mrs Roby had known him +for many years, and did not care very much for his manner. She +had an object to gain, and could put up with a good deal for the +sake of her object. + +'Very well. Then I shall know how to act. But, Mr Wharton, I +must say this, you know Emily has a will of her own, and you must +not hold me responsible for anything that may occur.' As soon as +he heard this he almost resolved to withdraw the concession he +had made,--but he did not do so. + +Very soon after this there came a special invitation from Mr and +Mrs Roby, asking the Whartons, father and daughter, to dine with +them round the corner. It was quite a special invitation, +because it came in the form of a card,--which was unusual +between the two families. But the dinner was too, in some +degree, a special dinner,--as Emily was enabled to explain to +her father, the whole speciality having been fully detailed to +herself by her aunt. Mr Roby, whose belongings were not +generally aristocratic, had one great connection with whom, after +many years of quarrelling, he had lately come into amity. This +was his half-brother, considerably older than himself, and was no +other than that Mr Roby who was now Secretary to the Admiralty, +and who in the last Conservative Government had been one of the +Secretaries of the Treasury. The oldest Mr Roby of all, now long +since gathered to his fathers, had had two wives and two sons. +The elder son had not been left as well off as friends, or +perhaps as he himself, could have wished. But he had risen in +the world by his wits, had made his way into Parliament, and had +become, as all readers of these chronicles know, a staff of great +strength to his party. But he had always been a poor man. His +periods of office had been much shorter than those of his friend +Rattler, and his other sources of income had not been certain. +His younger half-brother, who, as far as the great world was +concerned, had none of his elder brother's advantages, had been +endowed with some fortune from his mother, and,--in an evil hour +for both of them,--had lent the politician money. As one +consequence of this transaction, they had not spoken to each +other for years. On this quarrel, Mrs Roby was always harping +with her own husband,--not taking his part. Her Roby, her Dick, +had indeed the means of supporting her with fair comfort, but had, +of his own, no power of introducing her to that sort of society +for which her soul craved. But Mr Thomas Roby was a great man-- +though unfortunately poor,--and moved in high circles. Because +they had lent their money,--which was no doubt lost for ever,-- +why should they also lose the advantages of such a connection? +Would it not be wiser rather to take the debt as a basis whereon +to found a claim for special fraternal observation and kindred +intercourse? Dick, who was fond of his money, would not for a +long time look at the matter in this light, but harassed his +brother from time to time by applications which were quite +useless, and which by the acerbity of their language altogether +shut Mrs Roby from the good things which might have accrued to +her from so distinguished a brother-in-law. But when it came to +pass that Thomas Roby was confirmed in office by the coalition +which has been mentioned, Mrs Dick became very energetic. She +went herself to the official hero, and told him how desirous she +was of peace. Nothing more should be said about the money,--at +any rate for the present. Let brothers be brothers. And so it +came to pass that the Secretary to the Admiralty, with his wife, +were to dine at Berkeley Street, and that Mr Wharton was asked to +meet them. + +'I don't particularly want to meet Mr Thomas Roby,' the old +barrister said. + +'They want you to come,' said Emily, 'because there has been some +family reconciliation. You usually do go once or twice a year.' + +'I suppose it may as well be done,' said Mr Wharton. + +'I think, papa, that they mean to ask Mr Lopez,' said Emily +demurely. + +'I told you before that I don't want to have you banished from +your aunt's home by any man,' said the father. So the matter was +settled, and the invitation was accepted. This was just at the +end of May, at which time people were beginning to say that the +coalition was a success, and some wise men to predict that at +least fortuitous parliamentary atoms had so come together by +accidental connection, that a ministry had been formed which +might endure for a dozen years. Indeed there was no reason why +there should be any end to a ministry built on such a foundation. +Of course this was very comfortable to such men as Mr Roby, so +that the Admiralty Secretary when he entered his sister-in-law's +drawing-room was suffused with that rosy hue of human bliss which +a feeling of triumph bestows. 'Yes,' said he, in answer to some +would-be facetious remark from his brother, 'I think we have +weathered that storm pretty well. It does seem rather odd, my +sitting cheek by jowl with Mr Monk and gentlemen of that kidney; +but they don't bite. I've got one of our own set at the head of +our own office, and he leads the House. I think upon the whole +we've got a little the best of it.' This was listened to by Mr +Wharton with great disgust,--for Mr Wharton was a Tory of the +old school, who hated compromises, and abhorred in his heart the +clash of politicians to whom politics were a profession rather +than a creed. + +Mr Roby, senior, having escaped from the House, was of course the +last, and had indeed kept all the other guests waiting half-an- +hour,--as becomes a parliamentary magnate in the heat of the +session. Mr Wharton, who had been early, saw all the other +guests arrive, among them Mr Ferdinand Lopez. There was also Mr +Mills Happerton,--partner in Hunky and Sons,--with his wife, +respecting whom Mr Wharton at once concluded that he was there as +being the friend of Ferdinand Lopez. If so, how much influence +must Ferdinand Lopez have in that house! Nevertheless, Mr Mills +Happerton was in his way a great man, and a credit to Mrs Roby. +And there was Sir Damask and Lady Monogram, who were people +moving in quite the first circles. Sir Damask shot pigeons, and +so did also Dick Roby,--whence had perhaps arisen an intimacy. +But Lady Monogram was not at all the person to dine with Mrs Dick +Roby without other cause than this. But a great official among +one's acquaintance can do so much for one! It was probable that +Lady Monogram's presence was among the first fruits of the happy +family reconciliation that had taken place. Then there was Mrs +Leslie, a pretty widow, rather poor, who was glad to receive +civilities from Mrs Roby, and was Emily Wharton's pet aversion. +Mrs Leslie had said impertinent things to her about Ferdinand +Lopez, and she had snubbed Mrs Leslie. But Mrs Leslie was +serviceable to Mrs Roby, and had now been asked to her great +dinner party. + +But the two most illustrious guests have not yet been mentioned. +Mrs Roby had secured a lord,--an absolute peer of Parliament. +This was no less than Lord Mongrober, whose father had been a +great judge in the early part of the century, and had been made a +peer. The Mongrober estates were not supposed to be large, nor +was the Mongrober influence at this time extensive. But this +nobleman was seen about a good deal in society when the dinners +given were supposed to be worth eating. He was a fat, silent, +red-faced, elderly gentleman, who said very little, and who when +he did speak seemed always to be in an ill-humour. He would now +and then make ill-natured remarks about his friends' wines, as +suggesting '68 when a man would boast of his '48 claret; and when +costly dainties were supplied for his use, would remark that such +and such a dish was very well at some other time of the year. So +that ladies attentive to their tables and hosts proud of their +cellars would almost shake in their shoes before Lord Mongrober. +And it may also be said that Lord Mongrober never gave any chance +of retaliation by return dinners. There lived not the man or +woman who had dined with Lord Mongrober. But yet the Robys of +London were glad to entertain him; and the Mrs Robys, when he was +coming, would urge their cooks to superhuman energies by the +mention of his name. + +And there was Lady Eustace! Of Lady Eustace it was impossible to +say whether her beauty, her wit, her wealth, or the remarkable +history of her past life, most recommended her to such hosts and +hostesses as Mr and Mrs Roby. As her history may already be +known to some, no details of it shall be repeated here. At this +moment she was free from all marital persecution, and was very +much run after by a certain set in society. There were others +again who declared that no decent man or woman ought to meet her. +On the score of lovers there was really little or nothing to be +said against her; but she had implicated herself in an +unfortunate second marriage, and then there was the old story +about the jewels! But there was no doubt about her money and her +good looks, and some considered her to be clever. These +completed the list of Mrs Roby's great dinner party. + +Mr Wharton, who had arrived early, could not but take notice that +Lopez, who soon followed him into the room, had at once fallen +into conversation with Emily, as though there had never been any +difficulty in the matter. The father, standing on the rug and +pretending to answer the remarks made to him by Dick Roby, could +see that Emily said but little. The man, however, was so much at +his ease that there was no necessity for her to exert herself. +Mr Wharton hated him for being at his ease. Had he appeared to +have been rebuffed by the circumstances of his position the +prejudices of the old man would have been lessened. By degrees +the guests came. Lord Mongrober stood also on the rug dumb, with +a look of intense impatience for his food, hardly ever +condescending to answer the little attempts at conversation made +by Mrs Dick. Lady Eustace gushed into the room, kissing Mrs Dick +and afterwards kissing her great friend of the moment, Mrs +Leslie, who followed. She then looked as though she meant to +kiss Lord Mongrober, whom she playfully and almost familiarly +addressed. But Lord Mongrober only grunted. Then came Sir +Damask and Lady Monogram, and Dick at once began about his +pigeons. Sir Damask, who was the most good-natured man in the +world, interested himself at once and became energetic; but Lady +Monogram looked around the room carefully, and seeing Lady +Eustace turned up her nose, nor did she care much for meeting +Lord Mongrober. If she had been taken in as to the Admiralty +Robys, then would she let the junior Robys know what she thought +about it. Mills Happerton, with his wife, caused the frown on +Lady Monogram's brow to loosen itself a little, for, so great was +the wealth and power of the house of Hunky and Sons, that Mr +Mills Happerton was no doubt a feature at any dinner party. Then +came the Admiralty Secretary with his wife, and the order for +dinner was given. + + + +CHAPTER 10 + +MRS DICK'S DINNER PARTY--NO 2. + +Dick walked downstairs with Lady Monogram. There had been some +doubt whether of right he should not have taken Lady Eustace, but +it was held by Mrs Dick that her ladyship had somewhat impaired +her rights by the eccentricities of her career, and also that she +would amiably pardon any little wrongdoing against her of that +kind,--whereas Lady Monogram was a person much to be considered. +Then followed Sir Damask with Lady Eustace. They seemed to be +paired so well together that there could be no doubt about them. +The ministerial Roby, who was really the hero of the night, took +Mrs Happerton, and our friend Mr Wharton took the Secretary's +wife. All that had been easy,--so easy that fate had goodnaturedly +arranged things which are sometimes difficult of +management. But then there came an embarrassment. Of course it +would in a usual way be right that a married man as was Mr +Happerton should be assigned to the widow Mrs Leslie, and that +the only two 'young' people,--in the usual sense of the word,-- +should go down to dinner together. But Mrs Roby was at first +afraid of Mr Wharton, and planned it otherwise. When, however, +the last moment came she plucked up courage, gave Mrs Leslie to +the great commercial man, and with a brave smile asked Mr Lopez +to give his arm to the lady he loved. It is sometimes so hard to +manage these 'little things', said she to Lord Mongrober as she +put her hand upon his arm. His lordship had been kept standing +in that odious drawing-room for more than half-an-hour waiting +for a man whom he regarded as a poor Treasury hack, and was by no +means in a good humour. Dick Roby's wine was no doubt good, but +he was not prepared to purchase it at such a price as this. + +'Things always get confused when you have waited an hour for +anyone,' he said. + +'What can you do, you know, when the House is sitting?' said the +lady apologetically. 'Of course you lords can get away, but then +you have nothing to do.' + +Lord Mongrober grunted, meaning to imply by his grunt that anyone +would be very much mistaken who supposed that he had any work to +do because he was a peer of Parliament. + +Lopez and Emily were seated next to each other, and immediately +opposite to them was Mr Wharton. Certainly nothing fraudulent +had been intended on this occasion,--or it would have been +arranged that the father should sit on the same side of the table +with the lover, so that he should see nothing of what was going +on. But it seemed to Mr Wharton as though he had been positively +swindled by his sister-in-law. There they sat opposite to him, +talking to each other apparently with thoroughly mutual +confidence, the very two persons whom he most especially desired +to keep apart. He had not a word to say to either of the ladies +near him. He endeavoured to keep his eyes away from his daughter +as much as possible, and to divert his ears from their +conversation;--but he could not but look and he could not but +listen. Not that he really heard a sentence. Emily's voice +hardly reached him, and Lopez understood the game he was playing +much too well to allow his voice to travel. And he looked as +though his position were the most commonplace in the world, and +as though he had nothing of more than ordinary interest to say to +his neighbour. Mr Wharton, as he sat there, almost made up his +mind that he would leave his practice, give up his chambers, +abandon even his club, and take his daughter at once to,--to,--- +it did not matter where, so that the place should be very distant +from Manchester Square. There could be no other remedy for this +evil. + +Lopez, though he talked throughout the whole of dinner,--turning +sometimes indeed to Mrs Leslie who sat at his left hand,--said +very little that all the world might not have heard. But he did +say one such word. 'It has been dreary to me, the last month!' +Emily of course had no answer to make to this. She could not +tell him that her desolation had been infinitely worse than his, +and that she sometimes felt as though her very heart would break. +'I wonder whether it must always be like this with me,' he said, +--and then he went back to the theatres and other ordinary +conversation. + +'I suppose you've got to the bottom of that champagne you used to +have,' said Lord Mongrober roaring across the table to his host, +holding his glass in his hand and with strong marks of +disapprobation on his face. + +'The very same wine as we were drinking when your lordship last +did me the honour of dining here,' said Dick. Lord Mongrober +raised his eyebrows, shook his head and put down the glass. + +'Shall we try another bottle?' asked Mrs Dick with solicitude. + +'Oh, no;--it'd be all the same, I know. I'll just take a little +dry sherry if you have it.' The man came with the decanter. +'No, dry sherry;--dry sherry,' said his lordship. The man was +confounded, Mrs Dick was at her wits' ends, and everything was in +confusion. Lord Mongrober was not the man to be kept waiting by +a government subordinate without exacting some penalty for such +ill-treatment. + +'His lordship is a little out of sorts,' whispered Dick to Lady +Monogram. + +'Very much out of sorts, it seems.' + +'And the worst of it is, there isn't a better glass of wine in +London, and his lordship knows it.' + +'I suppose that's what he comes for,' said Lady Monogram, being +quite as uncivil in her way as the nobleman. + +'He's like a good many others. He knows where he can get a good +dinner. After all, there's no attraction like that. Of course, +a hansome woman won't admit that, Lady Monogram.' + +'I will not admit it, at any rate, Mr Roby.' + +'But I don't doubt Monogram is as careful as anyone else to get +the best cook he can, and takes a good deal of trouble about his +wine too. Mongrober is very unfair about that champagne. It +came out of Madame Cliquot's cellars before the war, and I gave +Sprott and Burlinghammer 100s for it.' + +'Indeed!' + +'I don't think there are a dozen men in London can give you such +a glass of wine as that. What do you say about the champagne, +Monogram?' + +'Very tidy wine,' said Sir Damask. + +'I should think it is. I gave 100s for it before the war. His +lordship's got a fit of the gout coming, I suppose.' + +But Sir Damask was engaged with his neighbour Lady Eustace. 'Of +all things I should so like to see a pigeon match,' said Lady +Eustace. 'I have heard about them all my life. Only I suppose +it isn't quite proper for a lady.' + +'Oh, dear, yes.' + +'The darling little pigeons! They do sometimes escape, don't +they? I hope they escape sometimes. I'll go any day you'll make +up a party,--if Lady Monogram will join us.' Sir Damask said +that he would arrange it, making up his mind, however, at the +same time, that this last stipulation, if insisted on, would make +the thing impracticable. + +Roby the ministerialist, sitting at the end of the table between +his sister-in-law and Mrs Happerton, was very confidential +respecting the Government and parliamentary affairs in general. +'Yes, indeed;--of course it's a coalition, but I don't see why +we shouldn't go on very well. As to the Duke, I've always had +the greatest possible respect for him. The truth is, there's +nothing special to be done at the present moment, and there's no +reason why we shouldn't agree and divide the good things between +us. The Duke has got some craze of his own about decimal +coinage. He'll amuse himself with that; but it won't come to +anything, and it won't hurt us.' + +'Isn't the Duchess giving a great many parties?' asked Mrs +Happerton. + +'Well;---yes. That kind of thing used to be done in old Lady +Brock's time, and the Duchess is repeating it. There's no end to +their money, you know. But it's rather a bore for the persons +who have to go.' The ministerial Roby knew well how he would +make his sister-in-law's mouth water by such an allusion, as this +to the great privilege of entering the Prime Minister's mansion +in Carlton Terrace. + +'I suppose you in the Government are always asked.' + +'We are expected to go too, and are watched pretty close. Lady +Glen, as we used to call her, has the eyes of Argus. And of +course we who used to be on the other side are especially bound +to pay her observance.' + +'Don't you like the Duchess?' asked Mrs Happerton. + +'Oh yes;--I like her very well. She's mad, you know,--mad as a +hatter;--and no one can ever guess what freak may come next. +One always feels that she'll do something sooner or later that +will startle all the world.' + +'There was a queer story once,--wasn't there?' asked Mrs Dick. + +'I never quite believed that,' said Roby. 'It was something +about some lover she had before she was married. She went off to +Switzerland. But the Duke,--he was Mr Palliser then,--followed +her very soon and it all came right.' + +'When ladies are going to be duchesses, things do come right, +don't they?' said Mrs Happerton. + +On the other side of Mrs Happerton was Mr Wharton, quite unable +to talk to his right-hand neighbour, the Secretary's wife. The +elder Mrs Roby had not, indeed, much to say for herself, and he +during the whole dinner was in misery. He had resolved that +there should be no intimacy of any kind between his daughter and +Ferdinand Lopez,--nothing more than the merest acquaintance, and +there they were, talking together before his very eyes, with more +evident signs of understanding each other than were exhibited by +any other two persons at the table. And yet he had no just +ground of complaint against either of them. If people dine +together at the same house, it may of course happen that they +shall sit next to each other. And if people sit next to each +other at dinner, it is expected that they shall talk. Nobody +could accuse Emily of flirting; but then she was a girl who under +no circumstances would condescend to flirt. But she had declared +boldly to her father that she loved this man, and there she was +in close conversation with him! Would it not be better for him +to give up any further trouble, and let her marry the man? She +would certainly do so sooner or later. + +When the ladies went upstairs that misery was over for a time, +but Mr Wharton was still not happy. Dick came round and took his +wife's chair so that he sat between the lord and his brother. +Lopez and Happerton fell into City conversation, and Sir Damask +tried to amuse himself with Mr Wharton. But the task was +hopeless,--as it always is when the elements of the party have +been ill-mixed. Mr Wharton had not even heard of the Aldershot +coach which Sir Damask had just started with Colonel Buskin and +Sir Alfonso Blackbird. And when Sir Damask declared that he +drove the coach up and down twice a week himself, Mr Wharton at +any rate affected to believe that such a thing was impossible. +Then when Sir Damask gave him the opinion as to the cause of the +failure of a certain horse at Northampton, Mr Wharton gave him no +encouragement whatever. 'I never was at a race-course in my +life,' said the barrister. After that Sir Damask drank his wine +in silence. + +'You remember that claret, my lord?' said Dick, thinking that +some little compensation was due to him for what had been said +about the champagne. + +But Lord Mongrober's dinner had not yet had the effect of +mollifying the man sufficiently for Dick's purposes. 'Oh, yes. +I remember the wine. You call it '57, don't you?' + +'And it is '57;--'57, Leoville.' + +'Very likely,--very likely. If it hadn't been heated before the +fire--' + +'It hasn't been near the fire,' said Dick. + +'Or put into a decanter--' + +'Nothing of the kind.' + +'Or treated after some other damnable fashion, it would be very +good wine, I dare say.' + +'You are hard to please, my lord, to-day,' said Dick, who was put +beyond his bearing. + +'What is a man to say? If you will talk about your wine, I can +only tell you what I think. Any man may get good wine,--that is +if he can afford to pay the price,--but one isn't out of ten who +knows how to put it on the table.' Dick felt this to be very +hard. When a man pays 100s a dozen for his champagne, and then +gives it to guests like Lord Mongrober, who are not even expected +to return the favour, then that man ought to be allowed to talk +about his wine without fear of rebuke. One doesn't have an +agreement to that effect written down in parchment and sealed; +but it is as well understood and ought to be as faithfully kept +as any legal contract. Dick, who could on occasions be awakened +to a touch of manliness, gave the bottle a shove and threw +himself back in his chair. 'If you ask me, I can only tell you,' +repeated Lord Mongrober. + +'I don't believe you ever had a bottle of wine put before you in +better order in all your life,' said Dick. His lordship's face +became very square and very red as he looked round at his host. +'And as for talking about my wine, of course I talk to a man +about what he understands. I talk to Monogram about pigeons, to +Tom there about politics, to Apperton and Lopez about the price +of consols, and to you about wine. If I asked you what you +thought of the last new book, your lordship would be a little +surprised.' Lord Mongrober grunted and looked redder and squarer +that ever; but he made no attempt at reply, and the victory was +evidently left with Dick,--very much the general exaltation of +his character. And he was proud of himself. 'We had a little +tiff, me and Mongrober,' he said to his wife that night. 'He's a +very good fellow, and of course he's a lord and all that. But he +has to be put down occasionally, and by George, I did it tonight. +You ask Lopez.' + +There were two drawing-rooms upstairs opening into each other, +but still distinct. Emily had escaped into the back room, +avoiding the gushing sentiments and equivocal morals of Lady +Eustace and Mrs Leslie,--and here she was followed by Ferdinand +Lopez. Mr Wharton was in the front room, and though on entering +it he did look furtively for his daughter, he was ashamed to +wander about in order that he might watch her. And there were +others in the back room,--Dick and Monogram standing on the rug, +and the elder Mrs Roby seated in a corner,--so that there was +nothing peculiar in the position of the two lovers. + +'Must I understand,' said he, 'that I am banished from Manchester +Square?' + +'Has papa banished you?' + +'That's what I want you to tell me.' + +'I know you had an interview with him, Mr Lopez.' + +'Yes, I had.' + +'And you must know best what he told you.' + +'He would explain himself better to you than he did to me.' + +'I doubt that very much. Papa, when he has anything to say +generally says it plainly. However, I do think that he did +intend to banish you. I do not know why I should not tell you +the truth.' + +'I do not know either.' + +'I think he did--intend to banish you.' + +'And you?' + +'I shall be guided by him in all things,--as far as I can.' + +'Then I am banished by you also?' + +'I did not say so. But if papa says that you are not to come +there, of course I cannot ask you to do so.' + +'But I may see you here?' + +'Mr Lopez, I will not be asked some questions. I will not +indeed.' + +'You know why I ask them. You know that to me you are more than +all the world.' She stood still for a moment after hearing this, +and then without any reply walked away into the other room. She +felt half ashamed of herself in that she had not rebuked him for +speaking to her in that fashion after his interview with her +father, and yet his words had filled her heart with delight. He +had never before plainly declared his love to her,--though she +had been driven by her father's questions to declare her own love +to herself. She was quite sure of herself,--that the man was +and would always be to her the one being whom she would prefer to +all others. Her fate was in her father's hands. If he chose to +make her wretched he must do so. But on one point she had quite +made up her mind. She would make no concealment. To the world +at large she had nothing to say on the matter. But with her +father there should be no attempt on her part to keep back the +truth. Were he to question her on the subject she would tell +him, as far as her memory would serve her, the very words which +Lopez had spoken to her this evening. She would ask nothing from +him. He had already told her that the man was to be rejected, +and had refused to give any other reason than his dislike to the +absence of any English connection. She would not again ask even +for a reason. But she would make her father understand that +though she obeyed him she regarded the exercise of his authority +as tyrannical and irrational. + +They left the house before any of the other guests and walked +round the corner together into the Square. 'What a very vulgar +set of people!' said Mr Wharton as soon as they were down the +steps. + +'Some of them were,' said Emily, making a mental reservation of +her own. + +'Upon my word I don't know where to make the exception. Why on +earth anyone should want to know such a person as Lord Mongrober +I can't understand. What does he bring into society?' + +'A title.' + +'But what does that do of itself? He is an insolent, bloated +brute.' + +'Papa, you are using strong language to-night.' + +'And that Lady Eustace! Heaven and earth! Am I to be told that +that creature is a lady?' + +They had come to their own door, and while that was being opened, +and as they went up into their own drawing-room, nothing was +said, but then Emily began again. 'I wonder why you go to Aunt +Harriet's at all. You don't like the people?' + +'I didn't like any of them today.' + +'Why do you go there? You don't like Aunt Harriet herself. You +don't like Uncle Dick. You don't like Mr Lopez.' + +'Certainly I do not.' + +'I don't know who it is you do like.' + +'I like Mr Fletcher.' + +'It's no use saying that to me, papa.' + +'You ask me a question, and I choose to answer it. I like Arthur +Fletcher, because he is a gentleman,--because he is a gentleman +of the class to which I belong myself; because he works, because +I know all about him, so that I can be sure of him, being quite +sure that he will say to me neither awkward things nor +impertinent things. He will not talk to me about driving a mail +coach like that foolish baronet, nor tell me the price of all the +wines like your uncle.' Nor would Ferdinand Lopez do so, thought +Emily to herself. 'But in all such matters, my dear, the great +thing is like to like. I have spoken of a young person, merely +because I wish you to understand that I can sympathize with +others besides those of my own age. But to-night there was no +one there at all like myself,--or, as I hope, like you. That +man Roby is a chattering ass. How such a man can be useful to +any government I can't conceive. Happerton was the best, but +what had he to say for himself? I've always thought that there +was very little wit wanted to make a fortune in the City.' In +this frame of mind, Mr Wharton went off to bed, but not a word +more was spoken about Ferdinand Lopez. + + + +CHAPTER 11 + +CARLTON TERRACE. + +Certainly the thing was done very well by Lady Glen,--as many in +the political world persisted in calling her even in these days. +She had not as yet quite carried out her plan,--the doing of +which would have required her to reconcile her husband to some +excessive abnormal expenditure, and to have obtained from him a +deliberate sanction for appropriation and probably sale of +property. She never could find the proper moment for doing this, +having with all her courage,--low down in some corner of her +heart,--a wholesome fear of a certain quiet power which her +husband possessed. She could not bring herself to make her +proposition;--but she almost acted as though it had been made +and approved. Her house was always gorgeous with flowers. Of +course there would be the bill;--and he, when he saw the +exotics, and the whole place turned into a bower of every fresh +blooming floral glories, must know that there would be the bill. +And when he found that there was an archducal dinner-party every +week and an almost imperial reception twice a week; that at these +receptions a banquet was always provided; when he was asked to +whether she might buy a magnificent pair of bay carriage-horses, +as to which she assured him that nothing so lovely had ever as +yet been seen stepping in the streets of London,--of course he +must know that the bill would come. It was better, perhaps, to +do it in this way, than to make any direct proposition. And +then, early in June, she spoke to him as the guests to be invited +to Gatherum Castle in August. 'Do you want to go to Gatherum in +August?' he asked in surprise. For she hated the place, and had +hardly been content to spend ten days there every year at +Christmas. + +'I think it should be done,' she said solemnly. 'One cannot +quite consider just now what one likes oneself.' + +'Why not?' + +'You would hardly go to a small place like Matching in your +present position. There are so many people whom you should +entertain! You would probably have two or three of the foreign +ministers down for a time.' + +'We always used to find plenty of room at Matching.' + +'But you did not always use to be Prime Minister. It is only for +such a time as this that such a house as Gatherum is +serviceable.' + +He was silent for a moment, thinking about it, and then gave way +without another word. She was probably right. There was the +huge pile of magnificent buildings; and somebody, at any rate, +had thought that it behoved a Duke of Omnium to live in such a +palace. It ought to be done at any time, it ought to be done +now. In that his wife had been right. 'Very well. Let us go +there.' + +'I'll manage it all,' said the Duchess, 'I and Locock.' Locock was +the house-steward. + +'I remember once,' said the Duke, and he smiled as he spoke with +a peculiarly sweet expression, which would at times come across +his generally inexpressive face,--'I remember once that some +First Minister of the Crown gave evidence as the amount of his +salary, saying that his place entailed upon him expenses higher +than his stipend would defray. I begin to think that my +experience will be the same.' + +'Does that fret you?' + +'No, Cora;--it certainly does not fret me, or I should not allow +it. But I think there should be a limit. No man is ever rich +enough to squander.' + +Though they were to squander her fortune,--the money which she +had brought,--for the next ten years at a much greater rate than +she contemplated, they might do so without touching the Palliser +property. Of that she was quite sure. And the squandering was +to be all for his glory,--so that he might retain his position +as a popular Prime Minister. For an instant it occurred to her +that she would tell him all this. But she checked herself, and +the idea of what she had been about to say brought the blood into +her face. Never yet had she in talking to him alluded to her own +wealth. + +'Of course we are spending money,' she said. 'If you give me a +hint to hold my hand, I will hold it.' + +He had looked at her; and read it all in her face. 'God knows,' +he said, 'you've a right to do it if it pleases you.' + +'For your sake!' Then he stooped down and kissed her twice, and +left her to arrange her parties as she pleased. After that she +congratulated herself that she had not made the direct +proposition, knowing that she might now do pretty much as she +pleased. + +Then there were solemn cabinets held, at which she presided, and +Mrs Finn and Locock assisted. At other cabinets it is supposed +that, let a leader be ever so autocratic by disposition and +superior by intelligence, still he must not unfrequently yield to +the opinion of his colleagues. But in this cabinet the Duchess +always had her own way, though she was very persistent in asking +for counsel. Locock was frightened about the money. Hitherto +money had come without a word, out of the common, spoken to the +Duke. The Duke had always signed certain cheques, but they had +been normal cheques, and the money in its natural course had +flown in to meet them;--but now he must be asked to sign +abnormal cheques. That, indeed, had already been done; but still +the money had been there. A large balance, such as had always +stood to his credit, would stand a bigger racket than had yet +been made. But Locock was sure that the balance ought not to be +much further reduced,--and that steps must be taken. Something +must be sold! The idea of selling anything was dreadful to the +mind of Locock! Or else money must be borrowed! Now the +management of the Palliser property had always been conducted on +principles antagonistic to borrowing. 'But his Grace has never +spent his income,' said the Duchess. That was true. But the +money, as it showed a tendency to heap itself up, had been used +for the purchase of other bits of property, or for the +amelioration of the estates generally. 'You don't mean to say +that we can't get money if we want it!' Locock was profuse in +his assurance that any amount of money could be obtained,--only +that something had to be done. 'Then let something be done,' +said the Duchess, going on with her general plans. 'Many people +are rich,' said the Duchess afterwards to her friend, 'and some +people are very rich indeed; but nobody seems to be rich enough +to have ready money to do just what he wishes. It all goes into +a grand sum total, which is never to be touched without a feeling +of sacrifice. I suppose you have always enough for anything.' +It was well known that the present Mrs Finn, as Madame Goesler, +had been a wealthy woman. + +'Indeed, no,--very far from that. I haven't a shilling.' + +'What has happened?' asked the Duchess, pretending to be +frightened. + +'You forget that I've got a husband of my own, and that he has to +be consulted.' + +'That must be nonsense. But don't you think women are fools to +marry when they've got anything of their own, and could be their +own mistresses? I couldn't have been. I was made to marry +before I was old enough to assert myself.' + +'And how well they did for you!' + +'Pas si mal.--He's Prime Minister, which is a great thing, and I +begin to find myself filled to the full with political ambition. +I feel myself to be a Lady Macbeth, prepared for the murder of +any Duncan or any Daubney who may stand in my lord's way. In the +mean time, like Lady Macbeth herself, we must attend to the +banquetings. Her lord appeared and misbehaved himself; my lord +won't show himself at all,--which I think is worse.' + +Our old friend Phineas Finn, who had now reached a higher place +in politics than even his political dreams had assigned to him, +though he was a Member of Parliament, was much away from London +in these days. New brooms sweep clean; and official new brooms, +I think, sweep cleaner than any other. Who has not watched at +the commencement of a Ministry some Secretary, some Lord, or some +Commissioner, who intends by fresh Herculean labours to cleanse +the Augean stables just committed to his care? Who does not know +the gentleman at the Home Office, who means to reform the police +and put an end to malefactors; or the new Minister at the Board +of Works, who is to make London beautiful as by a magician's +stroke,--or, above all, the new First Lord, who is resolved that +he will really build a fleet, purge the dockyards, and save us +half a million a year at the same time? Phineas Finn was bent on +unriddling the Irish sphinx. Surely something might be done to +prove to his susceptible countrymen that at the present moment no +curse could be laid upon them so heavy as that of having to rule +themselves apart from England; and he thought that this might be +easier, as he became from day to day more thoroughly convinced +that those Home Rulers who were all around him in the House were +altogether of the same opinion. Had some inscrutable decree of +fate ordained and made it certain,--with a certainty not to be +disturbed,--that no candidate would be returned to Parliament +who would not assert the earth to be triangular, there would rise +immediately a clamorous assertion of triangularity among +political aspirants. The test would be innocent. Candidates +have swallowed, and daily do swallow, many a worse one. As might +be this doctrine of a great triangle, so is the doctrine of Home +Rule. Why is a gentleman of property to be kept out in the cold +by some O'Mullins because he will not mutter an unmeaning +shibboleth? 'Triangular? Yes,--or lozenge-shaped, if you +please; but, gentlemen, I am the man for Tipperary.' Phineas +Finn, having seen, or thought that he had seen, all this, began, +from the very first moment of his appointment, to consider +painfully within himself whether the genuine services of an +honest and patriotic man might compass some remedy for the +present ill-boding ferment of the country. What was in it that +the Irish really did want;--what that they wanted, and had not +got, and which might with propriety be conceded to them? What +was it that the English really would refuse to sanction, even +though it might not be wanted? He found himself beating about +among the rocks as to Catholic education and Papal interference, +the passage among which might be made clearer to him in Irish +atmosphere than in that of Westminster. There he was away a good +deal in these days, travelling backwards and forwards as he might +be wanted for any debate. But as his wife did not accompany him +on these fitful journeys, she was able to give her time very much +to the Duchess. + +The Duchess was on the whole very successful with her parties. +There were people who complained that she had everybody; that +there was no selection whatever as to politics, principles, rank, +morals,--or even manners. But in such a work as the Duchess has +now taken in hand, it was impossible that she should escape +censure. They who really knew what was being done were aware +that nobody was asked to that house without an idea that his or +her presence might be desirable,--in however remote a degree. +Paragraphs in newspapers go for much, and therefore the writers +and editors of such paragraphs were there,--sometimes with their +wives. Mr Broune, of the "Breakfast Table", was to be seen there +constantly, with his wife Lady Carbury, and poor old Booker of +the "Literary Chronicle". City men can make a budget popular or +the reverse, and therefore the Mills Happertons of the day were +welcome. Rising barristers might be wanted to become Solicitors- +General. The pet Orpheus of the hour, the young tragic actor who +was thought to have a real Hamlet within him, the old painter who +was sill strong with hope, even the little trilling poet, though +he trilled never so faintly, and the somewhat wooden novelist, +all had tongues of their own, and certain modes of expression, +which might assist or injure the Palliser Coalition,--as the +Duke's Ministry was now called. + +'Who is that man? I've seen him here before. The Duchess was +talking to him ever so long just now.' The question was asked by +Mr Rattler of Mr Roby. About half-an-hour before this time Mr +Rattler had essayed to get a few words with the Duchess, +beginning with the communication of some small political secret. +But the Duchess did not care much for the Rattlers attached to +her husband's Government. They were men whose services could be +had for a certain payment,--and when paid for were, the Duchess +thought, at the Premier's command without further trouble. Of +course they came to the receptions, and were entitled to a smile +apiece when they entered. But they were entitled to nothing +more, and on this occasion, Rattler had felt himself to be +snubbed. It did not occur to him to abuse the Duchess. The +Duchess was too necessary for abuse,--just at present. But any +friend of the Duchess,--and favourite for the moment,--was of +course open to remark. + +'He is a man named Lopez,' said Roby, 'a friend of Happerton;--a +very clever fellow they say.' + +'Did you ever see him anywhere else?' + +'Well, yes,--I have met him at dinner.' + +'He was never in the House. What does he do?' Rattler was +distressed to think that any drone should have made it way into +the hive of working bees. + +'Oh;--money, I fancy.' + +'He's not a partner at Hunky's, is he?' + +'I fancy not. I think I should have known if he was.' + +'She ought to remember that people make use of coming here,' said +Rattler. She was, of course, the Duchess. 'It's not like a +private house. And whatever influence outsiders get by coming, +so much she loses. Somebody ought to explain that to her.' + +'I don't think you or I could do that,' replied Mr Roby. + +'I'll tell the Duke in a minute,' said Rattler. Perhaps he +thought he could tell the Duke, but we may be allowed to doubt +whether his prowess would not have fallen below the necessary +pitch when he met the Duke's eye. + +Lopez was there for the third time, about the middle of June, and +had certainly contrived to make himself personally known to the +Duchess. There had been a deputation from the City to the Prime +Minister asking for a subsidized mail, via San Francisco, to +Japan. And Lopez, though he had no interest in Japan, had +contrived to be one of the number. He had contrived also, as the +deputation was departing, to say a word on his own account to the +Minister, and had ingratiated himself. The Duke had remembered +him, and had suggested that he should have a card. And now he +was among the flowers and the greatness, the beauty, the +politics, and the fashion of the Duchess's gatherings for the +third time. 'It is very well done,--very well, indeed,' said Mr +Boffin to him. Lopez had been dining with Mr and Mrs Boffin, and +had now again encountered his late host and hostess. Mr Boffin +was a gentleman who had belonged to the late Ministry, but had +somewhat out-Heroded Herod in his Conservatism, so as to have +been considered to be unfit for the Coalition. Of course, he was +proud of his own staunchness, and a little inclined to criticize +the lax principles of men who, for the sake of carrying on her +Majesty's Government, could be Conservatives one day and Liberals +the next. He was a labourious, honest man,--but hardly of +calibre sufficient not to regret his own honesty in such an +emergency as the present. It is easy for most of us to keep our +hands from picking and stealing when picking and stealing plainly +lead to prison diet and prison garments. But when silks and +satins come of it, and with the silks and satins general respect, +the net result of honesty does not seem to be so secure. Whence +will come the reward, and when? On whom the punishment, and +where? A man will not, surely, be damned for belonging to a +Coalition Ministry? Boffin was a little puzzled as he thought on +all this, but in the meantime was very proud of his own +constancy. + +'I think it so lovely,' said Mrs Boffin. 'You look down through +an Elysium of rhododendrons into a Paradise of mirrors. I don't +think there was anything like it in London before.' + +'I don't know that we ever had anybody at the same time, rich +enough to do this kind of thing as it is done now,' said Boffin, +'and powerful enough to get such people together. If the country +can be ruled by flowers and looking-glasses, of course it is very +well.' + +'Flowers and looking-glasses won't prevent the country being +ruled well,' said Lopez. + +'I'm not so sure of that,' continued Boffin. 'We all know what +the bread and games came to in Rome.' + +'What did they come to?' asked Mrs Boffin. + +'To a man burning in Rome, my dear, for his amusement, dressed in a +satin petticoat and a wreath of roses.' + +'I don't think the Duke will dress himself like that,' said Mrs +Boffin. + +'And I don't think,' said Lopez, 'that the graceful expenditure +of wealth in a rich man's house has any tendency to demoralize +the people.' + +'The attempt here,' said Boffin severely, 'is to demoralize the +rulers of the people. I am glad to have come once to see how the +thing is done; but as an independent member of the House of +Commons I should not wish to be known to frequent the saloon of +the Duchess.' Then Mr Boffin took away Mrs Boffin, much to that +lady's regret. + +'This is fairy land,' said Lopez to the Duchess, as he left the +room. + +'Come and be a fairy then,' she answered, very graciously. 'We +are always on the wing about this hour on Wednesday night.' The +words contained a general invitation for the season, and were +esteemed by Lopez as an indication of great favour. It must be +acknowledged of the Duchess that she was prone to make +favourites, perhaps without adequate cause; though it must be +conceded to her that she rarely altogether threw off from her +anyone whom she had once taken to her good graces. It must also +be confessed that when she had allowed herself to hate either a +man or a woman, she generally hated on to the end. No Paradise +could be too charming for her friends; no Pandemonium too +frightful for her enemies. In reference to Mr Lopez she would +have said, if interrogated, that she had taken the man up in +obedience to her husband. But in truth she had liked the look +and the voice of the man. Her husband before now had recommended +men to her notice and kindness, whom at the first trial she had +rejected from her good-will, and whom she had continued to reject +ever afterwards, let her husband's urgency be what it might. + +Another old friend, of whom former chronicles were not silent, +was at the Duchess's that night, and there came across Mrs Finn. +This was Barrington Erle, a politician of long standing, who was +still looked upon by many as a young man, because he had always +been known as a young man, and because he had never done anything +to compromise his position in that respect. He had not married, +or settled himself down in a house of his own, or become subject +to gout, or given up being careful about the fitting of his +clothes. No doubt the grey hairs were getting the better of the +black hairs, both on his head and face, and marks of coming +crows' feet were to be seen if you looked close at him, and he +had become careful about his great-coat and umbrella. He was in +truth much nearer fifty than forty;--nevertheless he was felt in +the House and among Cabinet Ministers and among the wives of +members and Cabinet Ministers, to be a young man still. And when +he was invited to become Secretary for Ireland it was generally +felt that he was too young for the place. He declined it, +however, and when he went to the Post-office, the gentlemen there +all felt that they had had a boy put over them. Phineas Finn, +who had become Secretary for Ireland, was in truth ten years the +junior. But Phineas Finn had been twice married, and had gone +through other phases of life, such as make a man old. 'How does +Phineas like it?' Erle asked. Phineas Finn and Barrington Erle +had gone through some political struggles together, and had been +very intimate. + +'I hope not very much,' said the lady. + +'Why so? Because he's away so much?' + +No;--not that. I should not grudge his absence if the work +satisfied him. But I know him so well. The more he takes to it +now,--the more sanguine he is as to some special thing to be +done,--the more bitter will be the disappointment when he is +disappointed. For there never really is anything special to be +done;--is there, Mr Erle?' + +'I thing there is always a little too much zeal about Finn.' + +'Of course there is. And then with zeal there always goes a thin +skin,--and unjustifiable expectations, and biting despair, and +contempt of others, and all the elements of unhappiness.' + +'That is a sad programme for your husband.' + +'He has recuperative faculties which bring him round at last:-- +but I really doubt whether he was made for a politician in this +country. You remember Lord Brock?' + +'Dear old Brock;--of course I do. How should I not, if you +remember him?' + +'Young men are boys at college, rowing in boats, when women have +been ever so long out in the world. He was the very model of an +English statesman. He loved his country dearly, and wished her +to be, as he believed her to be, first among nations. But he had +no belief in perpetuating her greatness by any grand +improvements. Let things take their way naturally--with a +slight direction hither or thither as thing might required. That +was his method of ruling. He believed in men rather than +measures. As long as he had the loyalty around him, he could be +personally happy, and quite confident as to the country. He +never broke his heart because he could not carry this or that +reform. What would have hurt him would have been to be worsted +in personal conflict. But he could always hold his own, and he +was always happy. Your man with a thin skin, a vehement +ambition, a scrupulous conscience, and a sanguine desire for +rapid improvement, is never happy, and seldom a fortunate +politician.' + +'Mrs Finn, you understand it all better than anyone else that I +ever knew.' + +'I have been watching it a long time, and of course very closely +since I have been married.' + +'But you have an eye trained to see it all. What a useful member +you would have made in government!' + +'But I should never have had the patience to sit all night upon +that bench in the House of Commons. How men can do it! They +mustn't read. They can't think because of the speaking. It +doesn't do for them to talk. I don't believe they ever listen. +It isn't in human nature to listen hour after hour to such +platitudes. I believe they fall into habit of half-wakeful +sleeping, which carries them through the hours; but even that +can't be pleasant. I look upon the Treasury Bench in July as a +sort of casual-ward, which we know to be necessary, but is almost +too horrid to be contemplated.' + +'Men do get bread and skilly there certainly; but, Mrs Finn, we +can go into the library and smoking-room.' + +'Oh, yes;--and a clerk in an office can read the newspapers +instead of doing his duty. But there is a certain surveillance +exercised, and a certain quantity of work exacted. I have met +Lords of the Treasury out at dinner on Mondays and Thursdays, but +we all regard them as boys who have shirked out of school. I +think upon the whole, Mr Erle, we women have the best of it.' + +'I don't suppose you will go in for your "rights".' + +'Not by Act of Parliament, or by platform meeting. I have a +great idea of a woman's rights; but that is the way, I think, to +throw them away. What do you think of the Duchess's evenings?' + +'Lady Glen is in her way as great a woman as you are,--perhaps +greater, because nothing ever stops her.' + +'Whereas I have scruples.' + +'Her Grace has none. She has feelings and convictions which keep +her straight, but no scruples. Look at her now talking to Sir +Orlando Drought, a man she both hates and despises. I am sure +she is looking forward to some happy time in which the Duke may +pitch Sir Orlando overboard, and rule supreme, with me or some +other subordinate leading the House of Commons simply as +lieutenant. Such a time will never come, but that is her idea. +But she is talking to Sir Orlando now as if she were pouring her +full confidence into his ear; and Sir Orlando is believing her. +Sir Orlando is in a seventh heaven, and she is measuring his +credulity inch by inch.' + +'She makes the place very bright.' + +'And is spending an enormous deal of money,' said Barrington +Erle. + +'What does it matter?' + +'Well, no;--if the Duke likes it. I had an idea that the Duke +would not like the display of the thing. There he is. Do you +see him in the corner with his brother duke. He doesn't look as +if he were happy; does he? No one would think he was the master +of everything here. He has got himself hidden almost behind the +screen. I'm sure he doesn't like it.' + +'He tries to like whatever she likes,' said Mrs Finn. + +As her husband was away in Ireland, Mrs Finn was staying in the +house in Carlton Gardens. The Duchess at present required so +much of her time that this was found to be convenient. When, +therefore, the guests on the present occasion had all gone, the +Duchess and Mrs Finn were left together. 'Did you ever see +anything so hopeless as he is?' said the Duchess. + +'Who is hopeless?' + +'Heaven and earth! Plantagenet;--who else? Is there another +man in the world would come in his own house, among his own +guests, and speak only to one person? And, then, think of it! +Popularity is the staff on which alone Ministers can lean in this +country with security.' + +'Political but not social security.' + +'You know as well as I do that the two go together. We've seen +enough of that even in our day. What broke up Mr Gresham's +Ministry? If he had stayed away people might have thought that +he was reading blue-books, or calculating coinage, or preparing a +speech. That would have been much better. But he comes in and +sits for half an hour whispering to another duke! I hate dukes!' + +'He talks to the Duke of St Bungay because there is no one he +trusts so much. A few years ago it would have been Mr Mildmay.' + +'My dear,' said the Duchess angrily, 'you treat me as though I +were a child. Of course I know why he chooses that old man out +of all the crowd. I don't suppose he does from any stupid pride +of rank. I know very well what set of ideas govern him. But +that isn't the point. He has to reflect what others think of it, +and to endeavour to do what will please them. There was I +telling tarradiddles by the yard to that old oaf Sir Orlando +Drought, when a confidential word from Plantagenet would have had +ten times more effect. And why can't he speak a word to the +people's wives? They wouldn't bit him. He has got to say a few +words to you sometimes,--to whom it doesn't signify, my dear.' + +'I don't know about that.' + +'But he never speaks to another woman. He was here this evening +for exactly forty minutes, and he didn't open his lips to a +female creature. I watched him. How on earth am I to pull him +through if he goes on in that way? Yes, Locock, I'll go to bed, +and I don't think I'll get up for a week.' + + + +CHAPTER 12 + +THE GATHERING OF CLOUDS. + +Throughout June and the first week of July the affairs of the +Ministry went on successfully, in spite of the social sins of the +Duke and the occasional despair of the Duchess. There had been +many politicians who had thought, or had, at any rate, predicted +that the Coalition Ministry would not live a month. There had +been men, such as Lord Fawn on one side and Mr Boffin on the +other, who had found themselves stranded disagreeably,--with no +certain position,--unwilling to sit behind a Treasury bench from +which they were excluded, and too shy to place themselves +immediately opposite. Seats beneath the gangway were, of course, +open to such of them as were members of the Lower House and those +seats had to be used; but they were not accustomed to sit beneath +the gangway. These gentlemen had expected that the seeds of +weakness, of which they had perceived a scattering, would grow at +once into an enormous crop of blunders, difficulties, and +complications; but, for a while, the Ministry were saved from +these dangers either by the energy of the Prime Minister, or the +popularity of his wife, or perhaps by the sagacity of the elder +Duke;--so that there grew up an idea that the Coalition was +really the proper thing. In one respect it certainly was +successful. The Home Rulers, or Irish party generally, were left +without an inch of standing ground. Their support was not +needed, and therefore they were not courted. For the moment +there was not even a necessity to pretend that Home Rule was +anything but an absurdity from beginning to end;--so much so +that one or two leading Home Rulers, men who had taken up the +cause not only that they might become Members of Parliament, but +with some further idea of speech-making and popularity, declared +that the Coalition had been formed merely with a view of putting +down Ireland. This capability of dispensing with a generally +intractable element of support was felt to be a great comfort. +Then, too, there was a set in the House,--at that moment not a +very numerous set,--who had been troublesome friends to the old +Liberal party, and which the Coalition was able, if not to +ignore, at any rate to disregard. These were the staunch +economists, and argumentative philosophical Radicals,--men of +standing and repute, who are always in doubtful times +individually flattered by Ministers, who have great privileges +accorded to them of speaking and dividing, and who are not +unfrequently even thanked for their rods by the very owners of +the backs which bear the scourges. These men could not be quite +set aside by the Coalition as were the Home Rules. It was not +even yet, perhaps, wise to count them out, or to leave them to +talk to the benches absolutely empty;--but the tone of flattery +with which they had been addressed became gradually less warm; +and when the scourges were wielded, ministerial backs took +themselves out of the way. There grew up unconsciously a feeling +of security against attack which was distasteful to these +gentlemen, and was in itself perhaps a little dangerous. +Gentlemen bound to support the Government, when they perceived +that there was comparatively but little to do, and that little +might easily be done, became careless, and, perhaps a little +contemptuous. So that the great popular orator, Mr Turnbull, +found himself compelled to rise in his seat, and ask whether the +noble Duke at the head of the Government thought himself strong +enough to rule without attention to parliamentary details. The +question was asked with an air of inexorable severity, and was +intended to have deep signification. Mr Turnbull had disliked +the Coalition from the beginning; but then Mr Turnbull always +disliked everything. He had so accustomed himself to wield the +constitutional cat-of-nine-tails, that heaven will hardly be +happy to him unless he be allowed to flog the cherubim. Though +the party with which he was presumed to act had generally been in +power since he had been in the House, he had never allowed +himself to agree with a Minister on any point. And as he had +never been satisfied with a Liberal Government, it was not +probable that he should endure a Coalition in silence. At the +end of a rather lengthy speech, he repeated his question, and +then sat down, taking his place with all that constitutional +indignation, which becomes the parliamentary flagellator of the +day. The little jokes with which Sir Orlando answered him were +very well in their way. Mr Turnbull did not care much whether he +were answered or not. Perhaps the jauntiness of Sir Orlando, +which implied that the Coalition was too strong to regard attack, +somewhat irritated outsiders. But there certainly grew up from +that moment a feeling among such men as Erle and Rattler that +care was necessary, that the House, taken as a whole, was not in +a condition to be manipulated with easy freedom, and that Sir +Orlando must be made to understand that he was not strong enough +to depend on such jauntiness. The jaunty statesman must be very +sure of his personal following. There was a general opinion that +Sir Orlando had not brought the Coalition well out of the first +real attack which had been made upon it. + +'Well, Phineas; how do you like the Phoenix?' Phineas Finn had +flown back to London at the instigation of probably Mr Rattler, +and was now standing at the window of Brook's club with +Barrington Erle. It was near nine one Thursday evening, and they +were both about to return to the House. + +'I don't like the Castle, if you mean that.' + +'Tyrone isn't troublesome, surely.' The Marquis of Tyrone was +the Lord Lieutenant of the day, and had in his time been a very +strong Conservative. + +'He finds me troublesome, I fear,' + +'I don't wonder at that, Phineas.' + +'How should it be otherwise? What can he and I have in sympathy +with one another? He has been brought up with all the +Orangeman's hatred for a Papist. Now that he is in high office, +he can abandon the display of the feeling,--perhaps the feeling +itself as regards the country at large. He knows that it doesn't +become a Lord Lieutenant to be Orange. But how can he put +himself into a boat with me?' + +'All that kind of thing vanishes when a man is in high office.' + +'Yes, as a rule; because men go together into office with the +same general predilections. Is it too hot to walk down?' + +'I'll walk a little way,--till you make me hot by arguing.' + +'I haven't an argument left in me,' said Phineas. 'Of course +everything over there seems easy enough now,--so easy that Lord +Tyrone evidently imagines that the good times are coming back in +which governors may govern and not be governed.' + +'You are pretty quiet in Ireland now, I suppose;--no martial +law, suspension of the habeas corpus, or anything of that kind, +just at present?' + +'No; thank goodness!' said Phineas. + +'I'm not quite sure whether a general suspension of the habeas +corpus would not upon the whole be the most comfortable state of +things for Irishmen themselves. But whether good or bad, you've +nothing of that kind of thing now. You've no great measure that +you wish to pass?' + +'But they've a great measure that they wish to pass.' + +'They know better than that. They don't want to kill their +golden goose.' + +'The people, who are infinitely ignorant of all political work, +do want it. There are counties which, if you were to poll the +people, Home Rule would carry nearly every voter,--except the +members themselves.' + +'You wouldn't give it them?' + +'Certainly not;--any more than I would allow a son to ruin +himself because he asked me. But I would endeavour to teach them +that they get nothing by Home Rule,--that their taxes would be +heavier, the property less secure, their lives less safe, their +general position more debased, and their chances of national +success more remote than ever.' + +'You can never teach them, except by the slow lesson of habit. +The Heptarchy didn't mould itself into a nation in a day.' + +'Men were governed then, and could be an were moulded. I feel +sure that even in Ireland there is a stratum of men, above the +working peasants, who would understand, and make those below them +understand, the position of the country, if they could only be +got to give up the feeling about religion. Even now Home Rule is +regarded by the multitude as a weapon to be used against +Protestantism in behalf of the Pope.' + +'I suppose the Pope is the great sinner?' + +'They got over the Pope in France,--even in early days, before +religion had become a farce in the country. They have done so in +Italy.' + +'Yes;--they have got over the Pope in Italy, certainly.' + +'And yet,' said Phineas, 'the bulk of the people are staunch +Catholics. Of course the same attempt to maintain a temporal +influence, with the hope of recovering temporal power, is made in +other countries. But while we see the attempt failing elsewhere, +--so that we know the power of the Church is going to the wall, +--yet in Ireland it is infinitely stronger now than it was fifty, +or even twenty years ago.' + +'Because we have been removing restraints on Papal aggression, +while other nations have been imposing restraints. There are +those at Rome who believe all England to be Romish at heart, +because here in England a Roman Catholic can say what he will, +and print what he will.' + +'And yet,' said Phineas, 'all England does not return one +Catholic to the House, while we have Jews in plenty. You have a +Jew among your English judges, but at present not a single Roman +Catholic. What do you suppose are the comparative numbers of the +population here in England?' + +'And you are going to cure all this;--while Tyrone thinks it +ought to be left as it is? I rather agree with Tyrone.' + +'No;' said Phineas, wearily; 'I doubt whether I shall ever cure +anything, or even make any real attempt. My patriotism just goes +far enough to make me unhappy, and Lord Tyrone thinks that while +Dublin ladies dance at the Castle, and the list of agrarian +murders is kept low, the country is admirably managed. I don't +quite agree with him,--that's all.' + +Then there arose a legal difficulty, which caused much trouble to +the Coalition Ministry. There fell vacant a certain seat on the +bench of judges,--a seat of considerable dignity and importance, +but not quite of the highest rank. Sir Gregory Grogram, who was +a rich, energetic man, determined to have a peerage, and +convinced that, should the Coalition fall to pieces, the Liberal +element would be in the ascendant,--so that the woolsack would +then be opened to him,--declined to occupy the place. Sir +Timothy Beeswax, the Solicitor-General, saw that it was exactly +suited for him, and had no hesitation in expressing an opinion to +that effect. But the place was not given to Sir Timothy. It was +explained to Sir Timothy that the old rule,--or rather custom, +--of offering certain high positions to the law officers of the +Crown, had been abrogated. Some Prime Minister, or, more +probably, some collection of Cabinet Ministers, had asserted the +custom to be a bad one,--and as far as right went, Sir Timothy +was declared not have a leg to stand upon. He was informed that +his services in the House were too valuable to be lost. Some +people said that his temper was against him. Others were of the +opinion that he had risen from the ranks too quickly, and that +Lord Ramsden who had come from the same party, thought that Sir +Timothy had not yet won his spurs. The Solicitor-General +resigned in a huff, and then withdrew his resignation. Sir +Gregory thought the withdrawal should not be accepted, having +found Sir Timothy to be an unsympathetic colleague. Our Duke +consulted the old Duke, among whose theories of official life +forbearance to all colleagues and subordinates was conspicuous. +The withdrawal was therefore allowed,--but the Coalition could +not after that be said to be strong in regard to its Law +Officers. + +But the first concerted attack against the Ministry was made in +reference to the budget. Mr Monk, who had consented to undertake +the duties of Chancellor of the Exchequer under the urgent +entreaties of the two dukes, was of course late with the budget. +It was April before the Coalition had been formed. The budget +when produced had been very popular. Budgets, like babies, are +always little loves when first born. But as their infancy passes +away, they also become subject to many stripes. The details are +less pleasing than was the whole in the hands of the nurse. +There was a certain 'interest', very influential both by general +wealth and by the presence of many members in the House, which +thought that Mr Monk had disregarded its just claims. Mr Monk +had refused to relieve the Brewers from their licences. Now the +Brewers had for some years been agitating about their licences, +--and it is acknowledged in politics that any measure is to be +carried out, or left out in the cold uncarried and neglected, +according to the number of deputations which may be got to press +a Minister on the subject. Now the Brewers had had deputation +after deputation to many Chancellors of the Exchequer; and these +deputations had been most respectable,--we may almost say +imperative. It was quite usual for a deputation to have four or +five County members among the body, all Brewers; and the average +wealth of a deputation of Brewers would buy up half London. All +the Brewers in the House had been among the supporters of the +Coalition, the number of Liberal and Conservative Brewers having +been about equal. But now there was a fear that the 'interest' +might put itself into opposition. Mr Monk had been firm. More +than one of the Ministry had wished to yield;--but he had +discussed the matter with the Chief; and they were both very +firm. The Duke had never doubted. Mr Monk had never doubted. + +From day to day certain organs of the Press expressed an opinion, +gradually increasing in strength, that however strong might be +the Coalition as a body, it was weak as to finance. This was +hard because not very many years ago, the Duke himself had been +known as a particularly strong Minister of Finance. An amendment +was moved in Committee as to the Brewer's Licences, and there was +almost a general opinion that the Coalition would be broken up. +Mr Monk would certainly not remain in office if the Brewers were +to be relieved from their licences. + +Then it was that Phineas Finn was recalled from Ireland in red +hot haste. The measure was debated for a couple of nights, and +Mr Monk carried his point. The Brewers' Licences were allowed to +remain, as one great gentleman from Burton declared, a 'disgrace +to the fiscal sagacity of the country.' The Coalition was so far +victorious,--but there was a general feeling that its strength +had been impaired. + + + +CHAPTER 13 + +MR WHARTON COMPLAINS. + +'I think you have betrayed me.' This accusation was brought by +Mr Wharton against Mrs Roby in that lady's drawing-room, and was +occasioned by a report that had been made to the old lawyer by +his daughter. He was very angry and almost violent;--so much so +that by his manner, he gave considerable advantage to the lady +whom he was accusing. + +Mrs Roby undoubtedly had betrayed her brother-in-law. She had +been false to the trust reposed in her. He had explained his +wishes to her in regard to his daughter, to whom she had in some +sort assumed to stand in place of a mother, and she, while +pretending to act in accordance with his wishes, had directly +opposed them. But it was not likely that he would be able to +prove her treachery though he might be sure of it. He had +desired that the girl should see as little as possible of +Ferdinand Lopez, but had hesitated to give a positive order that +she should not meet him. He had indeed himself taken her to a +dinner party at which he knew that she would meet him. But Mrs +Roby had betrayed him. Since the dinner party she had arranged a +meeting at her own house in behalf of the lover,--as to which +arrangement Emily Wharton had herself been altogether innocent. +Emily had met the man in her aunt's house, not expecting to meet +him, and the lover had had an opportunity of speaking his mind +freely. She also had spoken hers freely. She would not engage +herself without her father's consent. With that consent she +would do so,--oh, so willingly! She did not coy her love. He +might be certain that she would give herself to no one else. Her +heart was entirely his. But she had pledged herself to her +father, and on no consideration would she break that pledge. She +went on to say that after what had passed she thought that they +had better not meet. In such meetings there could be no +satisfaction, and must be much pain. But he had her full +permission to use any arguments that he could use with her +father. On the evening of that day she told her father all that +had passed,--omitting no detail either of what she had said or +of what had been said to her--adding a positive assurance of +obedience, but doing so with a severe solemnity and apparent +consciousness of ill-usage which almost broke her father's heart. +'Your aunt must have laid him there on purpose,' Mr Wharton had +said. But Emily would neither accuse nor defend her aunt. 'I at +least knew nothing of it,' she said. 'I know that,' Mr Wharton +had ejaculated. 'I know that. I don't accuse you of anything, +my dear,--except of thinking that you understand the world +better than I do.' Then Emily had retired and Mr Wharton had +been left to pass half the night in perplexed reverie, feeling +that he would be forced ultimately to give way, and yet certain +that by doing so he would endanger his child's happiness. + +He was so angry with his sister-in-law, and on the next day, +early in the morning, he attacked her. 'I think you have +betrayed me,' he said. + +'What do you mean by that, Mr Wharton?' + +'You have had this man here on purpose that he might make love to +Emily.' + +'I have done no such thing. You told me yourself that they were +not to be kept apart. He comes here, and it would be very odd +indeed if I were to tell the servants that he is not to be +admitted. If you want to quarrel with me, of course you can. I +have always endeavoured to be a good friend to Emily.' + +'It is not being a good friend to her, bringing her and this +adventurer together.' + +'I don't know why you call him an adventurer. But you are so +very odd in your ideas! He is received everywhere, and is always +at the Duchess of Omnium's.' + +'I don't care a fig about the Duchess.' + +'I dare say not. Only the Duke happens to be Prime Minister, and +his house is considered to have the very best society in England, +or indeed, Europe, can give. And I think it is something in a +young man's favour when it is known that he associates with such +persons as the Duke of Omnium. I believe that most fathers would +have a regard to the company which a man keeps when they think of +their daughter's marrying.' + +'I ain't thinking of her marrying. I don't want her to marry;-- +not this man at least. And I fancy the Duchess of Omnium is just +as likely to have scamps in her drawing-room as any other lady in +London.' + +'And do such men as Mr Happerton associate with scamps?' + +'I don't know anything about Mr Happerton,--and I don't care +anything about him.' + +'He has 20,000 pounds a year out of his business. And does +Everett associate with scamps.' + +'Very likely.' + +'I never knew anyone so much prejudiced as you are, Mr Wharton. +When you have a point to carry there's nothing you won't say. I +suppose it comes from being in the courts.' + +'The long and short of it is this,' said the lawyer, 'if I find +that Emily is brought here to meet Mr Lopez, I must forbid her to +come at all.' + +'You must do as you please about that. But to tell you the +truth, Mr Wharton, I think the mischief is done. Such a girl as +Emily, when she has taken it into her head to love a man, is not +likely to give him up.' + +'She has promised to have nothing to say to him without my +sanction.' + +'We all know what that means. You'll have to give way. You'll +find that it will be so. The stern parent who dooms his daughter +to perpetual seclusion because she won't marry the man he likes, +doesn't belong to this age.' + +'Who talks about seclusion?' + +'Do you suppose that she'll give up the man she loves because you +don't like him? Is that the way girls live nowadays? She won't +run away with him, because she's not one of that sort; but unless +you're harder-hearted than I take you to be, she'll make your +life a burden to you. And as for betraying you, that's nonsense. +You've no right to say it. I'm not going to quarrel with you +whatever you may say, but you've no right to say it.' + +Mr Wharton as he went away to Lincoln's Inn, bewailed himself +because he knew he was not hard-hearted. What his sister-in-law +had said to him in that respect was true enough. If he could +only rid himself of a certain internal ague which made him feel +that his life was, indeed, a burden to him while his daughter was +unhappy, he need only remain passive and simply not give the +permission without which his daughter would not ever engage +herself to this man. But the ague troubled every hour of his +present life. That sister-in-law of his was a silly, vulgar, +worldly, and most untrustworthy woman;--but she had understood +what she was saying. + +And there had been something in that argument about the Duchess +of Omnium's parties, and Mr Happerton, which had its effect. If +the man did live with the great and wealthy, it must be because +they thought well of him and his position. The fact of his being +"a nasty foreigner", and probably of Jewish descent, remained. +To him, Wharton, the man must always be distasteful. But he +could hardly maintain his opposition to one of whom the choice +spirits of the world thought well. And he tried to be fair on +the subject. It might be that it was a prejudice. Others +probably did not find a man to be odious because he was swarthy, +or even object to him if he were a Jew by descent. But it was +wonderful to him that his girl should like such a man,--should +like such a man well enough to choose him as the one companion of +her life. She had been brought up to prefer English men, and +English thinking, and English ways,--and English ways, too, +somewhat of a past time. He thought as did Brabantio, that it +could not be that without magic, his daughter had also shunned-- + + "The wealthy curled darlings of our nation, + Would ever have, to incur a general mock, + Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom + Of such a thing as--" + +the distasteful Portuguese. + +That evening he said nothing further to his daughter, but sat +with her, silent and disconsolate. Later in the evening, after +she had gone to her room, Everett came in while the old man was +still walking up and down the drawing-room. 'Where have you +been?' asked the father,--not caring a straw as to any reply +when he asked the question, but roused almost to anger by the +answer when it came. + +'I have been dining with Lopez at the club.' + +'I believe you live with that man.' + +'Is there a reason, sir, why I should not?' + +'You know there is a good reason why there should be no peculiar +intimacy. But I don't suppose that my wishes, or your sister's +welfare, will interest you.' + +'That is severe, sir.' + +'I am not such a fool as to suppose that you are to quarrel with +a man because I don't approve of his addressing your sister; but +I do think that while this is going on, and while he perseveres +in opposition to my distinct refusal, you need not associate with +him in any special manner.' + +'I don't understand your objection to him, sir.' + +'I dare say not. There are a great many things you don't +understand. But I do object.' + +'He's a very rising man. Mr Roby was saying to me just now--' + +'Who cares a straw what a fool like Roby says?' + +'I don't mean Uncle Dick, but his brother,--who, I suppose, is +somebody in the world. He was saying to me just now that he +wondered why Lopez does not go into the House;--that he would be +sure to get a seat if he chose, and safe to make a mark when he +got there.' + +'I dare say he would get into the House. I don't know any well- +to-do blackguard of whom you might not predict as much. A seat +in the House of Commons doesn't make a man a gentleman, as far as +I can see.' + +'I think everyone allows that Ferdinand Lopez is a gentleman.' + +'Who was his father?' + +'I didn't happen to know him, sir.' + +'And who was his mother? I don't suppose you will credit +anything because I say it, but as far as my experience goes, a +man doesn't often become a gentleman in the first generation. A +man may be very worthy, very clever, very rich,--very well worth +knowing, if you will;--but when one talks of admitting a man +into close family communion by marriage, one would, I fancy, wish +to know something of his father and mother.' Then Everett +escaped, and Mr Wharton was again left to his own meditations. +Oh, what a peril, what a trouble, what a labyrinth of +difficulties was a daughter! He must either be known as a stern, +hard-hearted parent, utterly indifferent to his child's feelings, +using with tyranny the power over her which came to him only from +a sense of filial duty,--or else he must give up his own +judgement, and yield to her in a matter as to which he believed +that such yielding would be most pernicious to her own interests. + +Hitherto he really knew nothing of the man's means;--nor, if he +could have his own way, did he want to such information. But, as +things were going now, he began to feel that if he could hear +anything averse to the man, he might thus strengthen his hands +against him. On the following day he went into the city, and +called on an old friend, a banker,--one whom he had known for +nearly half a century, and of whom, therefore, he was not afraid +to ask a question. For Mr Wharton was a man not prone, in the +ordinary intercourse of life, either to ask or to answer +questions. 'You don't know anything, do you, of a man named +Ferdinand Lopez?' + +'I have heard of him. But why do you ask?' + +'Well; I have reason for asking. I don't know that I quite wish +to say what my reason is.' + +'I have heard of him as connected with Hunky's house,' said the +banker,--'or rather with one of the partners in the house.' + +'Is he a man of means?' + +'I imagine him to be so;--but I know nothing. He has rather +large dealings, I take it, in foreign stocks. Is he after my old +friend, Miss Wharton?' + +'Well;--yes.' + +'You had better get more information than I can give you. But, +of course, before anything of that kind was done, you would see +that money was settled.' This was all he heard in the city, and +this was not satisfactory. He had not liked to tell his friend +that he wished to hear that the foreigner was a needy adventurer, +--altogether untrustworthy; but that had really been his desire. +Then he thought of the 60,000 pounds which he himself destined +for his girl. If the man were to his liking there would be money +enough. Though he had been careful to save money, he was not a +greedy man, even for his children. Should his daughter insist on +marrying this man, he could take care that she should never want +a sufficient income. + +As a first step,--a thing to be done almost at once,--he must +take her away from London. It was now July, and the custom of +the family was that the house in Manchester Square should be left +for two months, and that the flitting should take place in about +the middle of August. Mr Wharton usually liked to postpone the +flitting, as he also liked to hasten the return. But now it was +a question whether he had not better start at once,--start +somewhither, and probably for a much longer period than the usual +vacation. Should he take the bull by the horns and declare his +purpose of living for the next twelvemonth at--; well, it did +not much matter where. Dresden, he thought, was a long way off, +and would do as well as any place. Then it occurred to him that +his cousin, Sir Alured was in town, and that he had better see +his cousin before he came to any decision. They were, as usual, +expected at Wharton Hall this autumn, and that arrangement could +not be abandoned without explanation. + +Sir Alured Wharton was a baronet, with a handsome old family +place on the Wye, in Hertfordshire, whose forefathers had been +baronets since baronets were first created, and whose earlier +forefathers had lived at Wharton Hall much before that time. It +may be imagined, therefore, that Sir Alured was proud of his +name, of his estate, and of his rank. But there were drawbacks +to his happiness. As regarded his name, it was to descend to a +nephew whom he specially disliked,--and with good cause. As to +his estate, delightful as it was in many respects, it was hardly +sufficient to maintain his position with that plentiful +hospitality which he would have loved;--and other property he +had none. And as to his rank, he had almost become ashamed of +it, since,--as he was wont to declare was now the case,--every +prosperous tallow-maker throughout the country was made a baronet +as a matter of course. So he lived at home through the year with +his wife and daughters, not pretending to the luxury of the +season for which his modest three or four thousand a year did not +suffice;--and so living, apart from all the friction of clubs, +parliaments, and mixed society, he did veritably believe that his +dear country was going utterly to the dogs. He was so staunch in +politics, that during the doings of the last quarter of a +century,--from the repeal of the Corn Laws down to the Ballot,-- +he had honestly declared one side to be as bad as the other. +Thus he felt that all his happiness was to be drawn from the +past. There was nothing of joy or glory to which he could look +forward either on behalf of his country or his family. His +nephew,--and alas, his heir,--was a needy spendthrift, with +whom he would hold no communication. The family settlement for +his wife and daughters would leave them but poorly off; and +though he did struggle to save something, the duty of living as +Sir Alured Wharton of Wharton Hall should live made those +struggles very ineffective. He was a melancholy, proud, ignorant +man, who could not endure a personal liberty, and who thought the +assertion of social equality on the part of men of lower rank to +amount to the taking of a personal liberty;--who read little or +nothing, and thought that he knew the history of his country +because he was aware that Charles I had had his head cut off, and +that the Georges had come from Hanover. If Charles I had never +had had his head cut off, and if the Georges had never come from +Hanover, the Whartons would now probably be great people and +Britain a great nation. But the Evil One had been allowed to +prevail, and everything had gone astray, and Sir Alured now had +nothing of this world to console him but a hazy retrospect of +past glories, and a delight in the beauty of his own river, his +own park, and his own house. Sir Alured, with all his foibles, +and with all his faults, was a pure-minded, simple gentleman, who +could not tell a lie, who could not do a wrong, and who was +earnest in his desire to make those who were dependent on him +comfortable, and, if possible, happy. Once a year he came up to +London for a week, to see his lawyers, and get measured for a +coat, and go to the dentist. These were the excuses which he +gave, but it was fancied by some that his wig was the great +moving cause. Sir Alured and Mr Wharton were second cousins, and +close friends. Sir Alured trusted his cousin altogether in all +things, believing him to be the great legal luminary of Great +Britain, and Mr Wharton returned his cousin's affection, +entertaining something akin to reverence for the man who was the +head of his family. He dearly loved Sir Alured,--and loved Sir +Alured's wife and two daughters. Nevertheless, the second week +at Wharton Hall became very tedious to him, and the fourth, fifth +and sixth weeks frightful with ennui. + +Perhaps it was with some unconscious dread of this tedium that he +made a sudden suggestion to Sir Alured in reference to Dresden. +Sir Alured had come to him at his chambers, and the two old men +were sitting together near the open window. Sir Alured delighted +in the privilege of sitting there, which seemed to confer upon +him something of an insight into the inner ways of London life +beyond what he could get at the hotel or his wigmaker's. 'Go to +Dresden;--for the winter!' he exclaimed. + +'Not only for the winter. We should go at once.' + +'Not before you come to Wharton!' said the amazed baronet. + +Mr Wharton replied in a low, sad voice, 'in that case we should +not go down to Hertfordshire at all.' The baronet looked hurt as +well as unhappy. 'Yes, I know what you will say, and how kind +you are.' + +'It isn't kindness at all. You always come. It would be +breaking up everything.' + +'Everything has to be broken up sooner or later. One feels that +as one grows older.' + +'You and I, Abel, are just of an age. Why should you talk to me +like this? You are strong enough, whatever I am. Why shouldn't +you come? Dresden! I never heard of such a thing. I suppose +it's some nonsense of Emily's.' + +Then Mr Wharton told his whole story. 'Nonsense of Emily's!' he +began. 'Yes, it is nonsense, worse than you think. But she +doesn't want to go abroad.' The father's plaint needn't be +repeated to the reader as it was told to the baronet. Though it +was necessary that he should explain himself, yet he tried to be +reticent. Sir Alured listened in silence. He loved his cousin +Emily, and knowing that she would be rich, knowing her advantages +of birth, and recognizing her beauty, had expected that she would +make a match creditable to the Wharton family. But a Portuguese +Jew! A man who had never been even known to allude to his own +father! For by degrees Mr Wharton had been driven to confess all +the sins of the lover, though he had endeavoured to conceal the +extent of his daughter's love. + +'Do you mean that Emily--favours him?' + +'I am afraid so.' + +'And would she,-would she--do anything without your sanctions?' +He was always thinking of the disgrace attaching to himself by +reason of his nephew's vileness, and now, if a daughter of the +family should also go astray, so as to be exiled from the bosom +of the Whartons, how manifest would it be that all the glory was +departing from their house! + +'No! She will do nothing without my sanction. She has given her +word,--which is gospel.' As he spoke the old lawyer struck his +hand upon the table. + +'Then why should you run to Dresden?' + +'Because she is unhappy. She will not marry him,-or even see him +if I forbid it. But she is near him.' + +'Hertfordshire is a long way off,' said the baronet pleading. + +'Changes of scene are what she should have,' said the father. + +'There can't be more of a change than she would get at Wharton. +She always did like Wharton. It was there that she met Arthur +Fletcher.' The father only shook his head as Arthur Fletcher's +name was mentioned. 'Well,--that is sad. I always thoughts +she'd give way about Arthur at last.' + +'It is impossible to understand a young woman,' said the lawyer. +With such an English gentleman as Arthur Fletcher on one side, +and with his Portuguese Jew on the other, it was to him Hyperion +to a Satyr. A darkness had fallen over the girl's eyes, and for +a time her power of judgment had left her. + +'But I don't see why Wharton should not do just as well as +Dresden,' continued the baronet. + +Mr Wharton found himself quite unable to make his cousin +understand the greater disruption caused by a residence abroad, +the feeling that a new kind of life had been considered necessary +for her, and that she must submit to the new kind of life, might +be gradually effective, while the journeyings and scenes which +had been common to her year after year would have no effect. +Nevertheless he gave way. They could hardly start to Germany at +once, but the visit to Wharton might be accelerated; and the +details of the residence abroad might there be arranged. It was +fixed, therefore, that Mr Wharton and Emily should go down to +Wharton Hall at any rate before the end of July. + +'Why do you go earlier than usual, papa?' Emily asked him +afterwards. + +'Because I think it's best,' he replied angrily. She ought at +any rate to understand the reason. + +'Of course I shall be ready, papa. You know that I always like +Wharton. There is no place on earth I like so much, and this +year it will be especially pleasant to me to go out of town. +But--' + +'But what?' + +'I can't bear to think that I shall be taking you away.' + +'I've got to bear worse things than that, my dear.' + +'Oh, papa, do not speak to me like that! Of course I know what +you mean. There is no real reason for your going. If you wish +it I will promise you I will never see him.' He only shook his +head,--meaning to imply that a promise could go no farther than +that would not make him happy. 'It will be just the same, papa, +-either here, or at Wharton, or elsewhere. You need not be +afraid of me.' + +'I am not afraid of you;--but I am afraid for you. I fear for +your happiness,--and for my own.' + +'So do I, papa. But what can be done? I suppose sometimes +people must be unhappy. I can't change myself and I can't change +you. I find myself as much bound to Mr Lopez as though I were +his wife.' + +'No, no! You shouldn't say so. You've no right to say so.' + +'But I have given you a promise, and I certainly will keep it. +If we must be unhappy, still we need not,--need not quarrel; +need we, papa?' Then she came up to him and kissed him,-- +whereupon he went out of the room wiping his eyes. + +That evening he again spoke to her, saying merely a word. 'I +think, my dear, we'll have it fixed that we go on the 30th. Sir +Alured seemed to wish it.' + +'Very well, papa;--I shall be quite ready.' + + + +CHAPTER 14 + +A LOVER'S PERSEVERANCE. + +Ferdinand Lopez learned immediately through Mrs Roby that the +early departure for Hertfordshire had been fixed. 'I should go +to him and speak to him very plainly,' said Mrs Roby. 'He can't +bite you.' + +'I'm not in the least afraid of his biting me.' + +'You can talk so well! I should tell him everything, especially +about money,--which I'm sure is all right.' + +'Yes,--that is all right,' said Lopez, smiling. + +'And about your people.' + +'Which, I've no doubt you think is all wrong.' + +'I don't know anything about it,' said Mrs Roby, 'and I don't +much care. He has old-world notions. At any rate you should say +something, so that he should not be able to complain to her that +you had kept him in the dark. If there is anything to be known, +it's much better to have it known.' + +'But there is nothing to be known.' + +'Then tell him nothing;--but still tell it to him. After that +you must trust to her. I don't suppose she'd go off with you.' + +'I'm sure she wouldn't.' + +'But she's as obstinate as a mule. She'll get the better of him +if you really mean it.' He assured her that he really did mean +it, and determined that he would take her advice as to seeing, or +endeavouring to see, Mr Wharton once again. But before doing so +he thought it to be expedient to put his house in order, so that +he might be able to make a statement of his affairs if asked to +do so. Whether they were flourishing or the reverse, it might be +necessary that he should have to speak of them,--with, at any +rate, apparent candour. + +The reader may, perhaps, remember that in the month of April +Ferdinand Lopez had managed to extract a certain signature from +his unfortunate city friend, Sexty Parker, which made that +gentleman responsible for the payment of a considerable sum of +money before the end of July. The transaction had been one of +unmixed painful nature to Mr Parker. As soon as he came to think +of it, after Lopez had left him, he could not prevail upon +himself to forgive himself for his folly. That he,--he, Sextus +Parker,--should have been induced by a few empty words to give +his name for seven hundred and fifty pounds without any +consideration or possibility of benefit! And the more he thought +of it the more sure he was that the money was lost. The next day +he confirmed his own fears, and before a week was gone he had +written down the sum as gone. He told nobody. He did not like +to confess his folly. But he made some inquiry about his friend, +--which was absolutely futile. No one that he knew seemed to +know anything of the man's affairs. But he saw his friend from +time to time in the city, shining as only successful men do +shine, and he heard of him as one whose name was becoming known +in the city. Still he suffered grievously. His money was surely +gone. A man does not fly a kite in that fashion till things with +him have reached a bad pass. + +So it was with Mr Parker all through May and to the end of June, +the load ever growing heavier and heavier as the time became +nearer. Then, while he was still afflicted with a heaviness of +spirits which had never left him since that fatal day, who but +Ferdinand Lopez should walk into his office, wearing the gayest +smile and with a hat splendid as hats are splendid only in the +city. And nothing could be more 'jolly' than his friend's +manner,--so much so that Sexty was almost lifted up into +temporary jollity himself. Lopez, seating himself almost at once +began to describe a certain speculation into which he was going +rather deeply, and as to which he invited his friend Parker's co- +operation. He was intending, evidently, not to ask, but to +confer a favour. + +'I rather think that steady business is best,' said Parker. 'I +hope it's all right about the 750 pounds.' + +'Ah; yes,--I meant to have told you. I didn't want the money, +as it turned out, for much above a fortnight, and as there was no +use in letting the bill run out, I settled it.' So saying he +took out a pocket-book, extracted the bill, and showed it to +Sexty. Sexty's heart fluttered in his bosom. There was his name +still on the bit of paper, and it might still be used. Having it +shown him after this fashion in its mid career, of course he had +strong ground for hope. But he could not bring himself to put +out his hand for it. 'As to what you say about steady business, +of course that's very well,' said Lopez. 'It depends on whether +a man wants to make a small income or a large fortune.' He still +held the bill as though he were going to fold it up again, and +the importance of it was so present to Sexty's mind that he could +hardly digest the argument about the steady business. 'I own +that I an not satisfied with the former,' continued Lopez, 'and +that I go in for the fortune.' As he spoke he tore the bill into +three or four bits, apparently without thinking of it, and let +the fragments fall upon the floor. It was as though a mountain +had been taken off Sexty's bosom. He felt almost inclined to +send out for a bottle of champagne on the moment, and the +arguments of his friend rang in his ears with quite a different +sound. The allurements of a steady income paled before his eyes, +and he too began to tell himself as he had often told himself +before, that if he would only keep his eyes open and his heart +high, there was no reason why he too should not become a city +millionaire. But on that occasion Lopez left him soon, without +saying very much about his favourite speculation. In a few days, +however, the same matter was brought before Sexty's eyes from +another direction. He learned from a side wind that the house of +Hunky and Sons was concerned largely in this business,--or at +any rate he thought that he had so learned. The ease with which +Lopez had destroyed that bill six weeks before it was due had had +great effect upon him. Those arguments about a large fortune or +a small income still clung to him. Lopez had come to him about +the business in the first instance, but it was now necessary that +he should go to Lopez. He was, however, very cautious. He +managed to happen to meet Lopez in the street, and introduced the +subject in his own slap-dash, aery manner,--the result of which +was, that he had gone rather deep into two or three American +mines before the end of July. But he had already made some money +out of them, and, though he would find himself sometimes +trembling before he had taken his daily allowance of port wine +and brandy and water, still he was buoyant, and hopeful of living +in a park, with a palace at the West End, and a seat in +Parliament. Knowing also as he did, that his friend Lopez was +intimate with the Duchess of Omnium, he had much immediate +satisfaction in the intimacy which these relations created. He +was getting in the thin edge of the wedge, and would calculate as +he went home to Ponder's End how long it must be before he could +ask his friend to propose him at some West End club. On one +halcyon summer evening Lopez had dined with him at Ponder's End, +had smiled on Mrs Parker and played with the hopeful little +Parkers. On that occasion Sexty had assured his wife that he +regarded his friendship with Ferdinand Lopez as the most +fortunate circumstance of his life. 'Do be careful, Sexty,' the +poor woman had said. But Parker had simply told her that she +understood nothing about business. On that evening Lopez had +thoroughly imbued him with the conviction that if you will only +set your mind that way, it is quite as easy to amass a large +fortune as to earn a small income. + +About a week before the departure of the Whartons to +Hertfordshire, Lopez in compliance with Mrs Roby's counsels, +called at the chambers in Stone Buildings. It is difficult to +say that you will not see a man, when the man is standing just on +the other side of an open door,--nor, in this case, was Mr +Wharton quite clear that he had better decline to see the man. +But while he was doubting,--at any rate before he had resolved +upon denying his presence,--the man was there, inside his room. +Mr Wharton got up from his chair, hesitated a moment, and then +gave his hand to the intruder in that half-unwilling, +unsatisfactory manner which most of us have experienced when +shaking hands with some cold-blooded, ungenial acquaintance. +'Well, Mr Lopez,--what can I do for you?' he said, as he re- +seated himself. He looked as though he were at his ease and +master of the situation. He had control over himself sufficient +for assuming such a manner. But his heart was not high within +his bosom. The more he looked at the man the less he liked him. + +'There is one thing, and one thing only, you can do for me,' said +Lopez. His voice was peculiarly sweet, and when he spoke his +words seemed to mean more than when they came from other mouths. +But Mr Wharton did not like sweet voices and mellow, soft words, +--at least not from men's mouths. + +'I do not think I can do anything for you, Mr Lopez,' he said. +There was slight pause, during which the visitor put down his hat +and seemed to hesitate. 'I think your coming here can be of no +avail. Did I not explain myself when I saw you before?' + +'But, I fear, I did not explain myself. I hardly told my story.' + +'You can tell it, of course,--if you think the telling will do +you any good.' + +'I was not able to say than, as I can say now, that your daughter +had accepted my love.' + +'You ought not to have spoken to my daughter on the subject after +what passed between us. I told you my mind frankly.' + +'Ah, Mr Wharton, how was obedience in such a matter possible? +What would you yourself think of a man who in such a position +would be obedient? I did not seek her secretly. I did nothing +underhand. Before I had once directly asked her for her love, I +came to you.' + +'What's the use of that, if you go to her immediately afterwards +in manifest opposition to my wishes? You found yourself bound, +as would any gentleman, to ask a father's leave, and when it was +refused, you went on just though it had been granted! Don't you +call that a mockery?' + +'I can say now, sir, what I could not say then. We love each +other. And I am sure of her as I am of myself when I assert that +we shall be true to each other. You must know her well enough to +be sure of that also.' + +'I am sure of nothing but of this;--that I will not give her my +consent to become your wife.' + +'What is your objection, Mr Wharton?' + +'I explained it before as far as I found myself called upon to +explain it.' + +'Are we both to be sacrificed for some reason that we neither of us +understand?' + +'How dare you take upon yourself to say that she doesn't +understand! Because I refuse to be more explicit to you a +stranger, do you suppose that I am equally silent to my own +child?' + +'In regard to money and social rank, I am able to place your +daughter as my wife in a position as good as she now holds as +Miss Wharton.' + +'I care nothing about money. Mr Lopez, and our ideas of social +rank are perhaps different. I have nothing further to say to +you, and I do not think that you can have anything further to say +to me that can be of any avail.' Then, having finished his +speech, he got up from his chair and stood upright, thereby +demanding of his visitor that he should depart. + +'I think it no more than honest, Mr Wharton, to declare this one +thing. I regard myself as irrevocably engaged to your daughter, +and she, although she has refused to bind herself to me by that +special word, is, I am certain, as firmly fixed in her choice as +I am in mine. My happiness, as a matter of course, can be +nothing to you.' + +'Not much,' said the lawyer, with angry impatience. + +Lopez smiled, but he put down the word in his memory and +determined he would treasure it there. 'Not much, at any rate as +yet,' he said. 'But her happiness must be much to you.' + +'It is everything. But in thinking of her happiness I must look +beyond what might be the satisfaction of the present day. You +must excuse me, Mr Lopez, if I say that I would rather not +discuss the matter with you any further.' Then he rang the bell +and passed quickly into an inner room. When the clerk came Lopez +of course marched out of the chamber and went his way. + +Mr Wharton had been very firm, and yet he was shaken. It was by +degrees becoming a fixed idea in his mind that the man's material +prosperity was assured. He was afraid even to allude to that +subject when talking to the man himself, lest he should be +overwhelmed by evidence on that subject. Then the man's manner, +though it was distasteful to Wharton himself, would, he well +knew, recommend him to others. He was good-looking, he lived +with people who were highly regarded, he could speak up for +himself, and he was a favoured guest at Carlton House Terrace. +So great had been the fame of the Duchess and her hospitality +during the last two months, that the fact of the man's success in +this respect had come home even to Mr Wharton. He feared that +the world would be against him, and he already began to dread the +joint opposition of the world and his own child. The world of +this day did not, he thought, care whether its daughter's +husbands had or had not any fathers or mothers. The world as it +was now didn't care whether its sons-in-law were Christian or +Jewish;--whether they had the fair skin and bold eyes and +uncertain words of an English gentleman, or the swarthy colour +and false grimace and glib tongue of some inferior Latin race. +But he cared for those things;--and it was dreadful to him to +think that his daughter should not care for them. 'I suppose I +had better die and leave them to look after themselves,' he said, +as he returned to his arm-chair. + +Lopez himself was not altogether ill-satisfied with the +interview, not having expected that Mr Wharton would have given +way at once and bestowed upon him then and there the kind father- +in-law's "bless you,--bless you!". Something had yet to be done +before the blessing would come, or the girl,--or the money. He +had to-day asserted his own material success, speaking of himself +as of a moneyed man,--and his statement had been received with +no contradiction,--even without the suggestion of a doubt. He +did not therefore suppose that the difficulty was over; but he +was clever enough to perceive that the aversion to him on another +score might help to tide him over that difficulty. And if once +he could call the girl his wife, he did not doubt but that he +could build himself up with the barrister's money. After leaving +Lincoln's Inn he went at once to Berkeley Street, and was soon +closeted with Mrs Roby. 'You can get her here before you go?' he +said. + +'She wouldn't come;--and if we arranged it without letting her +know that you were to be here, she would tell her father. She +hasn't a particle of female intrigue in her.' + +'So much the better,' said the lover. + +'That's all very well for you to say, but when a man makes such a +tyrant of himself as Mr Wharton is doing, a girl is bound to look +after herself. If it was me I'd go off with my young man before +I'd stand such treatment.' + +'You could give her a letter.' + +'She'd only show it to her father. She is so perverse that I +sometimes feel inclined to say that I'll have nothing further to +do with her.' + +'You'll give her a message at any rate?' + +'Yes,--I can do that;--because I can do it in a way that won't seem +to make it important.' + +'But I want my message to be very important. Tell her that I've +seen her father, and have offered to explain all my affairs to +him,--so that he may know that there is nothing to fear on her +behalf.' + +'It isn't any thought of money that is troubling him.' + +'But tell her what I say. He, however, would listen to nothing. +Then I assured him that no consideration on earth would induce me +to surrender her, and I was sure of her as I am of myself. Tell +her that;--and tell her that I think she owes to me to say one +word to me before she goes into the country.' + + + +CHAPTER 15 + +ARTHUR FLETCHER. + +It may, I think, be a question whether the two old men acted +wisely in having Arthur Fletcher at Wharton Hall when Emily +arrived there. The story of his love for Miss Wharton, as far as +it had yet gone, must shortly be told. He had been the second +son, as he was now the second brother, of a Hertfordshire squire +endowed with much larger property than that belonging to Sir +Alured. John Fletcher, Esq., of Longbarns, some twelve miles +from Wharton, was a considerable man in Hertfordshire. This +present squire had married Sir Alured's eldest daughter, and the +younger brother had, almost since they were children together, +been known to be in love with Emily Wharton. All the Fletchers +and everything belonging to them were almost worshipped at +Wharton Hall. There had been marriages between the two families +certainly as far back as the time of Henry VII, and they were +accustomed to speak, if not of alliances, at any rate of +friendships, much anterior to that. As regards family, +therefore, the pretensions of a Fletcher would always be held to +be good by a Wharton. But this Fletcher was the very pearl of +the Fletcher tribe. Though a younger brother, he had a very +pleasant little fortune of his own. Though born to comfortable +circumstances, he had worked so hard in his younger days as to +have already made for himself a name at the bar. He was a fair- +haired, handsome fellow, with sharp, eager eyes, with an aquiline +nose and just that shape of mouth and chin which such men as Abel +Wharton regarded as characteristic of good blood. He was rather +thin, about five feet ten in height, and had the character of +being one of the best horsemen in the county. He was one of the +most popular men in Hertfordshire, and at Longbarns was almost as +much thought of as the squire himself. He certainly was not the +man to be taken, from his appearance, for a forlorn lover. He +looked like one of those happy sons of the gods who are born to +success. No young man of his age was more courted both by men +and women. There was no one who in his youth had suffered fewer +troubles from those causes of trouble which visit English young +men,--occasional impecuniosity, sternness of parents, native +shyness, fear of ridicule, inability of speech, and a general +pervading sense of inferiority combined with an ardent desire to +rise to a feeling of conscious superiority. So much had been +done for him by nature that he was never called upon to pretend +to anything. Throughout the county those were the lucky men-- +and those too were the happy girls,--who were allowed to call +him Arthur. And yet this paragon was vainly in love with Emily +Wharton, who, in the way of love, would have nothing to say to +him, preferring,--as her father once said in extreme wrath,--a +greasy Jew adventurer out of the gutter! + +And now it had been thought expedient to have him down to +Wharton, although the lawyer's regular summer vacation had not +yet commenced. But there was some excuse made for this, over and +above the emergency of his own love, in the fact that his brother +John, with Mrs Fletcher, was also to be at the Hall,--so that +there was gathered there a great family party of the Whartons and +Fletchers; for there was present there also old Mrs Fletcher, a +magnificently aristocratic and high-minded old lady, with snow- +white hair, and lace worth fifty guineas a yard, who was as +anxious as everybody else that her younger son should marry Emily +Wharton. Something of the truth as to Emily Wharton's 60,000 +pounds was, of course, known to the Longbarns people. Not that I +would have it inferred that they wanted their darling to sell +himself for money. The Fletchers were great people, with great +spirits, too good in every way for such baseness. But when love, +old friendship, good birth, together with every other propriety +as to age, manners, and conduct, can be joined in money, such a +combination will always be thought pleasant. + +When Arthur reached the Hall it was felt to be necessary that a +word should be said to him as to that wretched interloper, +Ferdinand Lopez. Arthur had not of late been often in Manchester +Square. Though always most cordially welcomed by old Wharton, +and treated with kindness by Emily Wharton short of that love +which he desired, he had during the last three or four months +abstained from frequenting the house. During the past winter, +and early in the spring, he had pressed his suit--but had been +rejected, with warmest assurances of all friendship short of +love. It had then been arranged between him and the elder +Whartons that they should all meet down in the Hall, and there +had been sympathetic expressions of hope that all might yet be +well. But at that time little or nothing had been known of +Ferdinand Lopez. + +But now the old baronet spoke to him, the father having deputed +the loathsome task to his friend,--being unwilling himself even +to hint at his daughter's disgrace. 'Oh, yes, I've heard of +him,' said Arthur Fletcher. 'I met him with Everett and I don't +think I ever took a stronger dislike to a man. Everett seems +very fond of him.' The baronet mournfully shook his head. It +was sad to find that Whartons could go so far astray. 'He goes +to Carlton Terrace,--to the Duchess's,' continued the young man. + +'I don't think that is very much in his favour,' said the +baronet. + +'I don't know that it is, sir,--only they try to catch all fish +in that net that are of any use.' + +'Do you go there, Arthur?' + +'I should if I were asked, I suppose. I don't know who wouldn't. +You see it's a Coalition affair, so that everybody is able to +feel that he is supporting his party by going to the Duchess's.' + +'I hate Coalitions,' said the baronet. 'I think they are +disgraceful.' + +'Well;--yes; I don't know. The coach has to be driven somehow. +You mustn't stick in the mud, you know. And after all, sir, the +Duke of Omnium is a respectable man, though he is a Liberal. A +Duke of Omnium can't want to send the country to the dogs.' The +old man shook his head. He did not understand much about it, but +he felt convinced that the Duke and his colleagues were sending +the country to the dogs, whatever might be their wishes. 'I +shan't think of politics for the next ten years, and so I don't +trouble myself about the Duchess's parties, but I suppose I +should go if I were asked.' + +Sir Alured felt that he had not as yet begun even to approach the +difficult subject. 'I'm glad you don't like that man,' he said. + +'I don't like him at all. Tell me, Sir Alured;--why is he +always going to Manchester Square?' + +'Ah;--that is it.' + +'He has been there constantly;--has he not?' + +'No;--no I don't think that. Mr Wharton doesn't love him a bit +better than you do. My cousin thinks him a most objectionable +young man.' + +'But Emily?' + +'Ah--That's where it is.' + +'You don't mean to say she--cares about that man!' + +'He has been encouraged by that aunt of hers, who, as far as I +can make out, is a very unfit sort of person to be much with such +a girl as our dear Emily. I never saw her but once, and then I +didn't like her at all.' + +'A vulgar, good-natured woman. But what can she have done? She +can't have twisted Emily round her finger.' + +'I don't suppose there is very much in it, but I thought it +better to tell you. Girls take fancies into their heads,--just +for a time.' + +'He's a handsome fellow, too,' said Arthur Fletcher, musing in +his sorrow. + +'My cousin says he's a nasty Jew-looking man.' + +'He's not that, Sir Alured. He's a handsome man with a fine +voice;---dark, and not just like an Englishman; but still I can +fancy--That's bad news for me, Sir Alured.' + +'I think she'll forget him down here.' + +'She never forgets anything. I shall ask her, straight away. +She knows my feeling about her, and I haven't a doubt that she'll +tell me. She's too honest to be able to lie. Has he got any +money?' + +'My cousin seems to think he's rich.' + +'I suppose he is. Oh, Lord! That's a blow. I wish I could have +the pleasure of shooting him as a man might a few years ago. But +what would be the good? The girl would only hate me the more +after it. The best thing to do would be to shoot myself.' + +'Don't talk like that, Arthur.' + +'I shan't throw up the sponge as long as there's a chance left, +Sir Alured. But it will go badly with me if I'm beat at last. I +shouldn't have thought it possible that I should have felt +anything so much.' Then he pulled his hair, and thrust his hand +into his waistcoat; and turned away, so that his old friend might +not see the tear in his eye. + +His old friend also was much moved. It was dreadful to him that +the happiness of a Fletcher, and the comfort of the Whartons +generally, should be marred by a man with such a name as +Ferdinand Lopez. 'She'll never marry him without her father's +consent,' said Sir Alured. + +'If she means it, of course he'll consent.' + +'That I'm sure he won't. He doesn't like the man a bit better +than you do.' Fletcher shook his head. 'And he's as fond of you +as though you were already his son.' + +'What does it matter? If a girl sets her heart on marrying a man, +of course, she will marry him. If he had no money it might be +different. But if he's well off, of course he'll succeed. Well +-; I suppose other men have borne the same sort of thing before +and it hasn't killed them.' + +'Let us hope, my boy. I think of her quite as much as of you.' + +'Yes,--we can hope. I shan't give it up. As for her, I dare +say she knows what will suit her best. I've nothing to say +against the man,--excepting that I should like to cut him into four +quarters.' + +'But a foreigner!' + +'Girls don't think about that,--not as you do and Mr Wharton. +And I think thy like dark, greasy men with slippery voices, who +are up to dodges and full of secrets. Well, sir, I shall go to +her at once and have it out.' + +'You'll speak to my cousin?' + +'Certainly I will. He has always been one of the best friends I +ever had in my life. I know it hasn't been his fault. But what +can a man do? Girls won't marry this or that because they are +told.' + +Fletcher did speak to Emily's father, and learned more from him +than had been told him by Sir Alured. Indeed he learned the +whole truth. Lopez had been twice with the father pressing his +suit and had been twice repulsed, with as absolute denial as +words could convey. Emily, however, had declared her own feeling +openly, expressing her wish to marry the odious man, promising +not to do so without her father's consent, but evidently feeling +that that consent ought not to be withheld from her. All this Mr +Wharton told very plainly, walking with Arthur a little before +dinner along a shaded, lonely path, which for half a mile ran +along the very marge of the Wye at the bottom of the park. And +then he went on to speak other words which seemed to rob his +young friend of all hope. The old man was walking slowly, with +his hands clasped behind his back and with his eyes fixed on the +path as he went;--and he spoke slowly, evidently weighing his +words as he uttered them, bringing home to his hearer a +conviction that the matter discussed was one of supreme +importance to the speaker,--as to which he had thought much, so +as to be able to express his settled resolutions. 'I've told you +all now, Arthur,--only this. I do not know how long I may be +able to resist this man's claim if it be backed by Emily's +entreaties. I am thinking very much about it. I do not know +that I have really been able to think of anything else for the +last two months. It is all the world to me,--what she and +Everett do with themselves, and what she may do in this matter of +marriage is of infinitely greater importance than can befall him. +If he makes a mistake, it may be put right. But with a woman's +marrying--, vestigia nulla retrorsum. She has put off all her +old bonds and taken new ones, which must be her bonds for life. +Feeling this very strongly, and disliking this man greatly,-- +disliking him, that is to say, in the view of this close +relation,--I have felt myself to be justified in so far opposing +my child by the use of a high hand. I have refused my sanction +to the marriage both to him and to her,--though in truth I have +been hard set to find any adequate reason for doing so. I have +no right to fashion my girl's life by my prejudices. My life has +been lived. Hers is to come. In this matter I should be cruel +and unnatural were I to allow myself to be governed by any +selfish inclination. Though I were to know that she would be +lost to me forever, I must give way,--if once brought to a +conviction that by not giving way I should sacrifice her young +happiness. In this matter, Arthur, I must not even think of you, +though I love you well. I must consider only my child's welfare; +and in doing so I must try to sift my own feelings and my own +judgement, and ascertain, if it be possible, whether any distance +to the man is reasonable or irrational;--whether I should serve +her or sacrifice her by obstinacy of refusal. I can speak to you +more plainly than to her. Indeed I have laid bare to you my +whole heart and my whole mind. You have all my wishes, but you +will understand that I do not promise you my continued assistance.' +When he had so spoken he put out his hand and pressed his +companion's arm. Then he turned slowly into a little by-path +which led across the park up to the house, and left Arthur +Fletcher standing alone by the river's bank. + +And so by degrees the blow had come full home to him. He had +been twice refused. Then rumours had reached him,--not at first +that he had a rival, but that there was a man who might possibly +become so. And now this rivalry, and its success, were declared +to him plainly. He told himself from this moment that he had not +a chance. Looking forward he could see it. He understood the +girl's character sufficiently to be sure that she would not be +wafted about, from one lover to another, by change of scene. +Taking her to Dresden,--or to New Zealand, would only confirm in +her passion such a girl as Emily Wharton. Nothing would shake +her but the ascertained unworthiness of the man,--and not that +unless it were ascertained beneath her own eyes. And then years +must pass by before she would yield to another lover. There was +a further question, too, which he did not fail to ask himself. +Was the man necessarily unworthy because his name was Lopez, and +because he had not come of English blood? + +As he strove to think of this, if not coolly yet rationally, he +sat himself down among the rocks, among which at that spot the +water made its way rapidly. There had been moments in which he +had been almost ashamed of his love,--and now he did not know +whether to be most ashamed or most proud of it. But he +recognized the fact that it was crucifying him, and that it would +continue to crucify him. He knew himself in London to be a +popular man,--one of those for whom, according to general +opinion, girls should sigh, rather than one who would break his +heart sighing for a girl. He had often told himself that it was +beneath his manliness to be despondent; that he should let such a +trouble run from him like water from a duck's back, consoling +himself with the reflection that if the girl had such bad taste +she could hardly be worthy of him. He had almost tried to belong +to that school which throws the heart away and rules by the head +alone. He knew that others,--perhaps not those who knew him +best, but who nevertheless were the companions of may of his +hours,--gave him credit for such power. Why should a man +afflict himself by the inward burden of an unsatisfied craving, +and allow his heart to sink into his very feet because a girl +would not smile when he wooed her? 'If she be not fair for me, +what care I how fair she be!' He had repeated the lines to +himself a score of times, and had been ashamed of himself because +he could not make them come true to himself. + +They had not come true in the least. There he was, Arthur +Fletcher, whom all the world courted, with his heart in his very +boots! There was a miserable load within him, absolutely +palpable to his outward feeling,--a very physical pain,--which +he could not shake off. As he threw the stones into the water he +told himself that it must be so with him always. Though the +world did pet him, though he was liked at his club, and courted +in the hunting-field, and loved at balls and archery meetings, +and reputed by old men to be a rising star, he told himself that +he was so maimed and mutilated as to be only half a man. He +could not reason about it. Nature had afflicted him with a +certain weakness. One man had a hump;--another can hardly see +out of his imperfect eyes,--a third can barely utter a few +disjointed words. It was his fate to be constructed with some +weak arrangement of the blood vessels which left him in this +plight. 'The whole damned thing is nothing to me,' he said +bursting into absolute tears, after vainly trying to reassure +himself by a recollection of the good things which the world +still had in store for him. + +Then he strove to console himself by thinking that he might take +a pride in his love, even though it were so intolerable a burden +to him. Was it not something to be able to love as he loved? +Was it not something at any rate that she to whom he had +condescended to stoop was worthy of all love? But even here he +could get no comfort,--being in truth unable to see very closely +into the condition of the thing. It was a disgrace to him,--to +him within his own bosom,--that she should have preferred to him +such a one as Ferdinand Lopez, and this disgrace he exaggerated, +ignoring the fact that the girl herself might be deficient in +judgement, or led away into her love by falsehood and counterfeit +attractions. To him she was such a goddess that she must be +right--and therefore his own inferiority to such a one as +Ferdinand Lopez was proved. He could take no pride in his +rejected love. He would rid himself of it at a moment's notice +if he knew the way. He would throw himself at the feet of some +second-rate, tawdry, well-born, well-known beauty of the day,-- +only that there was not now left to him strength to pretend the +feeling that would be necessary. Then he heard steps, and +jumping up from his seat, stood just in the way of Emily Wharton +and her cousin Mary. 'Ain't you going to dress for dinner, young +man?' said the latter. + +'I shall have time if you have, anyway,' said Arthur, +endeavouring to pluck up his spirits. + +'That's nice of him;--isn't it?' said Mary. 'Why, we are +dressed. What more do you want? We came out to look for you, +though we didn't mean to come as far as this. It's past seven +now, and we are supposed to dine at a quarter past.' + +'Five minutes will do for me.' + +'But you've got to get to the house. You needn't be in a +tremendous hurry, because papa has only just come in from +haymaking. They've got up the last load, and there has been the +usual ceremony. Emily and I have been looking at them.' + +'I wish I'd been there all the time,' said Emily. 'I do so hate +London in July.' + +'So do I,' said Arthur,--'in July and all other times.' + +'You hate London?' said Mary. + +'Yes,--and Hertfordshire,--and other places generally. If I've +got to dress I'd better go across the park as quick as I can go,' +and so he left them. Mary turned around and looked at her +cousin, but at the moment said nothing. Arthur's passion was +well known to Mary Wharton, but Mary had as yet heard nothing of +Ferdinand Lopez. + + + +CHAPTER 16 + +NEVER RUN AWAY! + +During the whole of that evening there was a forced attempt on +the part of all the party at Wharton Hall to be merry,--which, +however, as is the case whenever such attempts are forced, was a +failure. There had been a haymaking harvest-home which was +supposed to give special occasion for mirth, as Sir Alured farmed +the land around the park himself, and was great in hay. 'I don't +think it pays very well,' he said with a gentle smile, 'but I +like to employ some of the people myself. I think the old people +find it easier with me than with the tenants.' + +'I shouldn't wonder,' said his cousin;--'but that's charity; not +employment.' + +'No, no,' exclaimed the baronet. 'They work for their wages and +do their best. Powell sees to that.' Powell was the bailiff, +who knew the length of his master's foot to a quarter of an inch, +and was quite aware that the Wharton haymakers were not to be +overtasked. 'Powell doesn't keep any cats about the place, but +what catch mice. But I am not quite sure that haymaking does +pay.' + +'How do the tenants manage?' + +'Of course they look to things closer. You wouldn't wish me to +let the land up to the house next door.' + +'I think,' said old Mrs Fletcher, 'that a landlord should consent +to lose a little by his own farming. It does good in the long +run.' Both Mr Wharton and Sir Alured felt that this might be +very well at Longbarns, though it could hardly be afforded at +Wharton. + +'I don't think I lose much by my farming,' said the squire of +Longbarns. 'I have four hundred acres on hand, and I keep my +accounts pretty regularly.' + +'Johnson is a very good man, I dare say,' said the baronet. + +'Like most of the others,' continued the squire, 'he's very well +as long as he's looked after. I think I know as much about it as +Johnson. Of course, I don't expect a farmer's profit; but I do +expect my rent, and I get it.' + +'I don't think I manage it in quite that way,' said the baronet +in a melancholy tone. + +'I'm afraid not,' said the barrister. + +'John is as hard upon the men as any one of the tenants,' said +John's wife, Mrs Fletcher of Longbarns. + +'I'm not hard at all,' said John, 'and you understand nothing +about it. I'm paying three shillings a week more to every man, +and eighteen pence a week more to every woman, than I did three +years ago.' + +'That's because of the Unions,' said the barrister. + +'I don't care a straw for the Unions. If the Unions interfered +with my comfort, I'd let the land and leave the place.' + +'Oh, John!' ejaculated John's mother. + +'I would not consent to be made a slave even for the sake of the +country. But the wages had to be raised,--having raised them I +expect to get proper value for my money. If anything has to be +given away, let it be given away,--so that the people should +know what it is that they receive.' + +'That's just what we don't want to do here,' said Lady Wharton, +who did not often join in any of these arguments. + +'You're wrong, my lady,' said her stepson. 'You're only breeding +idleness when you teach people to think that they are earning +wages without working for their money. Whatever you do with +them, let them know and feel the truth. It'll be the best in the +long run.' + +'I'm sometimes happy when I think that I shan't live to see the +long run,' said the baronet. This was the manner in which they +tried to be merry that evening after dinner at Wharton Hall. The +two girls sat listening to their seniors in contented silence,-- +listening or perhaps thinking of their own peculiar troubles, +while Arthur Fletcher held some book in his hand which he strove +to read with all his might. + +There was not one there in the room who did not know that it was +the wish of the united families that Arthur Fletcher should marry +Emily Wharton, and also that Emily had refused him. To Arthur of +course the feeling that it was so could not but be an additional +vexation; but the knowledge had grown up and had become common in +the two families without any power on his part to prevent so +disagreeable a condition of affairs. There was not one in that +room, unless it was Mary Wharton, who was not more or less angry +with Emily, thinking her to be perverse and unreasonable. Even +to Mary her cousin's strange obstinacy was a matter of surprise and +sorrow,--for to her Arthur Fletcher was one of those demigods, +who should never be refused, who are not expected to do more than +express a wish and be accepted. Her own heart had not strayed +that way because she thought but little of herself, knowing +herself to be portionless, and believing from long thought on the +subject that it was not her destiny to the wife of any man. She +regarded Arthur Fletcher as being of all men the most lovable,-- +though, knowing her own condition, she did not dream of loving +him. It did not become her to be angry with another girl on such +a cause;--but she was amazed that Arthur Fletcher should sigh in +vain. + +The girl's folly and perverseness on this head were known to them +all,--but as yet her greater folly and worse perverseness, her +vitiated taste and dreadful partiality for the Portuguese +adventurer, were known but to the two old men and to poor Arthur +himself. When that sternly magnificent old lady Mrs Fletcher,-- +whose ancestors had been Welsh kings in the time of the Romans,-- +when she should hear this story, the roof of the old hall would +hardly be able to hold her wrath and her dismay! The old kings +had died away, but the Fletchers and the Vaughans,--of whom she +had been one,--and the Whartons remained, a peculiar people in +an age that was then surrendering itself to quick perdition, and +with peculiar duties. Among these duties, the chiefest of them +incumbent on females was that of so restraining their affections +that they should never damage the good cause by leaving it. They +might marry within the pale,--or remain single, as might be +their lot. She would not take upon herself to say that Emily +Wharton was bound to accept Arthur Fletcher, merely because such +a marriage was fitting,--although she did think that there was +much perverseness in the girl, who might have taught herself, had +she not been so stubborn, to comply with the wishes of the +families. But to love one so below herself, a man without a +father, a foreigner, a black Portuguese Jew, merely because he +had a bright eye, and a hook nose, and a glib tongue,--that a +girl from the Whartons should do this,--! It was so unnatural +to Mrs Fletcher that it would be hardly possible to her to be +civil to the girl after she had heard that her mind and taste were so +astray. All this Sir Alured knew and the barrister knew it,-- +and they feared her indignation the more because they sympathized +with the old lady's feelings. + +'Emily Wharton doesn't seem to me to be a bit more gracious than +she used to be,' Mrs Fletcher said to Lady Wharton that night. +The two old ladies were sitting together upstairs, and Mrs John +Fletcher was with them. In such conferences Mrs Fletcher always +domineered,--to perfect contentment of old Lady Wharton, but not +equally so to that of her daughter-in-law. + +'I'm afraid she's not very happy,' said Lady Wharton. + +'She has everything that ought to make a girl happy, and I don't +know what it is she wants. It makes me quite angry to see her so +discontented. She doesn't say a word, but sits there as glum as +death. If I were Arthur I would leave her for six months, and +never speak to her during that time.' + +'I suppose, mother,' said the younger Mrs Fletcher,--who called +her husband's mother, mother, and her own mother, mamma,--'a +girl needn't marry a man unless she likes him.' + +'But she should try to like him if it's suitable in other +respects. I don't mean to take any trouble about it. Arthur +needn't beg for any favour. Only I wouldn't have come here if I +had thought that she had intended to sit silent like that +always.' + +'It makes her unhappy, I suppose,' said Lady Wharton, 'because +she can't do what we all want.' + +'Fall, lall! She'd have wanted it herself if nobody else had +wished it. I'm surprised that Arthur should be so much taken +with her.' + +'You'd better say nothing more about it, mother.' + +'I don't mean to say anything more about it. It's nothing to me. +Arthur can do very well in the world without Emily Wharton. Only +a girl like that will sometimes make a disgraceful match; and we +should all feel that.' + +'I don't think Emily will do anything disgraceful,' said Lady +Wharton. And so they parted. + +In the meantime the two brothers were smoking their pipes in the +housekeeper's room, which, at Wharton, when the Fletchers or +Everett were there, was freely used for that purpose. + +'Isn't it rather quaint of you,' said the elder brother, 'coming +down here in the middle of term time?' + +'It doesn't matter much.' + +'I should have thought it would matter;--that is, if you mean to +go on with it.' + +'I'm not going to make a slave of myself about it, if you mean +that. I don't suppose I shall ever marry,--and for rising to be +a swell in the profession, I don't care about it.' + +'You used to care about it,--very much. You used to say that if +you didn't get to the top it shouldn't be your own fault.' + +'And I have worked;--and I do work. But things get changed +somehow. I've half a mind to give it all up,--to raise a lot of +money, and to start off with a resolution to see every corner of +the world. I suppose a man could do it in about thirty years if +he lived so long. It's the kind of thing that would suit me.' + +'Exactly. I don't know of any fellow who has been more into +society, and therefore you are exactly the man to live alone for +the rest of your life. You've always worked hard, I will say +that for you;--and therefore you're just the man to be contented +with idleness. You've always been ambitious and self-confident, +and therefore it will suit you to a T, to be nobody, and to do +nothing.' Arthur sat silent, smoking his pipe with all his +might, and his brother continued,--'Besides,--you read +sometimes, I fancy.' + +'I should read all the more.' + +'Very likely. But what you have read, in the old plays, for +instance, must have taught you that when a man is cut about a +woman,--which I suppose is your case just at present,--he never +does get over it. He never gets all right after a time,--does +he? Such a one had better go and turn monk at once, as the world +is over for him altogether;--isn't it? Men don't recover after +a month or two, and go on just the same. You've never seen that +kind of thing yourself?' + +'I'm not going to cut my throat or turn monk either.' + +'No. There are so many steamboats and railways now that +travelling seems easier. Suppose you go as far as St Petersburg, +and see if that does you any good. If it don't, you needn't go +on, because it will be hopeless. If it does,--why, you can come +back, because the second journey will do the rest.' + +'There never was anything, John, that wasn't a matter for chaff +with you.' + +'And I hope there never will be. People understand it when logic +would be thrown away. I suppose the truth is the girl cares for +somebody else.' Arthur nodded his head. 'Who is it? Anyone I +know?' + +'I think not.' + +'Anyone you know?' + +'I have met the man.' + +'Decent?' + +'Disgustingly indecent, I should say.' John looked very black, +for even with him the feeling about the Whartons and the Vaughans +and the Fletchers was very strong. 'He's a man I should say you +wouldn't let into Longbarns.' + +'There might be various reasons for that. It might be that you +wouldn't care to meet him.' + +'Well;--no,--I don't suppose I should. But without that you +wouldn't like him. I don't think he's an Englishman.' + +'A foreigner!' + +'He has got a foreign name.' + +'An Italian nobleman?' + +'I don't think he's noble in any country.' + +'Who the d-d is he?' + +'His name is--Lopez.' + +'Everett's friend?' + +'Yes,--Everett's friend. I ain't very much obliged to Master +Everett for what he has done.' + +'I've seen the man. Indeed I may say I know him,--for I dined +with him at Manchester Square. Old Wharton himself must have +asked him there.' + +'He was there as Everett's friend. I only heard all this to-day, +you know,--though I had heard about it before.' + +'And therefore you want me to set out your travels. As far as I +saw I should say he was a clever fellow.' + +'I don't doubt that.' + +'And a gentleman.' + +'I don't know that he is not,' said Arthur. 'I've no right to +say word against him. From what Wharton says I suppose he's +rich.' + +'He's good-looking too;--at least he's the sort of man that +women like to look at.' + +'Just so. I've no cause to quarrel with him,--nor with her. +But--' + +'Yes, my friend. I see it all,' said the elder brother. 'I +think I know all about it. But running away is not the thing. +One may be pretty nearly sure that one is right when one says +that a man shouldn't run away from anything.' + +'The thing is to be happy if you can,' said Arthur. + +'No;--that's not the thing. I'm not much of a philosopher, but +as far as I can see there are two philosophies in the world. The +one is to make one's self happy, and the other is to make other +people happy. The latter answers the best.' + +'I can't add to her happiness by hanging about London.' + +'That's a quibble. It isn't her happiness we are talking about, +--nor yet your hanging about London. Gird yourself up and go on +with what you've got to do. Put your work before your feelings. +What does a poor man do, who goes out hedging and ditching with a +dead child lying in his house? If you get a blow in the face, +return it if it ought to be returned, but never complain of the +pain. If you must have your vitals eaten into,--have them eaten +into like a man. But mind you,--these ain't your vitals.' + +'It goes pretty near.' + +'These ain't your vitals. A man gets cured of it,--almost +always. I believe always; though some men get hit so hard they +can never bring themselves to try it again. But tell me this. +Has old Wharton given his consent?' + +'No. He has refused,' said Arthur with strong emphasis. + +'How is to be, then?' + +'He has dealt very fairly by me. He has done all he could to get +rid of the man,--both with him and with her. He has told Emily +that he will have nothing to do with the man. And she will do +nothing without his sanction.' + +'Then it will remain as it is.' + +'No, John; it will not. He has gone on to say that though he has +refused,--and has refused roughly enough,--he must give way if +he sees that she has really set her heart upon him. And she +has.' + +'Has she told you so?' + +'No;--but he has told me. I shall have it out with her to- +morrow, if I can. And then I shall be off.' + +'You'll be here for the shooting on the 1st?' + +'No. I dare say you're right in what you say about sticking to +my work. It does seem unmanly to run away because of a girl.' + +'Because of anything! Stop and face it, whatever it is.' + +'Just so;--but I can't stop and face her. It would do no good. +For all our sakes I should be better away. I can get shooting +with Musgrave and Carnegie in Perthshire. I dare say I shall go +there, and take a share with them.' + +'That's better than going into all quarters of the globe.' + +'I didn't mean that I was to surrender and start at once. You +take a fellow up so short. I shall do very well, I've no doubt, +and shall be hunting here as jolly as ever at Christmas. But a +fellow must say it all to somebody.' The elder brother put his +hand out and laid it affectionately upon the younger one's arm. +'I'm not going to whimper about the world like a whipped dog. +The worst of it is so many people have known of this.' + +'You mean down here.' + +'Oh;--everywhere. I have never told them. It has been a kind +of family affair and thought to be fit for general discussions.' + +'That'll wear away.' + +'In the meantime, it's a bore. But that shall be the end of it. +Don't you say another word to me about it, and I won't to you. +And tell mother not to, or Sarah.' Sarah was John Fletcher's +wife. 'It has got to be dropped, and let us drop it as quickly +as we can. If she does marry this man, I don't suppose she'll be +much at Longbarns or Wharton.' + +'Not at Longbarns certainly, I should say,' replied John. 'Fancy +mother having to curtsey to her as Mrs Lopez! And I doubt +whether Sir Alured would like him. He isn't of our sort. He's +too clever, too cosmopolitan,--a sort of man whitewashed of all +prejudices, who wouldn't mind whether he ate horseflesh or beef +if horseflesh were as good as beef, and never had on any occasion +in his life. I'm not sure that he's not on the safest side. +Good-night, old fellow. Pluck up, and send us plenty of grouse +if you do go to Scotland.' + +John Fletcher, as I hope may have been already seen, was by no +means a weak man or an indifferent brother. He was warm-hearted, +sharp-witted, and though perhaps a little self-opinionated, +considered throughout the county to be one of the most prudent in +it. Indeed no one ever ventured to doubt his wisdom on all +practical matters,--save his mother, who seeing him almost every +day, had a stronger bias towards her younger son. 'Arthur has +been hit hard about that girl,' he said to his wife that night. + +'Emily Wharton?' + +'Yes;--your cousin Emily. Don't say anything to him, but be as +good to him as you know how.' + +'Good to Arthur! Am I not always good to him?' + +'Be a little more than usually tender with him. It makes one +almost cry to see such a fellow hurt like that. I can understand +it, though I never had anything of it myself.' + +'You never had, John,' said the wife leaning close upon the +husband's breast as she spoke. 'It all came very easily to you; +--too easily perhaps.' + +'If any girl had refused me, I should have taken her at her word. +I can tell you. There would have been no second "hop" to that +ball.' + +'Then I suppose I was right to catch it the first time?' + +'I don't say how that may be.' + +'I was right. Oh, dear me!--Suppose I had doubted, just for +once, and you had gone off. You should have tried once more,-- +wouldn't you?' + +'You'd have gone about it like a broken-winged old hen, and have +softened me in that way.' + +'And now Arthur has had his wing broken.' + +'You mustn't let on to know it's broken, and the wing will be +healed in due time. But what fools girls are!' + +'Indeed they are, John,--particularly me.' + +'Fancy a girl like Emily Wharton,' said he, not condescending to +notice her little joke, 'throwing herself over a fellow like +Arthur for a greasy, black foreigner.' + +'A foreigner!' + +'Yes,--a man named Lopez. Don't say anything about it at +present. Won't she live to find out the difference, and to know +what she has done! I can tell her of one who won't pity her.' + + + +CHAPTER 17 + +GOOD-BYE. + +Arthur Fletcher received his brother's teaching as true, and took +his brother's advice in good part,--so that, before the morning +following, he had resolved that however the deep the wound might +be, he would so live before the world, that the world should not +see his wound. What people already knew they must know,--but +they should learn nothing further either by words or by signs +from him. He would, as he had said to his brother, 'have it out +with Emily'; and then, if she told him plainly that she loved the +man, he would bid her adieu, simply expressing regret that their +course for life should be divided. He was confident that she +would tell him the entire truth. She would be restrained neither +by false modesty, nor by any assumed unwillingness to discuss her +own affairs with a friend so true to her as he had been. He knew +her well enough to be sure that she recognized the value of his +love though she could not bring herself to accept it. There are +rejected lovers who, merely because they are lovers, become +subject to the scorn and even the disgust of the girls they love. +But again there are men who, even when they are rejected, are +almost loved, who are considered to be worthy of the reverence, +almost of worship;--and yet the worshippers will not love them. +Not analysing all this, but somewhat conscious of the light in +which this girl regarded him, he knew that what he might say +would be treated with deference. As to shaking her,--as to +talking her out of one purpose and into another,--that to him +did not for a moment seem to be practicable. There was no hope +of that. He hardly knew why he should endeavour to say a word to +her before he left Wharton. And yet he felt that it must be +said. Were he to allow her to be married to this man, without +any further previous word between them, it would appear that he +had resolved to quarrel with her for ever. But now, at this very +moment of time, as he lay in his bed, as he dressed himself in +the morning, as he sauntered about among the new hay-stacks with +his pipe in his mouth after breakfast, he came to some conclusion +in his mind very much averse to such quarrelling. + +He had loved her with all his heart. It had not been mere +drawing-room love begotten between a couple of waltzes, and +fostered by five minutes in a crush. He knew himself to be a man +of the world, and he did not wish to be other than he was. He +could talk among men as men talked, and act as men acted;--and +he could do the same with women. But there was one person who +had been to him above all, and round everything, and under +everything. There had been a private nook within him into which +there had been no entrance but for one image. There had been a +holy of holies, which he had guarded within himself, keeping it +free from all outer contamination for his own use. He had +cherished the idea of a clear fountain of ever-running water +which would at last be his, always ready for the comfort of his +own lips. Now all his hope was shattered, his trust was gone, +and his longing disappointed. But the person was the same +person, though she could not be his. The nook was there, though +she would not fill it. The holy of holies was not less holy, +though he himself might not dare to lift the curtain. The +fountain would still run,--still the clearest fountain of all,-- +though he might not put his lips to it. He would never allow +himself to think of it with lessened reverence, or with changed +ideas as to her nature. + +And then, as he stood leaning against a ladder which still kept +its place against one of the hay-stacks, and filled his second +pipe unconsciously, he had to realize to himself the probable +condition of his future life. Of course she would marry this man +with very little further delay. Her father had already declared +himself to be too weak to interfere much longer with her wishes. +Of course Mr Wharton would give way. And then,--what sort of +life would be her life? No one knew anything about the man. +There was an idea that he was rich,--but wealth such as his, +wealth that is subject to speculation, will fly away at a +moment's notice. He might be cruel, a mere adventurer, or a +thorough ruffian for all that was known of him. There should, +thought Arthur Fletcher to himself, be more stability in the +giving and taking of wives than could be reckoned upon here. He +became old in that half-hour, taking home to himself and +appreciating many saws of wisdom and finger-direction experience +which hitherto had been to him matters almost of ridicule. But +he could only come to this conclusion,--that as she was still to +be to him his holy of holies though he might not lay his hand +upon the altar, his fountain though he might not drink of it, the +one image which alone could have filled that nook, he would not +cease to regard her happiness when she should have become the +wife of this stranger. With the stranger himself he never could +be on friendly terms;--but for the stranger's wife there should +always be a friend, if the friend were needed. + +About an hour before lunch John Fletcher, who had been hanging +about the house all the morning in a manner very unusual to him, +caught Emily Wharton as she was passing through the hall, and +told her that Arthur Fletcher was in a certain part of the +grounds and wished to speak to her. 'Alone?' she asked. 'Yes, +certainly alone.' 'Ought I to go to him, John?' she asked again. +'Certainly I think you ought.' Then he had done his commission +and was able to apply himself to whatever business he had in +hand. + +Emily at once put on her hat, took her parasol, and left the +house. There was something distasteful to her in the idea of +this going out at lover's bidding, to meet him; but like all +Whartons and all Fletchers, she trusted John Fletcher. And then +she was aware that there were circumstances which might make a +meeting such as this serviceable. She knew nothing of what had +taken place during the last four-and-twenty hours. She had no +idea that in consequence of words spoken to him by her father and +his brother, Arthur Fletcher was about to abandon his suit. +There would have been no doubt about her going to meet him had +she thought of it. She supposed that she would have to hear +again the old story. If so, she would hear it, and would then +have an opportunity of telling him that her heart had been given +entirely to another. She knew all that she owed to him. After a +fashion she did love him. He was entitled to the kindest +consideration from her hands. But he should be told the truth. + +As she entered the shrubbery he came out to meet her, giving her +his hand with a frank, easy air and pleasant smile. His smile +was as bright as the ripple of the sea, and his eye would then +gleam, and the slightest sparkle of white teeth would be seen +between his lips, and the dimple of his chin would show itself +deeper than at other times. 'It is very good of you. I thought +you'd come. John asked you, I suppose.' + +'Yes;--he told me you were here, and he said I ought to come.' + +'I don't know about ought, but I think it better. Will you mind +walking on, as I've something that I want to say?' Then he +turned and she turned with him into the little wood. 'I'm not +going to bother you any more my darling,' he said. 'You are +still my darling, though I will not call you so after this.' Her +heart sank almost in her bosom as she heard this,--though it was +exactly what she would have wished to hear. But now there must +be some close understanding between them and some tenderness. +She knew how much she had owed him, how good he had been to her, +how true had been his love; and she felt that words would fail +her to say that which ought to be said. 'So you have given +yourself to--one Ferdinand Lopez!' + +'Yes,' she said, in a hard, dry voice. 'Yes, I have. I do not +know who told you; but I have.' + +'Your father told me. It was better,--was it not?--that I +should know. You are not sorry that I should know?' + +'It is better.' + +'I am not going to say a word against him.' + +'No;--do not do that.' + +'Nor against you. I am simply here now to let you know that--I +retire.' + +'You will not quarrel with me, Arthur?' + +'Quarrel with you! I could not quarrel with you, if I would. +No;--there shall be no quarrel. But I do not suppose we shall +see each other very often.' + +'I hope we may.' + +'Sometimes, perhaps. A man should not, I think, affect to be +friends with a successful rival. I dare say he is an excellent +fellow; but how is it possible that he and I should get on +together? But you will always have one,--one beside him,--who +will love you best in this world.' + +'No;--no;--no.' + +'It must be so. There will be nothing wrong in that. Everyone +has some dearest friend, and you will always be mine. If +anything of evil should ever happen to you,--which of course +there won't,--there would always be someone who would--. But I +don't want to talk buncombe; I only want you to believe me. +Good-bye, and God bless you.' Then he put out his right hand, +holding his hat under his left arm. + +'You are not going away?' + +'To-morrow perhaps. But I will say my real good-bye to you here, +now to-day. I hope you may be happy. I hope with all my heart. +Good-bye. God bless you!' + +'Oh, Arthur!' Then she put her hand in his. + +'Oh, I have loved you so dearly. It has been with my whole +heart. You have never quite understood me, but it has been as +true as heaven. I have thought sometimes that had I been a +little less earnest about it, I should have been a little less +stupid. A man shouldn't let it get the better of him, as I have +done. Say good-bye to me, Emily.' + +'Good-bye,' she said, still leaving her hand in his. + +'I suppose that's about all. Don't let them quarrel with you +here if you can help it. Of course at Longbarns they won't like +it for a time. Oh,--if it could have been different!' Then he +dropped her hand, and turning his back quickly upon her, went +away along the path. + +She had expected and had almost wished that he should kiss her. +A girl's cheek is never so holy to herself as it is to her lover, +--if he do love her. There would have been something of +reconciliation, something of a promise of future kindness in a +kiss, which even Ferdinand would not have grudged. It would, for +her, have robbed the parting of that bitterness of pain which his +words had given to it. As to all that he had made no +calculation; but the bitterness was there for him, and he could +have done nothing that would have expelled it. + +She wept bitterly as she returned to the house. There might have +been cause for joy. It was clear enough that her father, though +he had shown no sign of yielding, was nevertheless prepared to +yield. It was her father who had caused Arthur Fletcher to take +himself off, as a lover really dismissed. But, at this moment, +she could not bring herself to look at that aspect of the affair. +Her mind would revert to all those choicest moments in her early +years in which she had been happy with Arthur Fletcher, in which +she had first learned to love him, and had then taught herself to +understand by some confused and perplexed lesson that she did not +love him as men and women love. But why should she not so have +loved him? Would she not have done so could she then have +understood how true and firm he was? And then, independently of +herself, throwing herself aside for the time as she was bound to +do when thinking of one so good to her as Arthur Fletcher, she +found that no personal joy could drown the grief which she shared +with him. For a moment the idea of a comparison between the men +forced itself upon her,--but she drove it from her as she +hurried back into the house. + + + +CHAPTER 18 + +THE DUKE OF OMNIUM THINKS OF HIMSELF. + +The blaze made by the Duchess of Omnium during the three months +of the season up in London had been very great, but it was little +in comparison with the social incursion expected to be achieved +at Gatherum Castle,--little at least as far as public report +went, and the general opinion of the day. No doubt the house in +Carlton Gardens had been thrown open as the house of no Prime +Minister, perhaps of no duke, had been opened before in this +country; but it had been done by degrees, and had not been +accomplished by such a blowing of trumpets as was sounded with +reference to the entertainments at Gatherum. I would not have it +supposed that the trumpets were blown by the direct order of the +Duchess. The trumpets were blown by the customary trumpeters as +it became known that great things were to be done,--all +newspapers and very many tongues lending their assistance, till +the sounds of the instruments almost frightened the Duchess +herself. 'Isn't it odd,' she said to her friend Mrs Finn, 'that +one can't have a few friends down in the country without such a +fuss abut it as the people are making?' Mrs Finn did not think +it was odd, and so she said. Thousands of pounds were being +spent in a very conspicuous way. Invitations to the place even +for a couple of days,--for twenty-four hours,--had been begged +for abjectly. It was understood everywhere that the Prime +Minister was bidding for greatness and popularity. Of course the +trumpets were blown very loudly. 'If people don't take care,' +said the Duchess, 'I'll put everybody off and have the whole +place shut up. I'd do it for sixpence now.' + +Perhaps of all the persons, much or little concerned, the one who +heard the least of the trumpets,--or rather who was the last to +hear them,--was the Duke himself. He could not fail to see +something in the newspapers, but what he did see did not attract +him so frequently or so strongly as did the others. It was a +pity, he thought, that a man's social and private life should be +subject to so many remarks, but this misfortune was one of those +to which wealth and rank are liable. He had long recognized that +fact, and for a time endeavoured to believe that his intended +sojourn at Gatherum Castle was not more public than are the +autumn doings of other dukes and other prime ministers. But +gradually the trumpets did reach even his ears. Blind as he was +to many things himself, he always had near to him that other duke +who was never blind to anything. 'You are going to do great +things at Gatherum this year,' said the Duke. + +'Nothing particular, I hope,' said the Prime Minister, with an +inward trepidation,--for gradually there had crept upon him a +fear that his wife was making a mistake. + +'I thought it was going to be very particular.' + +'It's Glencora's doing.' + +'I don't doubt but that her Grace is right. Don't suppose that I +am criticizing your hospitality. We are to be at Gatherum +ourselves about the end of the month. It will be the first time +I shall have seen the place since your uncle's time.' + +The Prime Minister at this moment was sitting in his own +particular room at the Treasury Chambers, and before the entrance +of his friend had been conscientiously endeavouring to define for +himself not a future policy, but the past policy of the last +month or two. It had not been for him a very happy occupation. +He had become the Head of Government,--and had not failed, for +there he was, still the Head of Government, with a majority at +his back, and the six months' vacation before him. They who were +entitled to speak to him confidentially as to his position, were +almost vehement in declaring his success. Mr Rattler, about a +week ago, had not seen any reason why the Ministry should not +endure at least for the next four years. Mr Roby, from the other +side, was equally confident. But, on looking back at what he had +done, and indeed on looking forward into his future intentions, +he could not see why he, of all men, should be Prime Minister. +He had once been Chancellor of the Exchequer, filling that office +through two halcyon sessions, and he had known the reason why he +had held it. He had ventured to assure himself at the time that +he was the best man whom his party could then have found for that +office, and he had been satisfied. But he had none of that +satisfaction now. There were men under him who were really at +work. The Lord Chancellor had legal reforms on foot. Mr Monk +was busy, heart and soul, in regard to income taxes and brewers' +licences,--making our poor Prime Minister's mouth water. Lord +Drummond was active among the colonies. Phineas Finn had at any +rate his ideas about Ireland. But with the Prime Minister,--so +at least the Duke told himself,--it was all a blank. The policy +confided to him and expected at his hands was that of keeping +together a Coalition Ministry. That was a task that did not +satisfy him. And now, gradually,--very slowly indeed at first, +but still with a sure step,--there was creeping upon him the +idea that this power of cohesion was sought for, and perhaps +found not in his political capacity, but in his rank and wealth. +It might in fact, be the case that it was his wife the Duchess-- +that Lady Glencora of whose wild impulses and general +impracticability he had always been in dread,--that she with her +dinner parties and receptions, with her crowded saloons, her +music, her picnics, and social temptations, was Prime Minister +rather than he himself. It might be that this had been +understood by the coalesced parties,--by everybody, in fact, +except himself. It had, perhaps, been found that in the state of +things then existing, a ministry could be kept together, not by +parliamentary capacity, but by social arrangements, such as his +Duchess, and his Duchess alone, could carry out. She and she +only would have the spirit and the money and the sort of +cleverness required. In such a state of things he of course, as +her husband, must be the nominal Prime Minister. + +There was no anger in his bosom as he thought of this. It would +be hardly just to say that there was jealousy. His nature was +essentially free from jealousy. But there was shame,--and self- +accusation at having accepted so great an office with so little +fixed purpose as to great work. It might be his duty to +subordinate even his pride to the service of his country, and to +consent to be a faineant minister, a gilded Treasure log, because +by remaining in that position he would enable the Government to +be carried on. But how base the position, how mean, how +repugnant to that grand idea of public work which had hitherto +been the motive power of all his life! How would he continue to +live if this thing were to go on from year to year,--he +pretending to govern while others governed,--taking the highest +place at all tables, receiving mock reverence, and known to all +men as faineant First Lord of the Treasury? Now, as he had been +thinking of all this, the most trusted of his friends had come to +him, and had at once alluded to the very circumstances which had +been pressing so heavily on his mind. 'I was delighted,' +continued the elder Duke, 'when I heard that you had determined +to go to Gatherum this year.' + +'If a man has a big house I suppose he ought to live in it, +sometimes.' + +'Certainly. It was for such purposes as this now intended that +your uncle built it. He never became a public man, and +therefore, though he went there, every year I believe, he never +really used it.' + +'He hated it,--in his heart. And so do I. And so does +Glencora. I don't see why any man should have his private life +interrupted by being made to keep a huge caravansary open for +persons he doesn't care a straw about.' + +'You would not like to live alone.' + +'Alone,--with my wife and children,--I would certainly, during +a portion of the year at least.' + +'I doubt whether such a life, even for a month, even for a week, +is compatible with your duties. You would hardly find it +possible. Could you do without your private secretaries? Would +you know enough of what is going on, if you did not discuss +matters with others? A man cannot be both private and public at +the same time.' + +'And therefore one has to be chopped up, like a reed out of the +river, as the poet said, and yet not give sweet music +afterwards.' The Duke of St Bungay said nothing in answer to +this, as he did not understand the chopping of the reed. 'I'm +afraid I've been wrong about this collection of people down at +Gatherum,' continued the younger Duke. 'Glencora is impulsive, +and has overdone the thing. Just look at that.' And he handed a +letter to his friend. The old Duke put on his spectacles and +read the letter through,--which ran as follows. + +Private + + MY LORD DUKE, + I do not doubt but that your Grace is aware of my + position in regard to the public press of the country, + and I beg to assure your Grace that my present + proposition is made, not on account of the great honour + and pleasure which would be conferred upon myself should + your Grace accede to it, but because I feel assured that + I might so be best enabled to discharge an important duty + for the benefit of the public generally. + Your Grace is about to receive the whole fashionable + world of England and many distinguished foreign + ambassadors at your ancestral halls, not solely for + social delight,--for a man in your Grace's high position + is not able to think only of a pleasant life,--in order + that the prestige of your combined Ministry may be so + best maintained. That your Grace is thereby doing a duty + to your country no man who understands the country can + doubt. But it must be the case that the country at large + should interest itself in your festivities, and should + demand to have accounts of the gala doings of your ducal + palace. Your Grace will probably agree with me that + these records could be better given by one empowered by + yourself to give them, by one who had less present, and + who would write in your Grace's interest, than by some + interloper who would receive his tale only at second + hand. + It is my purport now to inform your Grace that should I + be honoured by an invitation to your Grace's party at + Gatherum, I should obey such a call with the greatest + alacrity, and would devote my pen and the public organ + which is at my disposal to your Grace's service with the + readiest good-will. +I have the honour to be, +My Lord Duke, +Your Grace's obedient +and very humble servant +QUINTUS SLIDE + +The old Duke, when he had read the letter, laughed heartily. +'Isn't that a terribly bad sign of the times?' said the younger. + +'Well;--hardly that, I think. The man is both a fool and a +blackguard; but I don't think we are therefore to suppose that +there are many fools and blackguards like him. I wonder what he +really has wanted.' + +'He has wanted me to ask him to Gatherum.' + +'He can hardly have expected that. I don't think he can have +been such a fool. He may have thought that there was a possible +off chance, and that he would not lose even that for want of +asking. Of course you won't have noticed it.' + +'I have asked Warburton to write to him, saying that he cannot be +received at my house. I have all letters answered unless they +seem to have come from insane persons. Would it not shock you if +your private arrangements were invaded in that way?' + +'He can't invade you.' + +'Yes he can. He does. That is an invasion. And whether he is +there or not, he can and will write about my house. And though +no one else will make himself such a fool as he has done by this +letter, nevertheless even that is a sign of what others are +doing. You yourself were saying just now that we were going to +do something,--something particular, you said.' + +'It was your word, and I echoed it. I suppose you are going to +have a great many people?' + +'I am afraid Glencora has overdone it. I don't know why I should +trouble you by saying so, but it makes me uneasy.' + +'I can't see why.' + +'I fear she has got some idea into her head of astounding the +world by display.' + +'I think she has got an idea of conquering the world by +graciousness and hospitality.' + +'It is as bad. It is, indeed, the same thing. Why should she +want to conquer what we call the world? She ought to want to +entertain my friends, because they are my friends; and if from +my public position I have more so-called friends than would +trouble me in a happier condition of private life, why, then, she +must entertain more people, as you call it, by feeding them, is +to me abominable. If it goes on it will drive me mad. I shall +have to give up everything, because I cannot bear the burden.' +This he said with more excitement, with stronger passion, than +his friend had ever seen in him before; so much so that the old +Duke was frightened. 'I ought never to have been where I am,' +said the Prime Minister, getting up from his chair and walking +about the room. + +'Allow me to assure you that in that you are decidedly mistaken,' +said his Grace of St Bungay. + +'I cannot make even you see the inside of my heart in such a +matter as this,' said his Grace of Omnium. + +'I think I do. It may be that in saying so I claim for myself +greater power than I possess, but I think I do. But let your +heart say what it may on the subject. I am sure of this,--that +when the Sovereign, by the advice of two outgoing Ministers, and +with the unequivocally expressed assent of the House of Commons, +calls on a man to serve her and the country, that man cannot be +justified in refusing, merely by doubts about his own fitness. +If your health is failing you, you may know it, and say so. Or +it may be that your honour,--your faith in others,--should +forbid you to accept the position. But of your own general +fitness you must take the verdict given by such general consent. +They have seen clearer than you have done what is required, and +know better than you can know that which is wanted is to be +secured.' + +'If I am to be here and do nothing, am I to remain?' + +'A man cannot keep together the Government of a country and do +nothing. Do not trouble yourself about this crowd at Gatherum. +The Duchess, easily, almost without exertion, will do that which +to you, or to me either, would be impossible. Let her have her +way, and take no notice of the Quintus Slides.' The Prime +Minister smiled, as though this repeated allusion to Mr Slide's +letter had brought back his good humour, and said nothing further +then as to his difficulties. There were a few words to be spoken +as to some future Cabinet meeting, something perhaps to be +settled as to some man's work or position, a hint to be given, +and a lesson to be learned,--for of these inner Cabinet Councils +between these two statesmen there was frequent use; and then the +Duke of St Bungay took his leave. + +Our Duke, as soon as his friend had left him, rang for his +private secretary, and went to work diligently, as though nothing +had disturbed him. I do not know that his labours on that +occasion were of a very high order. Unless there be some special +effort of law-making before the country, some reform bill to be +passed, some attempt at education to be made, some fetters to be +forged or to be relaxed, a Prime Minister is not driven hard by +the work of his portfolio,--as are his colleagues. But many men +were in want of many things, and contrived by many means to make +their wants known to the Prime Minister. A dean would fain to be +a bishop, or a judge a chief justice, or a commissioner a +chairman, or a secretary a commissioner. Knights would fain be +baronets, baronets barons, and barons earls. In one guise or +another the wants of gentlemen were made known, and there was +work to be done. A ribbon cannot be given away without breaking +the hearts of, perhaps, three gentlemen and of their wives and +daughters. And then he went down to the House of Lords,--for +the last time this Session as far as work was concerned. On the +morrow legislative work would be over, and the gentlemen of +Parliament would be sent to their country houses, and to their +pleasant country joys. + +It had been arranged that on the day after the prorogation of +Parliament the Duchess of Omnium should go down to Gatherum to +prepare for the coming of the people, which was to commence about +three days later, taking her ministers, Mrs Finn and Locock, with +her, and that her husband with his private secretaries and +dispatch boxes was to go for those three days to Matching, a +smaller place than Gatherum, but one to which they were much +better accustomed. If, as the Duchess thought to be not +unlikely, the Duke should prolong his stay for a few days at +Matching, she felt confident that she would be able to bear the +burden of the Castle on her own shoulders. She had thought it to +be very probable that he would prolong his stay at Matching, and +if the absence were not too long, this might be well explained to +the assembled company. In the Duchess's estimation a Prime +Minister would lose nothing by pleading the nature of his +business as an excuse for such absence,--or by having such a +plea made for him. Of course he must appear at last. But as to +that she had no fear. His timidity, and his conscience also, +would both be too potent to allow him to shirk the nuisance of +Gatherum altogether. He would come, she was sure; but she did +not much care how long he deferred his coming. She was, +therefore, not a little surprised when he announced to her an +alteration in his plans. This he did not many hours after the +Duke of St Bungay had left him at the Treasury Chambers. 'I +think I shall go down with you at once to Gatherum,' he said. + +'What is the meaning of that?' The Duchess was not skilled in +hiding her feelings, at any rate from him, and declared to him at +once by her voice and eye that the proposed change was not +gratifying to her. + +'It will be better. I had thought that I would get a quiet day +or two at Matching. But as the thing has to be done, it may as +well be done at first. A man ought to receive his own guests. I +can't say that I look forward to any great pleasure in doing so +on this occasion;--but I shall do it.' It was very easy to +understand also the tone of his voice. There was in it something +of offended dignity, something of future marital tensions,-- +something also of the weakness of distress. + +She did not want him to come at once to Gatherum. A great deal +of money was being spent, and the absolute spending was not yet +quite perfected. There might still be possibility of +interference. The tents were not all pitched. The lamps were +not as yet all hung in the conservatories. Waggons would still +be coming in and workmen still be going out. He would think less +of what had been done if he could be kept from seeing it while it +was being done. And the greater crowd which would be gathered +there by the end of the first week would carry off the vastness +of the preparations. As to money, he had given her almost carte +blanche, having at one vacillatory period of his Prime +Ministership been talked by her into some agreement with her own +plans. And in regard to money he would say to himself that he +ought not to interfere with any whim of hers on that score, +unless he thought it right to crush the whim on some other score. +Half what he possessed had been hers, and even if during this +year he were to spend more than his income,--if he were to +double or even treble the expenditure of past years,--he could +not consume the additions to his wealth which had accrued and +heaped themselves since his marriage. He had therefore written a +line to his banker, and a line to his lawyer, and he had himself +seen Locock, and his wife's hands had been loosened. 'I didn't +think, your Grace,' said Locock, 'that his Grace would be so +very,--very,--very--' 'Very what, Locock?' 'So very free, your +Grace.' The Duchess, as he thought of it, declared to herself +that her husband was the truest nobleman in all England. She +revered, admired, and almost loved him. She knew him to be +infinitely better than herself. But she could hardly sympathize +with him, and was quite sure that he did not sympathize with her. +He was so good about the money! But yet it was necessary that he +should be kept in the dark as the spending of a good deal of it. +Now he was going to upset a portion of her plans by coming to +Gatherum before he was wanted. She knew him to be obstinate; but +it might be possible to turn him back to his old purpose by +clever manipulation. + +'Of course it would be much nicer for me,' she said. + +'That alone would be sufficient.' + +'Thanks, dear. But we had arranged for people to come at first +whom I thought you would not specially care to meet. Sir Orlando +and Mr Rattler will be there with their wives.' + +'I have become quite used to Sir Orlando and Mr Rattler.' + +'No doubt, and therefore I wanted to spare you something of their +company. The Duke, whom you really do like, isn't coming yet. I +thought, too, you would have your work to finish off.' + +'I fear it is of a kind that won't bear finishing off. However, +I have made up my mind, and have already told Locock to send word +to the people at Matching to say I shall not be there yet. How +long will all this last at Gatherum?' + +'Who can say?' + +'I should have thought you could. People are not coming, I +suppose, for an indefinite time.' + +'As one set leaves, one asks others.' + +'Haven't you asked enough as yet? I should like to know when we +may expect to get away from the place.' + +'You needn't stay to the end, you know.' + +'But you must.' + +'Certainly.' + +'And I should wish you to go with me when we do go to Matching.' + +'Oh, Plantagenet,' said the wife, 'what a Darby and Joan kind of +thing you like to have it!' + +'Yes I do. The Darby and Joan kind of thing is what I like.' + +'Only Darby is to be in an office all day, and in Parliament all +night,--and Joan is to stay at home.' + +'Would you wish me not to be in an office, and not to be in +Parliament? But don't let us misunderstand each other. You are +doing the best you can to further what you think are my +interests.' + +'I am,' said the Duchess. + +'I love you the better for it, day by day.' This so surprised +her that, as she took him by the arm, her eyes were filled with +tears. 'I know that you are working for me quite as hard as I +work myself, and that you are doing so with the pure ambition of +seeing your husband a great man.' + +'And myself as a great man's wife.' + +'It is the same thing. But I would not have you overdo your +work. I would not have you make yourself conspicuous by anything +like display. There are ill-natured people who will say things +that you do not expect, and to which I should be more sensitive +than I ought to be. Spare me such pain as this if you can.' He +still held her hand as he spoke, and she answered him only by +nodding her head. 'I will go down with you to Gatherum on +Friday.' Then he left her. + + + +CHAPTER 19 + +VULGARITY. + +The Duke and Duchess with their children and personal servants +reached Gatherum Castle the day before the first crowd of +visitors was expected. It was on a lovely autumn afternoon, and +the Duke, who had endeavoured to make himself pleasant during the +journey, had suggested that as soon as the heat would allow them +they would saunter around the grounds and see what was being +done. They could dine late, at half-past eight or nine, so that +they might be walking from seven to eight. But the Duchess when +she reached the Castle declined to fall in with this arrangement. +The journey had been hot and dusty, and she was a little cross. +They reached the place about five, and then she declared that she +would have a cup of tea and lie down; she was too tired to walk; +and the sun, she said, was still scorchingly hot. He then asked +that the children might go with him, but the two little girls +were very weary and travel-worn, and the two boys, the elder of +whom was home from Eton and the younger from some minor Eton, +were already about the place after their own pleasures. So the +Duke started for his walk alone. + +The Duchess certainly did not wish to have to inspect the works +in conjunction with her husband. She knew how much there was +that she ought still to do herself, how many things that she +herself ought to see. But she could neither do anything nor see +anything to any purpose under his wing. As to lying down, that +she knew to be quite out of the question. She had already found +out that the life which she had adopted was one of incessant +work. But she was neither weak nor idle. She was quite prepared +to work,--if only she might work after her own fashion and with +companions chosen by herself. Had not her husband been so +perverse, she would have travelled down with Mrs Finn, whose +coming was now postponed for two days, and Locock would have been +with her. The Duke had given directions, which made it necessary +that Locock's coming should be postponed for a day, and this was +another grievance. She was put out a good deal, and began to +speculate whether her husband was doing this on purpose to +torment her. Nevertheless, as soon as she knew that he was out +of the way, she went to her work. She could not go out among the +tents and lawns and conservatories, as she would probably meet +him. But she gave orders as to bedchambers, saw to the +adornments of the reception-rooms, had an eye to the banners and +martial trophies suspended in the vast hall, and the busts and +statues which adorned the corners, looked in on the plate which +was being prepared for the great dining-room, and superintended +the moving about of chairs, sofas, and tables generally. 'You +may take it as certain, Mrs Pritchard,' she said to the +housekeeper, 'that their will never be less than forty for the +next two months.' + +'Forty to sleep, my lady?' To Pritchard the Duchess had for many +years been Lady Glencora, and she perhaps understood that her +mistress liked the old appellation. + +'Yes, forty to sleep, and forty to eat, and forty to drink. But +that's nothing. Forty to push through twenty-four hours every +day! Do you think you've got everything you want?' + +'It depends, my lady, how long each of 'em stays.' + +'One night! No--say two nights on an average.' + +'That makes shifting the beds very often; doesn't it, my lady?' + +'Send up Puddick's for sheets tomorrow. Why wasn't that thought +of before?' + +'It was, my lady,--and I think we shall do. We've got the +steam-washery put up.' + +'Towels!' suggested the Duchess. + +'Oh, yes, my lady. Puddick's did send a great many things;--a +whole waggon load there was come from the station. But the +tablecloths ain't none of 'em long enough for the big table.' +The Duchess's face fell. 'Of course there must be two. On them +very long tables, my lady, there always is two.' + +'Why didn't you tell me, so that I could have had them made? +It's impossible,--impossible that one brain should think of it +all. Are you sure you've enough hands in the kitchen?' + +'Well, my lady;--we couldn't do with more; and they ain't an +atom of use,--only just in the way,--if you don't know +something about 'em. I suppose Mr Millepois will be down soon.' +This name, which Mrs Pritchard called Milleypoise, indicated a +French cook who was at yet unknown at the Castle. + +'He'll be here tonight.' + +'I wish he could have been here a day or two sooner, my lady, so +as just to see about him.' + +'And how should we have got our dinner in town? He won't make +any difficulties. The confectioner did come?' + +'Yes, my lady; and to tell the truth out at once, he was that +drunk last night that--; oh, dear, we didn't know what to do with +him.' + +'I don't mind that before the affair begins. I don't suppose +he'll get tipsy while he has to work for all these people. +You've plenty of eggs?' + +These questions went on so rapidly that in addition to the asking +of them the Duchess was able to go through all the rooms before +she dressed for dinner, and in every room she saw something to +speak of, noting either perfection or imperfection. In the +meantime the Duke had gone out alone. It was still hot, but he +had made up his mind that he would enjoy his first holiday out of +town by walking about his own grounds, and he would not allow the +heat to interrupt him. He went out through the vast hall, and +the huge front door, which was so huge and so grand that it was +very seldom used. But it was now open by chance, owing to some +incident of this festival time, and he passed through it and +stood upon the grand terrace, with the well-known and much-lauded +portico overhead. Up to the terrace, though it was very high, +there ran a road, constructed upon arches, so grand that guests +could drive almost up to the house. The Duke, who was never +grand himself, as he stood there looking at the far-stretching +view before him, could not remember that he had ever but once +before placed himself on that spot. Of what use had been the +portico, the marbles, and the huge pile of stone,--of what use +the enormous hall just behind him, cutting the house in two, +declaring aloud by its own aspect and the proportions that it had +been built altogether for show and in no degree for use or +comfort? And now as he stood there he could already see that men +were at work about the place, that ground had been moved here, +and grass laid down there, and a new gravel road constructed in +another place. Was it not possible that his friends should be +entertained without all these changes to the gardens? Then he +perceived the tents, and descending from the terrace and turning +left towards the end of the house he came upon a new +conservatory. The exotics with which it was to be filled were at +this moment being brought in on great barrows. He stood for a +moment and looked, but said not a word to the men. They gazed at +him but evidently did not know him. How should they know him,-- +him, who was seldom there, and who when there never showed +himself about the place? Then he went farther afield from the +house and came across more and more men. A great ha-ha fence had +been made, enclosing on three sides and open at one end to the +gardens, containing, as he thought, about an acre. 'What are you +doing this for?' he said to one of the labourers. The man stared +at him, and at first seemed hardly inclined to make him an +answer. 'It be for the quality to shoot their bows and harrows,' +he said at last, as he continued the easy task of patting with +his spade the completed work. He evidently regarded this +stranger as an intruder who was not entitled to ask questions, +even if he was permitted to wander about the grounds. + +From one place he went on to another, and found changes, and new +erections, and some device for throwing away money everywhere. +It angered him to think that there was so little of simplicity +left in the world that a man could not entertain his friends +without such a fuss as this. His mind applied itself frequently +to the consideration of the money, not that he grudged the loss +of it, but the spending of it in such a cause. And then perhaps +there occurred to him an idea that all this should not have been +done without a word of consent from himself. Had she come to him +with some scheme for changing everything about the place, making +him think that the alterations were a matter of taste or of mere +personal pleasure, he would probably given his consent at once, +thinking nothing of the money. But all this was utter display. +Then he walked up and saw the flag waving over the Castle, +indicating that he, the Lord Lieutenant of the County, was +present there on his own soil. That was right. That was as it +should be, because the flag was waving in compliance with an +acknowledged ordinance. Of all that properly belonged to his +rank and station he could be very proud, and would allow no +diminution of that outward respect to which they were entitled. +Were they to be trenched on by his fault in his person, the +rights of others to their enjoyment would be endangered, and the +benefits accruing to his country from established marks of +reverence would be imperilled. But here was an assumed and +preposterous grandeur that was as much within the reach of some +rich swindler or some prosperous haberdasher as of himself,-- +having, too, a look of raw newness about it which was very +distasteful to him. And then, too, he knew that nothing of this +would have been done unless he had become Prime Minister. Why, +on earth, should a man's grounds be knocked about because he +becomes Prime Minister? He walked on arguing this within his own +bosom, till he had worked himself almost up to anger. It was +clear that he must henceforth take things more into his own +hands, or would be made to be absurd before the world. +Indifference he knew he could bear. Harsh criticism he thought +he could endure. But to ridicule he was aware that he was +pervious. Suppose the papers were to say of him that he built a +new conservatory and made an archery ground for the sake of +maintaining the Coalition! + +When he got back to the house he found his wife alone in the +small room in which they intended to dine. After all her labours +she was now reclining for the few minutes her husband's absence +might allow her, knowing that after dinner there were a score of +letters for her to write. 'I don't think,' said she, 'I was ever +so tired in my life.' + +'It isn't such a very long journey after all.' + +'But it's a very big house, and I've been, I think, into every +room since I have been here, and I've moved most of the furniture +in the drawing-rooms with my own hand, and I've counted the +pounds of butter, and inspected the sheets and the tablecloths.' + +'Was it necessary, Glencora?' + +'If I had gone to bed instead, the world, I suppose, would have +gone on, and Sir Orlando Drought would still have led the House +of Commons;--but things should be looked after, I suppose.' + +'There are many people to do it. You are like Martha, troubling +yourself with many things.' + +'I always felt that Martha was very ill-used. If there were no +Martha there would never be anything fit to eat. But it's odd +how sure a wife is to be scolded. If I did nothing at all, that +wouldn't please a busy, hard-working man like you.' + +'I don't know that I have scolded,--not as yet.' + +'Are you going to begin?' + +'Not to scold, my dear. Looking back, can you remember that I +ever scolded you?' + +'I can remember a great many times when you ought.' + +'But to tell you the truth, I don't like all that you have done +here. I cannot see that it was necessary.' + +'People make changes in their gardens without necessity +sometimes.' + +'But these changes are made because of your guests. Had they been +made to gratify your own taste, I would have said nothing,-- +although even in that case I think you might have told me what +you proposed to do.' + +'What;--when you are so burdened with work that you do not know +how to turn?' + +'I am never so burdened that I cannot turn to you. But, as you +know, that is not what I complain of. If it were done for +yourself, though it were the wildest vagary, I would learn to +like it, but it distresses me to think what might have been good +enough for our friends before should be thought insufficient +because of the office I hold. There is a--a--a--I was almost +going to say vulgarity about it which distresses me.' + +'Vulgarity!' she exclaimed, jumping up from the sofa. + +'I retract the word. I would not for the world say anything that +should annoy you;--but pray, pray do not go on with it.' Then +again he left her. + +Vulgarity! There was no other word in the language so hard to +bear as that. He had, indeed, been careful to say that he did +not accuse her of vulgarity;--but nevertheless the accusation +had been made. Could you call your friend a liar more plainly +than by saying to him that you would not say that he lied? They +dined together, the two boys, also, dining with them, but very +little was said at dinner. The horrid word was clinging to the +lady's ears, and the remembrance of having uttered the word was +heavy on the man's conscience. He had told himself very plainly +that the thing was vulgar, but he had not meant to use the word. +But it had been uttered; and, let what apology there may be made, +a word uttered cannot be retracted. As he looked across the +table at his wife, he saw that the word had been taken in deep +dudgeon. + +She escaped, to the writing of her letters she said, almost +before the meal was done. 'Vulgarity!' She uttered the word +aloud to herself as she sat herself down in the little room +upstairs which she had assigned to herself for her own use. But +though she was very angry with him, she did not, even in her own +mind, contradict him. Perhaps it was vulgar. But why shouldn't +she be vulgar, if she could most surely get what she wanted by +vulgarity? Of course she was prepared to do things,--was daily +doing things,--which would have been odious to her had not her +husband been a public man. She submitted, without unwillingness, +to constant contact with disagreeable people. She lavished her +smiles,--so she now said to herself,--on butchers and tinkers. +What she said, what she read, what she wrote, what she did, +whither she went, to whom she was kind and to whom unkind,--was +it not all said and done and arranged with reference to his and +her own popularity? When a man wants to be Prime Minister he has +to submit to vulgarity, and must give up his ambition if the task +be too disagreeable to him. The Duchess thought that that had +been understood, at any rate ever since the days of Coriolanus. +'The old Duke kept out of it,' she said to herself, 'and chose to +live in the other way. He had his choice. He wants it to be +done. And when I do it for him because he can't do it for +himself, he calls it by an ugly name!' Then it occurred to her +that the world tells lies every day,--telling on the whole much +more lies than truth,--but that the world has wisely agreed that +the world shall not be accused of lying. One doesn't venture to +express open disbelief even of one's wife; and with the world at +large a word spoken, whether lie or not, is presumed to be true, +of course,--because spoken. Jones has said it, and therefore +Smith,--who has known the lie to be a lie,--has asserted his +assured belief, lying again. But in this way the world is able +to live pleasantly. How was she to live pleasantly if her +husband accused her of vulgarity? Of course it was all vulgar, +but why should he tell her so? She did not do it from any +pleasure that she got from it. + +The letters remained long unwritten, and then there came a moment +in which she resolved that they should not be written. The work +was very hard, and what good would come of it? Why should she +make her hands dirty, so that even her husband accused her of +vulgarity? Would it not be better to give it all up, and be a +great woman, une grande dame, of another kind,--difficult of +access, sparing of her favour, aristocratic to the back-bone,--a +very Duchess of duchesses. The role would be one very easy to +play. It required rank, money, and a little manner,--and these +she possessed. The old Duke had done it with ease, without the +slightest trouble to himself, and had been treated almost like a +god because he had secluded himself. She could make the change +even yet,--and as her husband told her that she was vulgar, she +thought she would make it. + +But at last, before she had abandoned her desk and paper, there +had come another thought. Nothing to her was so distasteful as +failure. She had known that there would be difficulties, and had +assured herself that she would be firm and brave in overcoming +them. Was not this accusation of vulgarity simply one of the +difficulties which she had to overcome? Was her courage already +gone from her? Was she so weak that a single word should knock +her over,--and a word evidently repented of as soon as it was +uttered? Vulgar! Well,--let her be vulgar as long as she +gained her object. There had been no penalty of everlasting +punishment against vulgarity. And then a higher idea touched +her, not without effect,--an idea which she could not analyse, +but which was hardly on that account the less effective. She did +believe thoroughly in her husband, to the extent of thinking him +the fittest man in all the country to be its Prime Minister. His +fame was dear to her. Her nature was loyal; and though she might +perhaps, in her younger days have been able to lean upon him with +a more loving heart had he been other than he was, brighter, more +gay, given to pleasures, and fond of trifles, still, she could +recognize merits with which her sympathy was imperfect. It was +good that he should be England's Prime Minister, and therefore +she would do all she could to keep him in that place. The +vulgarity was a necessity essential. He might not acknowledge +this,--might even, if the choice were left to him, refuse to be +Prime Minister on such terms. But she need not, therefore, give +way. Having in this way thought it all out, she took up her pen +and completed the batch of letters before she allowed herself to +go to bed. + + + +CHAPTER 20 + +SIR ORLANDO'S POLICY. + +When the guests began to arrive our friend the Duchess had +apparently got through her little difficulties, for she received +them with that open, genial hospitality which is so delightful as +coming evidently from the heart. There had not been another word +between her and her husband as to the manner in which the thing +was to be done, and she had determined that the offensive word +should pass altogether out of her memory. The first comer was +Mrs Finn,--who came indeed rather as an assistant hostess than +as a mere guest, and to her the Duchess uttered a few playful +hints as to her troubles. 'Considering the time, haven't we done +marvels? Because it does look nice,--doesn't it? There are no +dirt heaps about, and it's all as green as though it had been +there since the conquest. He doesn't like it because it looks +new. And we've got forty-five bedrooms made up. The servants +are all turned out over the stables somewhere,--quite +comfortable, I assure you. Indeed they like it. And by knocking +down the ends of two passages we've brought everything together. +And the rooms are all numbered, just like an inn. It was the +only way. And I keep one book myself, and Locock has another. I +have everybody's room, and where it is, and how long the tenant +is to be allowed to occupy it. And here's the way everybody is +to take everybody down to dinner for the next fortnight. Of +course that must be altered, but it is easier when we have a sort +of settled basis. And I have some private notes as to who should +flirt with whom.' + +'You'd better not let that lie about.' + +'Nobody could understand a word of it if they had it. A. B. +always means X.Y.Z. And this is the code of the Gatherum Archery +Ground. I never drew a bow in my life,--not a real bow in the +flesh, that is, my dear,--and yet I've made 'em all out, and had +them printed. The way to make a thing go down is to give it some +special importance. And I've gone through the bill of fare for +the first week with Millepois, who is a perfect gentleman,-- +perfect.' Then she gave a little sigh as she remembered that +word from her husband, which had wounded her. 'I used to think +that Plantagenet worked hard when he was doing his decimal +coinage; but I don't think he ever stuck to it as I have done.' + +'What does the Duke say to it all?' + +'Ah; well, upon the whole he behaves like an angel. He behaves +so well that half my time I think I'll shut it all up and have +done with it,--for his sake. And then, the other half, I'm +determined to go on with it,--again for his sake.' + +'He has not been displeased?' + +'Ask no questions, my dear, and you'll hear no stories. You +haven't been married twice without knowing that women can't have +everything smooth. He only said one word. It was rather hard to +bear, but it has passed away.' + +That afternoon there was quite a crowd. Among the first comers +were Mr and Mrs Roby, and Mr and Mrs Rattler. And there were Sir +Orlando and Lady Drought, Lord Ramsden and Sir Timothy Beeswax. +These gentlemen with their wives represented, for the time, the +ministry of which the Duke was the head, and had been asked in +order that their fealty and submission might be thus rivetted. +There were also there Mr and Mrs Boffin, with Lord Thrift and his +daughter Angelica, who had belonged to former ministries,--one +on the Liberal and one on the Conservative side,--and who were +now among the Duke's guests, in order that they and others might +see how wide the Duke wished to open his hands. And there was +our friend Ferdinand Lopez, who had certainly made the best use +of his opportunities in securing for himself so great a social +advantage as an invitation to Gatherum Castle. How could any +father, who was simply a barrister, refuse to receive as his son- +in-law a man who had been a guest of the Duke of Omnium's country +house? And then there were certain people from the +neighbourhood;--Frank Gresham of Greshambury, with his wife and +daughter, the master of the hounds in those parts, a rich squire +of old blood, and head of the family to which one of the aspirant +Prime Ministers of the day belonged. And Lord Chiltern, another +master of fox hounds, two counties off;--and also an old friend +of ours,--had been asked to meet him, and had brought his wife. +And there Lady Rosina de Courcy, an old maid, the sister of the +present Earl de Courcy, who lived not far off, and had been +accustomed to come to Gatherum Castle on state occasions for the +last thirty years,--the only relic in those parts of a family +which had lived there for many years in great pride of place, for +the elder brother, the Earl, was a ruined man, and her younger +brothers were living with their wives abroad, and her sisters had +married, rather lowly in the world, and her mother now was dead, +and Lady Rosina lived alone in a little cottage outside the old +park palings, and still held fast within her bosom all the old +pride of the De Courcys. And then there were Captain Gunner and +Major Pountney, two middle-aged young men, presumably belonging +to the army, whom the Duchess had lately enlisted among her +followers as being useful in their way. They could eat their +dinners without being shy, dance on occasions, though very +unwillingly, talk a little, and run on messages;--and they knew +the peerage by heart, and could tell the details of every +unfortunate marriage for the last twenty years. Each thought +himself, especially since this last promotion, to be +indispensably necessary to the formation of London society, and +was comfortable in a conviction that he had thoroughly succeeded +in life by acquiring the privilege of sitting down to dinner +three times a week with peers and peeresses. + +The list of guests has by no means been made as complete here as +it was to be found in the county newspapers, and in the "Morning +Post" of the time, but enough of names has been given to show of +what nature was the party. 'The Duchess has got rather a rough +lot to begin with,' said the Major to the Captain. + +'Oh, yes. I knew that. She wanted me to be useful, so of course +I came. I shall stay here this week, and then be back in +September.' Up to that moment Captain Gunner had not received +any invitation for September, but then there was no reason why he +should not do so. + +'I've been getting up the archery code with her,' said Pountney, +'and I was pledged to come down and set it going. That little +Gresham girl isn't a bad-looking thing.' + +'Rather flabby,' said Captain Gunner. + +'Very nice colour. She'll have a lot of money, you know.' + +'There's a brother,' said the Captain. + +'Oh, yes; there's a brother, who will have the Greshambury +property, but she's to have her mother's money. There's a very +odd story about all that, you know.' Then the Major told the +story, and told every particular of it wrongly. 'A man might do +worse than look there,' said the Major. A man might have done +worse, because Miss Gresham was a very nice girl; but of course +the Major was all wrong about the money. + +'Well;--now you've tried it, what do you think about it?' This +question was put by Sir Timothy to Sir Orlando as they sat in a +corner of the archery ground, under the shelter of a tent looking +on while Major Pountney taught Mrs Boffin how to fix an arrow on +to her bow string. It was quite understood that Sir Timothy was +inimical to the Coalition though he still belonged to it, and +that he would assist in breaking it up if only there was a fair +chance of his belonging to the party which would remain in power. +Sir Timothy had been badly treated, and did not forget it. Now +Sir Orlando had also of late shown some symptoms of a disturbed +ambition. He was the Leader of the House of Commons, and it had +become an almost recognized law of the Constitution that the +leader of the House of Commons should be the First Minister of +Crown. It was at least understood by many that such was Sir +Orlando's reading of the laws of the Constitution. + +'We've got along, you know,' said Sir Orlando. + +'Yes;--yes. We've got along. Can you imagine any possible +concatenation of circumstances in which we should not get along? +There's always too much good sense in the House for an absolute +collapse. But are you contented?' + +'I won't say I'm not,' said the cautious baronet. 'I didn't look +for very great things from a Coalition, and I didn't look for +very great things from the Duke.' + +'It seems to me that the one achievement to which we've all +looked has been the reaching the end of the Sessions in safety. +We've done that certainly.' + +'It is a great thing to do, Sir Timothy. Of course the main work +of Parliament is to raise supplies,--and, when that has been +done with ease, when all the money wanted has been voted without +a break-down, of course Ministers are very glad to get rid of the +Parliament. It is as much a matter of course that a Minister +should dislike Parliament now as that a Stuart King should have +done so two hundred and fifty years ago. To get a Session over +and done with is an achievement and a delight.' + +'No ministry can go on long on that far niente principle, and no +Minister who accedes to it will remain long in any ministry.' +Sir Timothy in saying this might be alluding to the Duke, or the +reference might be to Sir Orlando himself. 'Of course, I'm not +in the Cabinet, and am not entitled to say a word; but I think +that if I were in the Cabinet, and I were anxious,--which I +confess I'm not,--for a continuation of the present state of +things, I should endeavour to obtain from the Duke some idea of +his policy for the next Session.' Sir Orlando was a man of +certain parts. He could speak volubly,--and yet slowly,--so +that reporters and others could hear him. He was patient, both +in the House and in his office, and had the great gift of doing +what he was told by men who understood things better than he did +himself. He never went very far astray in his official business, +because he always obeyed the clerks and followed precedents. He +had been a useful man,--and would still have remained so had he +not been lifted a little too high. Had he been only one in the +ruck on the Treasury Bench he would have been useful to the end; +but special honour and special place had been assigned to him, +and therefore he desired still bigger things. The Duke's +mediocrity of talent and of energy and of general governing power +had been so often mentioned of late in Sir Orlando's hearing, +that Sir Orlando had gradually come to think that he was the +Duke's equal in the Cabinet, and perhaps it behoved him to lead +the Duke. At the commencement of their joint operations he had +held the Duke in some awe, and perhaps something of that feeling +in reference to the Duke personally still restrained him. The +Duke of Omnium had always been big people. But still it might be +his duty to say a word to the Duke. Sir Orlando assured himself +that if ever convinced of the propriety of doing so, he could say +a word even to the Duke of Omnium. 'I am confident that we +should not go on quite as we are at present,' said Sir Timothy as +he closed the conversation. + +'Where did they pick him up?' said the Major to the Captain, +pointing with his head to Ferdinand Lopez, who was shooting with +Angelica Thrift and Mr Boffin and one of the Duke's private +secretaries. + +'The Duchess found him somewhere. He's one of those fabulously +rich fellows out of the City who make a hundred thousand pounds +at a blow. They say his people were grandees of Spain.' + +'Does anybody know him?' asked the Major. + +'Everybody will soon know him,' answered the Captain. 'I think I +heard that he's going to stand for some place in the Duke's +interest. He don't look like the sort of fellow I like; but he's +got money and he comes, and he's good-looking,--and therefore +he'll be a success.' In answer to this the Major only grunted. +The Major was a year or two older than the Captain, and therefore +less willing even than his friend to admit the claims of new +comers to the social honours. + +Just at this moment the Duchess walked across the ground up to +the shooters, accompanied by Mrs Finn and Lady Chiltern. She had +not been seen in the gardens before that day, and of course a +little concourse was made around her. The Major and the Captain, +who had been driven away by the success of Ferdinand Lopez, +returned with their sweetest smiles. Mr Boffin put down his +treatise on the nature of Franchises, which he was studying in +order that he might lead an opposition against the Ministry next +Session, and even Sir Timothy Beeswax, who had done his work with +Sir Orlando, joined the throng. + +'Now I do hope,' said the Duchess, 'that you are all shooting by +the new code. That is, and is to be, the Gatherum Archery Code, +and I shall break my heart if anybody rebels.' + +'There are only two men,' said Major Pountney very gravely, 'who +won't take the trouble to understand it.' + +'Mr Lopez,' said the Duchess, pointing her finger at our friend, +'are you that rebel?' + +'I fear I did suggest--' began Mr Lopez. + +'I will have no suggestions,--nothing but obedience. Here are +Sir Timothy Beeswax and Mr Boffin, and Sir Orlando Drought is not +far off; and here is Mr Rattler, than whom no authority on such a +subject can be better. Ask them whether in other matters +suggestions are wanted.' + +'Of course not,' said Major Pountney. + +'Now, Mr Lopez, will you or will you not be guided by a strict +and close interpretation of the Gatherum Code. Because, if not, +I'm afraid we shall feel constrained to accept your resignation.' + +'I won't resign and I will obey,' said Lopez. + +'A good ministerial reply,' said the Duchess. + +'I don't doubt but that in time you'll ascend to high office and +become a pillar of the Gatherum constitution. How does he shoot, +Miss Thrift?' + +'He will shoot very well indeed, Duchess, if he goes on and +practises,' said Angelica, whose life for the past seven years +had been devoted to archery. Major Pountney retired far away +into the park, a full quarter of a mile off, and smoked a cigar +under a tree. Was it for that he had absolutely given up a month +to drawing out this code of rules, going backwards and forwards, +two or three times to the printers in his desire to carry out the +Duchess's wishes? 'Women are so d-d ungrateful!' This fellow +Lopez, had absolutely been allowed to make a good score off his +own intractable disobedience. + +The Duchess's little joke about Ministers generally, and the +advantages of submission on their part to their chief, was +thought by some who heard it not to have been made in good taste. +The joke was just a joke as the Duchess would be sure to make,-- +meaning very little, but still not altogether pointless. It was +levelled rather at her husband than at her husband's colleagues +who were present, and was so understood by those who really knew +her,--as did Mrs Finn and Mr Warburton, the private secretary. +But Sir Orlando and Sir Timothy and Mr Rattler, who were all +within hearing, thought that the Duchess had intended to allude +to the servile nature of their position; and Mr Boffin, who hear +it, rejoiced within himself, comforting himself with the +reflection that his withers were unwrung, and thinking with what +pleasure he might carry the anecdote into the farthest corners of +the clubs. Poor Duchess! It is pitiful to think that after such +Herculean labours she should injure the cause by one slight +unconsidered word, more, perhaps, than she had advanced in all +her energy. + +During this time the Duke was at the Castle; but he showed +himself seldom to his guests,--so acting, as the reader will I +hope understand, from no sense of importance of his own personal +presence, but influenced by a conviction that a public man should +not waste his time. He breakfasted in his own room, because he +could thus eat his breakfast in ten minutes. He read all the +papers in solitude, because he was thus enabled to give his mind +to their contents. Life had always been too serious to him to be +wasted. Every afternoon he walked for the sake of exercise, and +would have accepted any companion if any companion had especially +offered himself. But he went off by some side-door, finding the +side-door to be convenient, and therefore when seen by others was +supposed to desire to remain unseen. 'I had no idea there was so +much pride about the Duke,' Mr Boffin said to his old colleague, +Sir Orlando. 'Is it pride?' asked Sir Orlando. 'It may be +shyness,' said the wise Boffin. 'The two things are so alike you +can never tell the difference. But the man who is cursed by +either should hardly be a Prime Minister.' + +It was on the day after this, that Sir Orlando thought that the +moment had come in which it was his duty to say that salutary +word to the Duke, which it was clearly necessary that some +colleague should say, and which no colleague could have so good a +right to say as he was who was Leader of the House of Commons. +He understood clearly that though they were gathered together +then at Gatherum Castle for festive purposes, yet that no time +was unfit for the discussion of State matters. Does not all the +world know that when in autumn the Bismarcks of the world, or +they who are bigger than Bismarcks, meet at this or that +delicious haunt of salubrity, the affairs of the world are then +settled in little conclaves, with greater ease, rapidity, and +certainty than in large parliaments or the dull chambers of +public offices? Emperor meets Emperor, and King meets King, and +as they wander among rural glades in fraternal intimacy, wars are +arranged, and swelling territories are enjoyed in anticipation. +Sir Orlando hitherto had known all this, but hardly as yet +enjoyed it. He had been long in office, but these sweet +confidences can of their very nature belong only to a very few. +But now the time had manifestly come. + +It was Sunday afternoon, and Sir Orlando caught the Duke in the +very act of leaving the house for his walk. There was no +archery, and many of the inmates of the Castle were asleep. +There had been a question as to the propriety of Sabbath archery, +in discussing which reference had been made to Laud's book of +sports, and the growing idea that the National Gallery should be +opened on the Lord's-day. But the Duchess would not have the +archery. 'We are just the people who shouldn't prejudge the +question,' said the Duchess. The Duchess with various ladies, +with the Pountneys and Gunners, and other obedient male +followers, had been to church. None of the Ministers had of +course been able to leave the swollen pouches which are always +sent out from London on Saturday night,--probably, we cannot but +think,--as arranged excuses for such defalcation, and had passed +their mornings comfortably dozing over new novels. The Duke, +always right in his purpose but generally wrong in his practice, +had stayed at home working all the morning, thereby scandalizing +the strict, and had gone to church in the afternoon, thereby +offending the social. The church was close to the house, and he +had gone back to change his coat and hat, and to get his stick. +But as he was stealing our of the little side-gate, Sir Orlando +was down upon him. 'If your Grace is going for a walk, and will +admit of company, I shall be delighted to attend you,' said Sir +Orlando. The Duke professed himself to be well-pleased. He +would be glad to increase his personal intimacy with his +colleague if it might be done pleasantly. + +They had gone nearly a mile across the park, watching the stately +movements of the herds of deer, and talking of this and that +trifle, before Sir Orlando could bring about an opportunity for +uttering his word. At last, he did it somewhat abruptly. 'I +think upon the whole we did pretty well this Session,' he said, +standing still under an old oak-tree. + +'Pretty well,' re-echoed the Duke. + +'And I suppose we have not much to afraid of next Session?' + +'I am afraid of nothing,' said the Duke. + +'But--;' then Sir Orlando hesitated. The Duke, however, said not +a word to help him on. Sir Orlando thought that the Duke looked +more ducal than he had ever seen him look before. Sir Orlando +remembered the old Duke, and suddenly found that the uncle and +nephew were very like each other. But it does not become the +leader of the House of Commons to be afraid of anyone. 'Don't +you think,' continued Sir Orlando, 'we should try and arrange +among ourselves something of a policy? I am not quite sure that +a ministry without a distinct course of action before it can long +enjoy the confidence of the country. Take the last half century. +There have been various policies, commanding more or less of +general assent; free trade--.' Here Sir Orlando gave a kindly +wave of his hand, showing that on behalf of a companion he was +willing to place at the head of the list a policy which had not +always commanded his own assent;--'continued reform in +Parliament, to which I have, with my whole heart, given my poor +assistance.' The Duke remembered how the bathers' clothes were +stolen, and that Sir Orlando had been one of the most nimble- +fingered of thieves. 'No popery, Irish grievances, the ballot, +retrenchment, efficiency of the public service, all have had +their time.' + +'Things to be done offer themselves, I suppose, because they are +in themselves desirable; not because it is desirable to have +something to do.' + +'Just so;--no doubt. But still, if you will think of it, no +ministry can endure without a policy. During the latter part of +the last Session, it was understood that we had to get ourselves +in harness together, and nothing more was expected from us; but I +think we should be prepared with a distinct policy for the coming +year. I fear that nothing can be done in Ireland.' + +'Mr Finn has ideas--' + +'Ah, yes,--well, your Grace. Mr Finn is a very clever young man +certainly; but I don't think we can support ourselves by his plan +of Irish reform.' Sir Orlando had been a little carried away by +his own eloquence and the Duke's tameness, and had interrupted +the Duke. The Duke again looked ducal, but on this occasion Sir +Orlando did not observe his countenance. 'For myself, I think, I +am in favour of increased armaments. I have been applying my +mind to the subject, and I think I see that the people of this +country do not object to a slightly rising scale of estimates in +that direction. Of course there is the county suffrage--' + +'I will think of what you have been saying,' said the Duke. + +'As to the county suffrage--' + +'I will think it over,' said the Duke. 'You see the oak. That +is the largest tree we have here at Gatherum; and I doubt whether +there be a larger one in this part of England.' The Duke's voice +and words were not uncourteous, but there was something in them +which hindered Sir Orlando from referring again on that occasion +to county suffrages or increased armaments. + + + + + +VOLUME II + + + +CHAPTER 21 + +THE DUCHESS'S NEW SWAN. + +When the party had been about a week collected at Gatherum +Castle, Ferdinand Lopez had manifestly become the favourite of +the Duchess for the time, and had, at her instance, promised to +remain there for some further days. He had hardly spoken to the +Duke since he had been in the house,--but then but few of that +motley assembly did talk much with the Duke. Gunner and Pountney +had gone away,--the Captain having declared his dislike of the +upstart Portuguese to be so strong that he could not stay in the +same house with him any longer, and the Major, who was of a +stronger mind, having resolved that he would put the intruder +down. 'It is horrible to think what power money has in these +days,' said the Captain. The Captain had shaken the dust of +Gatherum altogether from his feet, but the Major had so arranged +that a bed was to be found for him in October,--for another +happy week; but he was not to return till bidden by the Duchess. +'You won't forget;--now will you, Duchess?' he said, imploring +her to remember him as he took his leave. 'I did take a deal of +trouble about the code;--didn't I?' 'They don't seem to me to +care for the code,' said the Duchess, 'but, nevertheless, 'I'll +remember.' + +'Who, in the name of all that's wonderful, was that I saw you +with in the garden?' the Duchess said to her husband one +afternoon. + +'It was Lady Rosina De Courcy, I suppose!' + +'Heaven and earth!--what a companion for you to choose.' + +'Why not?--why shouldn't I talk to Lady Rosina De Courcy?' + +'I'm not jealous a bit, if you mean that I don't think Lady +Rosina will steal your heart from me. But why you should pick +her out of all the people here, when there are so many would think +their fortunes made if you would only take a turn with them, I +cannot imagine.' + +'But I don't want to make anyone's fortune,' said the Duke: 'and +certainly not in that way.' + +'What could you be saying to her?' + +'She was talking about her family. I rather like Lady Rosina. +She is living all alone, it seems and almost in poverty. Perhaps +there is nothing so sad in the world as the female scions of a +noble but impoverished stock.' + +'Nothing so dull, certainly.' + +'People are not dull to me, if they are real. I pity that poor +lady. She is proud of her blood and yet not ashamed of her +poverty.' + +'Whatever might come of her blood she has been all her life +willing enough to get rid of her poverty. It isn't above three +years since she was trying her best to marry that brewer at +Silverbridge. I wish you could give your time a little to some +of the other people.' + +'To go and shoot arrows?' + +'No;--I don't want you to shoot arrows. You might act the part +of host without shooting. Can't you walk about with anybody +except Lady Rosina De Courcy?' + +'I was walking about with Sir Orlando Drought last Sunday, and I +very much prefer Lady Rosina.' + +'There has been no quarrel?' asked the Duchess sharply. + +'Oh dear no.' + +'Of course he's an empty-headed idiot. Everybody has always +known that. And he's put above his place in the House. But it +wouldn't do to quarrel with him now.' + +'I don't think I am a quarrelsome man, Cora. I don't remember at +this moment that I have ever quarrelled with anybody to your +knowledge. But I may perhaps be permitted to--' + +'Snub a man, you mean. Well I wouldn't ever snub Sir Orlando +very much, if I were you; though I can understand that it might +be both pleasant and easy.' + +'I wish you wouldn't put slang phrases into my mouth, Cora. If I +think that a man intrudes upon me, I am of course bound to let +know my opinion.' + +'Sir Orlando has--intruded!' + +'By no means. He is in a position which justifies his saying +many things to me which another might not say. But then, again, +he is a man whose opinion does not go far with me, and I have not +the knack of seeming to agree with a man while I let his words +pass idly by me.' + +'That is quite true, Plantagenet.' + +'And, therefore, I was uncomfortable with Sir Orlando, while I +was able to sympathize with Lady Rosina.' + +'What do you think of Ferdinand Lopez?' asked the Duchess, with +studied abruptness. + +'Think of Mr Lopez! I haven't thoughy of him at all. Why should +I think of him?' + +'I want you to think of him. I think he's a very pleasant +fellow, and I'm sure he's a rising man.' + +'You might think the latter, and perhaps feel sure of the former.' + +'Very well. Then, to oblige you, I'll think the latter and feel +sure of the former. I suppose it's true that Mr Grey is going on +this mission to Persia?' Mr Grey was the Duke's intimate friend, +and was at this time member for the neighbouring borough of +Silverbridge. + +'I think he will go. I've no doubt about it. He is to go after +Christmas.' + +'And will give up his seat?' + +The Duke did not answer her immediately. It had only just been +decided,--decided by his friend and himself,--that the seat +should be given up when the journey to Persia was undertaken. Mr +Grey, somewhat in opposition to the Duke's advice, had resolved +that he could not be in Persia and do his duty in the House of +Commons at the same time. But this resolution had only now been +made known to the Duke, and he was rather puzzled to think how +the Duchess had been able to be so quick upon him. He had, +indeed, kept the matter back from the Duchess, feeling that she +would have something to say about it, which might possibly be +unpleasant, as soon as the tidings should reach her. 'Yes,' he +said, 'I think he will give up his seat. That is his purpose, +though I think it is unnecessary.' + +'Let Mr Lopez have it.' + +'Mr Lopez!' + +'Yes,--he is a clever man, a rising man, a man who is sure to do +well, and who will be of use to you. Just take the trouble to +talk to him. It is assistance of that kind that you want. You +Ministers go on shuffling the old cards till they are so worn out +and dirty that one can hardly tell the pips on them.' + +'I am one of the dirty old cards myself,' said the Duke. + +'That's nonsense, you know. A man who is at the head of affairs +as you are can't be included among the pack I am speaking of. +What you want is new blood, or new wood, or new metal, or +whatever you may choose to call it. Take my advice and try this +man. He isn't a pauper. It isn't money that he wants.' + +'Cora, your geese are all swans.' + +'That's not fair. I have never brought to you a goose yet. My +swans have been swans. Who was it brought you and your pet swan +of all, Mr Grey, together? I won't name any names, but it is +your swans have been geese.' + +'It is not for me to return a member for Silverbridge.' When he +said this, she gave him a look which almost upset even his +gravity, a look which was almost the same as asking him whether +he would not--"tell it to the marines." 'You don't quite +understand these things, Cora,' he continued. 'The influence +which owners of property may have in boroughs is decreasing every +day, and there arises the question whether a conscientious man +will any longer use such influence.' + +'I don't think you'd like to see a man from Silverbridge opposing +you in the House.' + +'I may have to bear worse even than that.' + +'Well;--there it is. The man is here and you have the +opportunity of knowing him. Of course I have not hinted at the +matter to him. If there were any Palliser wanted the borough I +wouldn't say a word. What more patriotic thing can a patron do +with his borough than to select a man who is unknown to him, not +related to him, a perfect stranger, merely for his worth?' + +'But I do not know what may be the worth of Mr Lopez.' + +'I will guarantee that,' said the Duchess. Whereupon the Duke +laughed, and then left her. + +The Duchess had spoken with absolute truth when she told her +husband that she had not said a word to Mr Lopez about +Silverbridge, but it was not long before she did say a word. On +that same day she found herself alone with him in the garden,-- +or so much alone as to be able to speak with him privately. He +had certainly made the best use of his time since he had been at +the Castle, having secured the good-will of many of the ladies, +and the displeasure of most of the men. 'You have never been in +Parliament, I think,' said the Duchess. + +'I have never even tried to get there.' + +'Perhaps you dislike the idea of that kind of life.' + +'No, indeed,' he said. 'So far from it, that I regard it as the +highest kind of life there is in England. A seat in Parliament +gives a man a status in this country which it has never done +elsewhere.' + +'Then why don't you try it?' + +'Because I've got into another groove. I've become essentially a +City man,--one of those men who take up the trade of making +money generally.' + +'And does that content you?' + +'No, Duchess;--certainly not. Instead of contenting me, it +disgusts me. Not but that I like the money,--only it is so +insufficient a use of one's life. I suppose I shall try to get +into Parliament some day. Seats in Parliament don't grow like +blackberries on bushes.' + +'Pretty nearly,' said the Duchess. + +'Not in my part of the country. These good things seem to be +appointed to fall in the way of some men, and not of others. If +there were a general election going on to-morrow, I should not +know how to look for a seat.' + +'They are to be found sometimes even without a general election.' + +'Are you alluding to anything now?' + +'Well;--yes, I am. But I'm very discreet, and do not like to do +more than allude. I fancy that Mr Grey, the member for +Silverbridge, is going to Persia. Mr Grey is a Member of +Parliament. Members of Parliament ought to be in London and not +in Persia. It is generally supposed that no man in England is +more prone to do what he ought to do than Mr Grey. Therefore, Mr +Grey will cease to be Member for Silverbridge. That's logic, +isn't it?' + +'Has your Grace any logic equally strong to prove that I can +follow him in the borough?' + +'No;--or if I have, the logic that I should use in that matter +must for the present be kept to myself.' She certainly had a +little syllogism in her head as to the Duke ruling the borough, +the Duke's wife ruling the Duke, and therefore the Duke's wife +ruling the borough; but she did not think it prudent to utter +this on the present occasion. 'I think it much better that men +in Parliament should be unmarried,' said the Duchess. + +'But I am going to be married,' said he. + +'Going to be married, are you?' + +'I have no right to say so, because the lady's father has +rejected me.' Then he told her the whole story, and so told it +as to secure her entire sympathy. In telling it he never said +that he was a rich man, he never boasted that that search after +wealth of which he had spoken, had been successful; but he gave +her to understand that there was no objection to him at all on +the score of money. 'You may have heard of the family,' he said. + +'I have heard of the Whartons of course, and know that there is a +baronet,--but I know nothing more of them. He is not a man of +large property, I think.' + +'My Miss Wharton, the one I would fain call mine,--is the +daughter of a London barrister. He, I believe, is rich.' + +'Then she will be an heiress.' + +'I suppose so;--but that consideration has had no weight with +me. I have always regarded myself as the architect of my own +fortune, and have no wish to owe my material comfort to a wife.' + +'Sheer love!' suggested the Duchess. + +'Yes, I think so. It's very ridiculous, is it not?' + +'And why does the rich barrister object?' + +'The rich barrister, Duchess, is an out and out old Tory, who +thinks that his daughter ought to marry no one but an English +Tory. I am not exactly that.' + +'A man does not hamper his daughter in these days by politics, +when she is falling in love.' + +'There are other cognate reasons. He does not like a foreigner. +Now I am an Englishman, but I have a foreign name. He does not +think a name so grandly Saxon as Wharton should be changed to one +so meanly Latin as Lopez.' + +'The lady does not object to the Latinity?' + +'I fancy not.' + +'Or to the bearer of it.' + +'Ah;--there I must not boast. But in simple truth there is only +the father's ill-will between us.' + +'With plenty of money on both sides?' asked the Duchess. Lopez +shrugged his shoulders. A shrug at such a time may mean +anything, but the Duchess took this shrug as signifying that that +question was so surely settled as to admit of no difficulty. +'Then,' said the Duchess, 'the old gentleman may as well give way +at once. Of course his daughter will be too many for him.' In +this way the Duchess of Omnium became the best friend of +Ferdinand Lopez. + + + +CHAPTER 22 + +ST JAMES'S PARK. + +Towards the end of September Everett Wharton and Ferdinand Lopez +were in town together, and as no one else was in town,--so at +least they professed to say,--they saw a good deal of each +other. Lopez, as we know, had spent a portion of the preceding +month at Gatherum Castle, and had made good use of his time, but +Everett Wharton had been less fortunate. He had been a little +cross with his father, and perhaps a little cross with all the +Whartons generally, who did not, he thought, make quite enough of +him. In the event of 'anything happening' to that ne'er-do-well +nephew, he himself would be the heir; and he reflected not +unfrequently that something very probably might happen to the +nephew. He did not often see this particular cousin, but he +always heard of him as being drunk, overwhelmed with debt and +difficulty, and altogether in that position in life in which it +is probable that something will 'happen'. There was always of +course the danger that the young man might marry and have a +child;--but in the meantime surely he, Everett Wharton, should +have been as much thought of on the banks of the Wye as Arthur +Fletcher. He had been asked down to Wharton Hall,--but he had +been asked in a way which he had no thought to be flattering and +declined to go. Then there had been a plan for joining Arthur +Fletcher in a certain shooting, but that had failed in +consequence of a few words between himself and Arthur respecting +Lopez. Arthur had wanted him to say that Lopez was an +unpardonable intruder,--but he had taken the part of Lopez, and +therefore, when the time came round, he had nothing to do with +the shooting. He had stayed in town till the middle of August, +and had then started by himself across the continent with some +keen intention of studying German politics; but he had found +perhaps that German politics do not manifest themselves in the +autumn, or that a foreign country cannot be well studied in +solitude,--and he had returned. + +Late in the summer, just before his father and sister had left +town, he had had some words with the old barrister. There had +been a few bills to be paid, and Everett's allowance had been +insufficient. It often was insufficient, and then ready money +for his German tour was absolutely necessary. Mr Wharton might +probably have said less about the money had not his son +accompanied his petition by a further allusion to Parliament. +'There are some fellows at last really getting themselves +together at the Progress, and of course it will be necessary to +know who will be ready to come forward at the next general +election.' + +'I think I know one who won't,' said the father, 'judging from +the manner in which he seems at present to manage his own money +affairs.' There was more severity in this than the old man had +intended, for he had often thought within his own bosom whether +it would not be well that he should encourage his son to stand +for some seat. And the money that he had now been asked to +advance had not been very much,--not more, in truth, than he +expected to be called upon to pay in addition to the modest sum +which he professed to allow his son. He was a rich man, who was +not in truth made unhappy by parting with his money. But there +had been, he thought, an impudence in the conjoint attack which +it was his duty to punish. Therefore he had given his son very +little encouragement. + +'Of course, sir, if you tell me that you are not inclined to pay +anything beyond the allowance you make me, there is an end of +it.' + +'I rather think that you just asked me to pay a considerable sum +beyond your allowance, and that I have consented.' Everett +argued the matter no further, but he permitted his mind to +entertain an idea that he was ill-used by his father. The time +would come when he would probably be heir not only to his +father's money, but also to the Wharton title and the Wharton +property,--when his position in the country would really be, as +he frequently told himself, quite considerable. Was it possible +that he should refrain from blaming his father for not allowing +him to obtain, early in life, that parliamentary education which +would fit him to be an ornament to the House of Commons, and a +safeguard to his country in future years? + +Now he and Lopez were at the Progress together, and they were +almost the only men in the club. Lopez was quite contented with +his own present sojourn in London, he had not only been at +Gatherum Castle but he was going there again. And then he had +brilliant hopes before him,--so brilliant that they began, he +thought, to assume the shape of certainties. He had corresponded +with the Duchess, and he had gathered from her somewhat dubious +words that the Duke would probably accede to her wishes in the +matter of Silverbridge. The vacancy had not yet been declared. +Mr Grey was deterred, no doubt by certain high State purposes, +from applying for the stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds, and +thereby releasing himself from his seat in Parliament, and +enabling himself to perform, with a clear conscience, duties in a +distant part of the world which he did not feel to be compatible +with that seat. The seekers after seats were, no doubt, already +on the track; but the Duchess had thought that as far as the +Duke's good word went, it might possibly be given in favour of Mr +Lopez. The happy aspirant had taken this to be almost as good as +a promise. There were also certain pecuniary speculations on +foot, which could not be kept quiet even in September, as to +which he did not like to trust entirely to the unaided energy of +Mr Sextus Parker, or to the boasted alliance of Mr Mills +Happerton. Sextus Parker's whole heart and soul were now in the +matter, but Mr Mills Happerton, an undoubted partner in Husky and +Sons, had blown a little coldly on the affair. But in spite of +this Ferdinand Lopez was happy. Was it probable that Mr Wharton +should continue his opposition to a marriage which would make his +daughter the wife of a member of Parliament and of a special +friend of the Duchess of Omnium? + +He had said a word about his own prospect in reference to the +marriage, but Everett had been at first far too full of his own +affairs to attend much to a matter which was comparatively so +trifling. + +'Upon my word,' he said, 'I am beginning to feel angry with the +governor, which is a kind of thing I don't like at all.' + +'I can understand that when he's angry with you, you shouldn't +like it.' + +'I don't mind that half so much. He'll come round. However +unjust he may be now, at the moment, he's the last man in the +world to do an injustice in his will. I have thorough confidence +in him. But I find myself driven into hostility to him by a +conviction that he won't let me take any real step in life, till +my life has been half frittered away.' + +'You're thinking of Parliament.' + +'Of course I am. I don't say to you ain't an Englishman, but you +are not quite enough of an Englishman to understand what +Parliament is to us.' + +'I hope to be;--some of these days,' said Lopez. + +'Perhaps you may. I won't say but what you may get yourself +educated to it when you've been married a dozen years to an +English wife, and have half-a-dozen English children of your own. +But, in the meantime, look at my position. I am twenty-eight +years old.' + +'I am four years your senior.' + +'It does not matter a straw to you,' continued Everett. 'But a +few years are everything with me. I have a right to suppose that +I may be able to represent the county,--say in twenty years. I +shall probably then be the head of the family and a rich man. +Consider what a parliamentary education would be to me! And then +it is just the life for which I have laid myself out, and in +which I could make myself useful. You don't sympathize with me, +but you might understand me.' + +'I do both. I think of going into the House myself.' + +'You!' + +'Yes, I do.' + +'You must have changed your ideas very much then within the last +month or two.' + +'I have changed my ideas. My one chief object in life is, as you +know, to marry your sister; and if I were a Member of Parliament +I think that some difficulties would be cleared away.' + +'But there won't be an election for the next three years at my +rate,' said Everett Wharton, staring at his friend. 'You don't +mean to keep Emily waiting for a dissolution?' + +'There are occasional vacancies,' said Lopez. + +'Is there a chance of anything of that kind falling in your way?' + +'I think there is. I can't quite tell you all the particulars +because other people are concerned, but I don't think it +improbable that I may be in the House before--; well, say in +three months' time.' + +'In three months' time!' exclaimed Everett, whose mouth was +watering at the prospects of a friend. 'That is what comes from +going to stay with a Prime Minister, I suppose,' Lopez shrugged +his shoulders. 'Upon my word I can't understand you,' continued +the other. 'It was only the other day you were arguing in this +very room as to the absurdity of a parliamentary career,-- +pitching into me, by George, like the very mischief, because I +had said something in its favour,--and now you are going in for +it yourself in some sort of mysterious way that a fellow can't +understand.' It was quite clear that Everett Wharton thought +himself ill-used by his friend's success. + +'There is no mystery;--only I can't tell people's names.' + +'What is the borough?' + +'I cannot tell you that at present.' + +'Are you sure there will be a vacancy?' + +'I think I am sure,' + +'And that you will be invited to stand?' + +'I am not sure of that.' + +'Of course anybody can stand whether invited or not.' + +'If I come forward for this place I shall do so on the very best +interest. Don't mention it. I tell you because I already regard +my connection with you as being so close as to call upon me to +tell you anything of that kind.' + +'And yet you do not tell me the details.' + +'I tell you all that I can in honour tell.' + +Everett Wharton certainly felt aggrieved by his friend's news, +and plainly showed that he did so. It was so hard that if a +stray seat in Parliament were going a-begging, it should be +thrown in the way of this man who didn't care for it, and +couldn't use it to any good purpose. Instead of in his own way! +Why should anyone want Ferdinand Lopez to be in Parliament? +Ferdinand Lopez had paid no attention to the great political +questions of the Commonwealth. He knew nothing of Labour and +Capital, of Unions, Strikes, and Lockouts. But because he was +rich, and, by being rich, had made his way among great people, he +was to have a seat in Parliament! As for the wealth, it might be +at his own command also,--if only his father could be got to see +the matter in a proper light. And as for the friendship of great +people,--Prime Ministers, Duchesses, and such like,--Everett +Wharton was quite confident that he was at any rate as well +qualified to shine among them as Ferdinand Lopez. He was of too +good a nature to be stirred to injustice against his friend by +the soreness of this feeling. He did not wish to rob his friend +of his wealth, of his Duchesses, or of his embryo seat in +Parliament. But for the moment there came upon him a doubt +whether Ferdinand was so very clever, or so peculiarly +gentlemanlike or in any way very remarkable, and almost a +conviction that he was very far from being good-looking. + +They dined together, and quite late in the evening they strolled +out into St James's Park. There was nobody in London, and there +was nothing for either of them to do, and therefore they agreed +to walk round the park, dark and gloomy as they knew the park +would be. Lopez had seen and had quite understood the bitterness +of spirit by which Everett had been oppressed, and with that +peculiarly imperturbable good humour which made part of his +character bore it all, even with tenderness. He was a man, as +are many of his race, who could bear contradictions, unjust +suspicions, and social ill-treatment without a shadow of +resentment, but who, if he had a purpose, could carry it without +a shadow of a scruple. Everett Wharton had on this occasion made +himself very unpleasant, and Lopez had borne with him as an angel +would hardly have done; but should Wharton ever stand in his +friend's way, his friend would sacrifice him without compunction. +As it was Lopez bore with him, simply noting in his own mind that +Everett Wharton was a greater ass than he had taken him to be. +It was Wharton's idea that they should walk around the park, and +Lopez for a time had discouraged the suggestion. 'It is a +wretchedly dark place at night, and you don't know whom you may +meet there.' + +'You don't mean to say that you are afraid to walk round St +James's Park with me because it's dark!' said Wharton. + +'I certainly should be afraid by myself, but I don't know that I +am afraid with you. But what's the good?' + +'It's better than sitting here doing nothing, without a soul to +speak to. I've already smoked half-a-dozen cigars, till I'm so +muddled I don't know what I'm about. It's so hot one can't walk +in the day, and this is just the time for the exercise.' Lopez +yielded, being willing to yield in almost anything at present to +the brother of Emily Wharton; and though the thing seemed to him +to be very foolish, they entered the park by St James's Palace, +and started to walk round it, turning to the right and going in +front of Buckingham Palace. As they went on Wharton still +continued his accusation against his father, and said also some +sharp things against Lopez himself, till his companion began to +think that the wine he had drunk had been as bad as the cigars. +'I can't understand your wanting to go into Parliament,' he said. +'What do you know about it?' + +'If I get there, I can learn like anybody else, I suppose.' + +'Half of those who go there don't learn. They are, as it were, +born to it, and they do very well to support this party or that.' + +'And why shouldn't I support this party,--or that?' + +'I don't suppose you know which party you would support,--except +that you'd vote for the Duke, if, as I suppose, you are to get in +under the Duke's influence. If I went into the House I should go +with a fixed and settled purpose of my own.' + +'I'm not there yet,' said Lopez, willing to drop the subject. + +'It will be a great expense to you, and will stand altogether in +the way of your profession. As far as Emily is concerned, I +should think my father would be dead against it.' + +'Then he would be unreasonable.' + +'Not at all, if he thought you would injure your professional +prospects. It is a d-d piece of folly; that's the long and the +short of it.' + +This certainly was very uncivil, and it almost made Lopez angry. +But he had made up his mind that his friend was a little the +worse for the wine he had drunk, and therefore he did not resent +even this. 'Never mind politics and Parliament now,' he said, +'but let us get home. I am beginning to be sick of this. It's +so awfully dark, and whenever I do hear a step, I think somebody +is coming to rob us. Let us get on a bit.' + +'What the deuce are you afraid of?' said Everett. They had then +come up the greater part of the length of the Birdcage Walk, and +the lights on Storey's Gate were just visible, but the road on +which they were then walking was very dark. The trees were black +over their heads, and not a step was heard near them. At this +time it was just midnight. Now, certainly, among the faults +which might be justly attributed to Lopez, personal cowardice +could not be reckoned. On this evening he had twice spoken of +being afraid, but the fear had simply been that which ordinary +caution indicates; and his object had been that of hindering +Wharton in the first place from coming into the park, and then of +getting him out of it as quickly as possible. + +'Come along,' said Lopez. + +'By George, you are in a blue funk,' said the other. 'I can hear +your teeth chattering.' Lopez, who was beginning to be angry, +walked on and said nothing. It was too absurd, he thought, for +real anger, but he kept a little in front of Wharton, intending +to show that he was displeased. 'You had better run away at +once,' said Wharton. + +'Upon my word. I shall begin to think you're tipsy,' said Lopez. + +'Tipsy!' said the other. 'How dare you say such a thing to me? +You never in your life say me in the least altered by anything I +had drunk.' + +Lopez knew that at any rate this was untrue. 'I've seen you as +drunk as Cloe before now,' said he. + +'That's a lie,' said Wharton. + +'Come, Wharton,' said the other, 'do not disgrace yourself by +conduct such as that. Something has put you out, and you do not +know what you are saying. I can hardly imagine that you should +wish to insult me.' + +'It was you insulted me. You said I was drunk. When you said it +you knew it was untrue.' + +Lopez walked on a little way in silence, thinking over this most +absurd quarrel. Then he turned round and spoke. 'This is all +the greatest nonsense I have ever heard in the world. I'll go on +and go to bed, and to-morrow morning you'll think better of it. +But pray remember that under no circumstances should you call a +man a liar, unless on cool consideration you are determined to +quarrel with him for lying, and determined also to see the +quarrel out.' + +'I am quite ready to see this quarrel out.' + +'Good night,' said Lopez, starting off at a quick pace. They +were then close to the turn in the park, and Lopez went on till +he had nearly reached the park front of the new offices. As he +had walked he had listened to the footfall of his friend, and +after a while had perceived, or had thought that he perceived +that the sound was discontinued. It seemed to him that Wharton +had altogether lost his senses;--the insult to himself had been +so determined and so absolutely groundless! He had striven his +best to conquer the man's ill-humour by good-natured forbearance, +and had only suggested that Wharton was perhaps tipsy in order to +give him some excuse. But if his companion were really drunk, as +he now began to think, could it be right to leave him unprotected +in the park? The man's manner had been strange the whole +evening, but there had been no sign of the effect of wine till +after they had left the club. But Lopez had heard of men who had +been apparently sober, becoming drunk as soon as they got into the +air. It might have been so in this case, though Wharton's voice +and gait had not been those of a drunken man. At any rate, he +would turn back and look after him, and as he did turn back, he +resolved that whatever Wharton might say to him on this night he +would not notice. He was too wise to raise a further impediment +to his marriage by quarrelling with Emily's brother. + +As soon as he paused he was sure that he heard footsteps behind +him which were not those of Everett Wharton. Indeed, he was sure +that he heard the footsteps of more than one person. He stood +still for a moment to listen, and then he distinctly heard a rush +and a scuffle. He ran back to the spot at which he had left his +friend, and at first thought that he perceived a mob of people in +the dusk. But as he got nearer, he saw that there were a man and +two women. Wharton was on the ground on his back, and the man +was apparently kneeling on his neck and head while the women were +rifling his pockets. Lopez, hardly knowing how he was acting, +was upon them in a moment, flying in the first place at the man, +who had jumped up to meet him as he came. He received at once a +heavy blow on his head from some weapon, which, however, his hat +so far stopped as to save him from being felled or stunned, and +then he felt another blow from behind on the ear, which he +afterwards conceived to have been given him by one of the women. +But before he could well look about him, or well know how the +whole thing had happened, the man and the two women had taken to +their legs, and Wharton was standing on his feet leaning against +the iron railings. + +The whole thing had occupied a very short space of time, and yet +the effects were very grave. At the first moment Lopez looked +round and endeavoured to listen, hoping that some assistance +might be near,--some policeman, or, if not that, some wanderer +by night who might be honest enough to help him. But he could +near or see no one. In this condition of things it was not +possible for him to pursue the ruffians, as he could not leave +his friend leaning against the park rails. It was at once +manifest to him that Wharton had been much hurt, or at any rate +incapacitated for immediate exertion, by the blows he had +received;--and as he put his hand up to his own head, from which +in the scuffle his hat had fallen, he was not certain that he was +not severely hurt himself. Lopez could see that Wharton was very +pale, that his cravat had been almost wrenched from his neck by +pressure, that his waistcoat was torn open and the front of his +shirt soiled,--and he could see also that a fragment of the +watch-chain was hanging loose, showing that the watch had gone. +'Are you hurt much?' he said, coming close up and taking a tender +hold of his friend's arm. Wharton smiled and shook his head, but +spoke not a word. He was in truth more shaken, stunned, and +bewildered than actually injured. The ruffian's fist had been at +his throat, twisting his cravat, and for half a minute he had +felt that he was choked. As he had struggled while one woman +pulled at his watch and the other searched for his purse,-- +struggling alas unsuccessfully,--the man had endeavoured to +quiet him by kneeling on his chest, strangling him with his own +necktie, and pressing hard on his gullet. It is a treatment +which, after a few seconds of vigorous practice, is apt to leave +the patient for a while disconcerted and unwilling to speak. +'Say a word if you can,' whispered Lopez, looking into the other +man's face with anxious eyes. + +At the moment there came across Wharton's mind a remembrance that +he had behaved very badly to is friend, and some sort of vague +misty doubt whether all this evil had not befallen because of his +misconduct. But he knew at the same time the Lopez was not +responsible for the evil, and dismayed as he had been, still he +recalled enough of the nature of the struggle in which he had +been engaged, to be aware that Lopez had befriended him +gallantly. He could not even yet speak; but he saw the blood +trickling down his friend's temple and forehead, and lifting up +his hand, touched the spot with his fingers. Lopez also put his +had up, and drew it away covered with blood. 'Oh,' said he, +'that does not signify in the least. I got a knock, I know, and +I am afraid I have lost my hat, but I'm not hurt.' + +'Oh, dear!' The word was uttered with a low sigh. Then there +was a pause, during which Lopez supported the sufferer. 'I +thought that it was all over with me at one moment.' + +'You will be better now.' + +'Oh, yes. My watch is gone!' + +'I fear it is,' said Lopez. + +'And my purse,' said Wharton, collecting his strength together +sufficiently to search for his treasures. 'I had eight 5-pound +notes in it.' + +'Never mind your money or your watch if your bones are not +broken.' + +'It's a bore all the same to lose every shilling that one has.' +Then they walked very slowly away towards the steps at the Duke +of York's column. Wharton regaining his strength as he went, but +still able to progress by leisurely. Lopez had not found his +hat, and, being covered with blood, was, as far as appearances +went, in a worse plight than the other. At the foot of the steps +they met a policeman, to whom they told their story, and who, as +a matter of course, was filled with an immediate desire to arrest +them both. To the policeman's mind it was most distressing that +a bloody faced man without a hat, with a companion almost too +weak to walk, should not be conveyed to a police-station. But +after ten minutes' parley, during which Wharton sat on the bottom +step and Lopez explained all the circumstances, he consented to +get them a cab to take their address, and then to go alone to the +station and make his report. That the thieves had got off with +their plunder was only too manifest. Lopez took the injured man +home to the house in Manchester Square, and then returned in the +same cab, hatless, to his own lodgings. + +As he returned he applied his mind to think how he could turn the +events of the evening to his own use. He did not believe that +Everett Wharton was severely hurt. Indeed there might be a +question whether in the morning his own injury would not be the +most severe. But the immediate effect on the flustered and +despoiled unfortunate one had been great enough to justify Lopez +in taking strong steps if strong steps could in any way benefit +himself. Would it be best to publish this affair on the house- +tops, or to bury it in the shade, as nearly as it might be +buried? He had determined in his own mind that his friend had +been tipsy. In no other way could his conduct be understood. +And a row with a tipsy man at midnight in the park is not, at +first sight, creditable. But it could be made to have a better +appearance if told by himself, than if published from other +quarters. The old housekeeper at Manchester Square must know +something about it, and would, of course, tell what she knew, and +the loss of money and the watch must in all probability be made +known. Before he had reached his own door had had quite made up +his mind that he himself would tell the story after his own +fashion. + +And he told it, before he went to bed that night. He washed the +blood from his face and head, and cut away a part of the clotted +hair, and then wrote a letter to old Mr Wharton at Wharton Hall. +And between three and four o'clock in the morning he went out and +posted his letter in the nearest pillar, so that it might go down +by the day mail and certainly preceded by other written doings. +The letter which he sent was as follows: + + DEAR MR WHARTON + I regret to have to send to you an account of a rather + serious accident which has happened to Everett. I am + now writing at 3 am, having just taken him home, and it + occurred about midnight. You may be quite sure that + there is no danger, or I should have advertised you by + telegram. + There is nothing doing in town, and therefore, as the + night was fine, we, very foolishly, agreed to walk round + St James's Park late after dinner. It is a kind of thing + that nobody does;--but we did it. When we had nearly got + round I was in a hurry, whereas Everett was for + strolling slowly, and so I went before him. But I was + hardly two hundred yards in front of him before he was + attacked by three persons, a man and two women. The man + I presume came upon him from behind, but he has not + sufficiently collected his thoughts to remember exactly + what occurred. I heard the scuffle, and of course turned + back,--and was luckily in time to get up before he was + seriously hurt. I think the man would otherwise have + strangled him. I am sorry to say he lost both his watch and + his purse. + He undoubtedly been very much shaken, and altogether + 'knocked out of time,' as people say. Excuse the phrase, + because I think it will best explain what I want you to + understand. The man's hand at his throat must have + stopped his breathing for some seconds. He certainly has + received no permanent injury, but I should not wonder if + he should be unwell for some days. I tell you all + exactly as it occurred, as it strikes me that you may like + to run up to town for a day just to look at him. But you + need not do so on the score of any danger. Of course he + will see a doctor to-morrow. There did not seem to be + any necessity for calling up one to-night. We did give + notice to the police as we were coming home, but I fear + the ruffians had ample time for an escape. He was too + weak and I was too fully employed with him, to think of + pursuing them at the time. + Of course he is at Manchester Square +Most faithfully yours +FERDINAND LOPEZ + +He did not say a word about Emily, but he knew that Emily would +see the letter and would perceive that he had been the means of +preserving her brother; and, in regard to the old barrister +himself. Lopez thought that the old man could not but feel +grateful for his conduct. He had in truth behaved very well to +Everett. He had received a heavy blow on the head in young +Wharton's defence,--of which he was determined to make good use, +though he had thought it expedient to say nothing about the blow +in the letter. Surely it was all help. Surely the paternal mind +would be softened towards him when the father should be made to +understand how great had been the service to the son. That +Everett would make little of what had been done for him de did +not in the least fear. Everett Wharton was sometimes silly but +was never ungenerous. + +In spite of his night's work Lopez was in Manchester Square +before nine the following morning, and on the side of his brow he +bore a great patch of black plaster. 'My head is very thick,' he +said laughing, when Everett asked after his wound. 'But it would +have gone badly with me if the ruffian had struck an inch lower. +I suppose my hat saved me, though I remember very little. Yes, +old fellow, I have written to your father, and I think he will +come up. It was better that it should be so.' + +'There is nothing the matter with me,' said Everett. + +'One didn't quite know last night whether there was or no. At +any rate his coming won't hurt you. It's always well to have +your banker near you, when your funds are low.' + +Then after a pause Everett made his apology,--'I know I made a +great ass of myself last night.' + +'Don't think about it.' + +'I used a word I shouldn't have used, and I beg your pardon.' + +'Not another word, Everett. Between you and me things can't go +wrong. We love each other too well.' + + + +CHAPTER 23 + +SURRENDER. + +The letter given in the previous chapter was received at Wharton +Hall late in the evening of the day on which it was written, and +was discussed among all the Whartons that night. Of course there +was no doubt as to the father's going up to town on the morrow. +The letter was just such a letter as would surely make a man run +to his son's bedside. Had the son written himself it would have +been different; but the fact that the letter had come from +another man seemed to be evidence that the poor sufferer could +not write. Perhaps the urgency with which Lopez had sent off his +dispatch, getting his account of the fray ready for the very +early day mail, though the fray had not taken place till +midnight, did not impress them sufficiently when they accepted +this as evidence of Everett's dangerous condition. At this +conference at Wharton very little was said about Lopez, but there +was a general feeling that he had behaved well. 'It was very odd +that they should have parted in the park,' said Sir Alured. 'But +very lucky that they should not have parted sooner,' said John +Fletcher. If a grain of suspicion against Lopez might have been +set afloat in their minds by Sir Alured's suggestion, it was +altogether dissipated by John Fletcher's reply;--for everybody +there knew that John Fletcher carried common sense for the two +families. Of course they all hated Ferdinand Lopez, but nothing +could be extracted from the incident, as far as its details were +yet known to them, which could be turned to his injury. + +While they sat together discussing the matter in the drawing-room +Emily Wharton hardly said a word. She uttered a little shriek +when the account of the affair was first read to her, and then +listened with silent attention to what was said around her. When +there had seemed for a moment to be a doubt,--or rather a +question, for there had been no doubt,--whether her father +should go at once to London, she had spoken just a word. 'Of +course you will go, papa.' After that she said nothing till she +came to him in his own room. 'Of course I will go with you +tomorrow, papa.' + +'I don't think that will be necessary.' + +'Oh, yes. Think how wretched I should be.' + +'I would telegraph to you immediately.' + +'And I shouldn't believe the telegraph. Don't you know how it +always is? Besides we have been more than the usual time. We +were to go to town in ten days, and you would not think of +returning to fetch me. Of course I will go with you. I have +already begun to pack my things, and Jane is now at it.' Her +father, not knowing how to oppose her, yielded, and Emily before +she went to bed had made the ladies of the house aware that she +also intended to start the next morning at eight o'clock. + +During the first part of the journey very little was said between +Mr Wharton and Emily. There were other persons in the carriage, +and she, though she had determined in some vague way that she +would speak some words to her father before she reached their own +house, had still wanted time to resolve what those words should +be. But before she had reached Gloucester she had made up her +mind, and going on from Gloucester she found herself for a time +alone with her father. She was sitting opposite to him, and +after conversing for a while she touched his knee with her hand. +'Papa,' she said, 'I suppose I must now have to meet Mr Lopez in +Manchester Square?' + +'Why should you have to meet Mr Lopez?' + +'Of course he will come there to see Everett. After what has +occurred you can hardly forbid him the house. He has saved +Everett's life.' + +'I don't know that he has done anything of the kind,' said Mr +Wharton, who was vacillating between different opinions. He did +in his heart believe that the Portuguese whom he so hated had +saved his son from the thieves, and he also had almost come to +the conviction that he must give his daughter to the man,--but +at the same time he could not as yet bring himself to abandon his +opposition to the marriage. + +'Perhaps you think the story is not true.' + +'I don't doubt the story in the least. Of course one man sticks +to another in such an affair, and I have no doubt that Mr Lopez +behaved as any English gentleman would.' + +'Any English gentleman, papa, would have to come afterwards and +see the friend he had saved. Don't you think so?' + +'Oh yes,--he might call.' + +'And Mr Lopez will have an additional reason for calling,--and I +know he will come. Don't you think he will come?' + +'I don't want to think anything about it,' said the father. + +'But I want you to think about it, papa. Papa, I know you are +not indifferent to my happiness.' + +'I hope you know it.' + +'I do know it. I am quite sure of it. And therefore I don't +think you ought to be afraid to talk to me about what must +concern my happiness so greatly. As far as my own self and my +own will are concerned I consider myself as given away to Mr +Lopez already. Nothing but his marrying some other woman,--or +his death,--would make me think of myself as otherwise than as +belonging to him. I am not a bit ashamed of owning my love--to +you or to him, if the opportunity were allowed me. I don't think +there should be concealment about anything so important between +people who are so dear to each other. I have told you that I +will do whatever you bid me about him. If you say that I shall +not speak to him or see him I will not speak to him or see him-- +willingly. You certainly need not be afraid that I should marry +without your leave.' + +'I am not in the least afraid of it.' + +'But I think you should think over what you are doing. And I am +quite sure of this,--that you must tell me what I am to do in +regard to receiving Mr Lopez in Manchester Square.' Mr Wharton +listened attentively to what his daughter said to him, shaking +his head from time to time as though almost equally distracted by +her passive obedience and by her passionate protestations of +love; but he said nothing. When she had completed her +supplication he threw himself back in His seat and after a while +took his book. It may be doubted whether he read much, for the +question as to his girl's happiness was quite as near his heart +as she could wish it to be. + +It was late in the afternoon before they reached Manchester +Square, and they were both happy to find that they were not +troubled by Mr Lopez at the first moment. Everett was at home +and in bed, and had not indeed as yet recovered the effect of the +man's knuckles at his windpipe; but he was well enough to assure +his father and sister that they need not have disturbed +themselves or hurried their return from Hertfordshire on his +account. 'To tell the truth,' said he, 'Ferdinand Lopez was more +hurt than I was.' + +'He said nothing of being hurt himself,' said Mr Wharton. + +'How was he hurt?' asked Emily in the quietest, stillest voice. + +'The fact is,' said Everett, beginning to tell the whole story +after his own fashion, 'if he hadn't been at hand then, there +would have been an end of me. We had separated, you know--' + +'What could make two men separate from each other in the darkness +of St James's Park?' + +'Well,--to tell you the truth, we had quarrelled. I had made an +ass of myself. You need not go into that any further, except +that you should know that it was all my fault. Of course it +wasn't a real quarrel,'--when he said this Emily, who was +sitting close to his bed-head, pressed his arm under the clothes +with her hand,--'but I had said something rough, and he had gone +on just to put an end to it.' + +'It was uncommonly foolish,' said the old Wharton. 'It was very +foolish going round the park at that time of night.' + +'No doubt, sir,--but it was my doing. And if he had not gone +with me, I should have gone alone.' Here there was another +pressure. 'I was a little low in spirits, and wanted the walk.' + +'But how is he hurt?' asked the father. + +'The man who was kneeling on me and squeezing the life out of me +jumped up when he heard Lopez coming, and struck him over the +head with a bludgeon. I heard the blow, though I was pretty well +done for at the time myself. I don't think they hit me, but they +got something round my neck, and I was half strangled before I +knew what they were doing. Poor Lopez bled horribly, but he says +he is none the worse for it.' Here there was another little +pressure under the bed-clothes; for Emily felt that her brother +was pleading for her in every word that he said. + +About ten on the following morning Lopez came and asked for Mr +Wharton. He was shown into the study, where he found the old +man, and at once began to give his account of the whole concern +in an easy, unconcerned manner. He had the large black patch on +the side of the head, which had been so put on as almost to +become him. But it was so conspicuous as to force a question +concerning it from Mr Wharton. 'I am afraid you got rather a +sharp knock yourself, Mr Lopez?' + +'I did get a knock, certainly;--but the odd part of it is that I +knew nothing about it till I found the blood in my eyes after +they had decamped. But I lost my hat, and there is a rather long +cut just above the temple. It hasn't done me the slightest harm. +The worst of it was that they got off with Everett's watch and +money.' + +'Had he much money?' + +'Forty pounds!' And Lopez shook his head, thereby signifying +that forty pounds at the present moment was more than Everett +Wharton could afford to lose. Upon the whole he carried himself +very well, ingratiating himself with the father, raising no +question about the daughter, and saying as little as possible +about himself. He asked whether he could go up and see his +friend, and or course was allowed to do so. A minute before he +entered the room Emily left it. They did not see each other. At +any rate he did not see her. But there was a feeling with both +of them that the other was close,--and there was something +present to them, almost amounting to conviction, that the +accident of the park robbery would be good for them. + +'He certainly did save Everett's life,' Emily said to her father +the next day. + +'Whether he did or not, he did his best,' said Mr Wharton. + +'When one's dearest relation is concerned,' said Emily, 'and when +his life has been saved, one feels that one has to be grateful +even if it has been an accident. I hope he knows, at any rate, +that I am grateful.' + +The old man had not been a week in London before he knew that he +had absolutely lost the game. Mrs Roby came back to her house +round the corner, ostensibly with the object of assisting her +relatives in minding Everett,--a purpose for which she certainly +was not needed, but, as the matter progressed, Mr Wharton was not +without suspicion that her return had been arranged by Ferdinand +Lopez. She took upon herself, at any rate, to be loud in the +praise of the man who had saved the life of her 'darling nephew', +--and to see that others also should be loud in his praise. In a +little time all London had heard of the affair, and it had been +discussed out of London. Down at Gatherum Castle the matter had +been known,--but the telling of it had always been to the great +honour and glory of the hero. Major Pountney had almost broken +his heart over it, and Captain Gunner, writing to his friend from +the Curragh, had asserted his knowledge that it was all a 'got- +up' thing between the two men. The "Breakfast Table" and the +"Evening Pulpit" had been loud in praise of Lopez, but the +"People's Banner", under the management of Mr Quintus Slide, had +naturally thrown down much suspicion on the incident when it +became known to the Editor that Ferdinand Lopez had been +entertained by the Duke and Duchess of Omnium. 'We have always +felt some slight doubts as to the details of the affair said to +have happened about a fortnight ago, just at midnight, in St +James's Park. We should be glad to know whether the policemen +have succeeded in tracing any of the stolen property, or whether +any real attempt to trace it has been made.' This was one of the +paragraphs, and it was hinted still more plainly afterwards that +Everett Wharton, being short of money, had arranged the plan with +the view or opening his father's purse. But the general effect +was certainly serviceable to Lopez. Emily Wharton did believe +him to be a hero. Everett was beyond measure grateful to him,-- +not only for having saved him from the thieves, but also for +having told nothing of his previous folly. Mrs Roby always +alluded to the matter as if, for all coming ages, every Wharton +ought to acknowledge that gratitude to a Lopez was the very first +duty of life. The old man felt the absurdity of much of this, +but still it offended him. When Lopez came he could not be rough +to the man who had done a service to his son. And then he found +himself compelled to do something. He must either take his +daughter away, or he must yield. But his power of taking his +daughter away seemed to be less than it had been. There was an +air of quiet, unmerited suffering about her, which quelled him. +And so he yielded. + +It was after this fashion. Whether affected by the violence of +the attack made upon him, or from other cause, Everett had been +unwell after the affair, and had kept his room for a fortnight. +During this time Lopez came to see him daily, and daily Emily +Wharton had to take herself out of the man's way, and hide +herself from the man's sight. This she did with much tact, and +with lady-like quietness, but not without an air of martyrdom, +which cut her father to the quick. 'My dear,' he said to her one +evening, as she was preparing to leave the drawing-room on +hearing his knock, 'stop and see him if you like it.' + +'Papa!' + +'I don't want to make you wretched. If I could have died first, +and got out of the way, perhaps it would have been better.' + +'Papa, you will kill me if you speak in that way! If there is +anything to say to him, do you say it.' And then she escaped. + +Well! It was an added bitterness, but no doubt it was his duty. +If he did intend to consent to the marriage, it was certainly for +him to signify that consent to the man. It would not be +sufficient that he should get out of the way and leave his girl +to act for herself as though she had no friend in the world. The +surrender which he had made to his daughter had come from a +sudden impulse at the moment, but it could not now be withdrawn. +So he stood out on the staircase, and when Lopez came up on his +way to Everett's bedroom, he took him by the arm and led him into +the drawing-room. 'Mr Lopez,' he said, 'you know that I have not +been willing to welcome you into my house as a son-in-law. There +are reasons on my mind,--perhaps prejudices,--which are strong +against it. They are as strong now as ever. But she wishes it, +and I have the utmost reliance on her constancy.' + +'So have I,' said Lopez. + +'Stop a moment, if you please, sir. In such a position a +father's thought is only to his daughter's happiness and +prosperity. It is not his own that he should consider. I hear +you well spoken of in the outer world, and I do not know that I +have a right to demand of my daughter that she should tear you +from her affections, because--because you are not just such as I +would have her husband to be. You have my permission to see +her.' Then before Lopez could say a word, he left the room, and +took his hat and hurried away to his club. + +As he went he was aware that he had made no terms at all;--but +then he was inclined to think that no terms could be made. There +seemed to be a general understanding that Lopez was doing well in +the world,--in a profession of the working of which Mr Wharton +himself knew absolutely nothing. He had a large fortune at his +own bestowal,--intended for his daughter,--which would have +been forthcoming at the moment and paid down on the nail, had she +married Arthur Fletcher. The very way in which the money should +be invested and tied up and made to be safe and comfortable to +the Fletcher-cum-Wharton interests generally, had been fully +settled among them. But now this other man, this stranger, this +Portuguese had entered upon the inheritance. But the stranger, +the Portuguese, must wait. Mr Wharton knew himself to be an old +man. She was his child, and he would not wrong her. But she +should have her money closely settled upon herself on his death, +--and on her children, should she then have any. It should be +done by his will. He would say nothing about money to Lopez, and +if Lopez should, as was probable, ask after his daughter's +fortune, he would answer to this effect. Thus he almost resolved +that he would give his daughter to the man without any inquiry as +to the man's means. The thing had to be done, and he would take +no further trouble about it. The comfort of his life was gone. +His home would no longer be a home to him. His daughter could +not now be his companion. The sooner that death came to him the +better, but till death should come he must console himself as +well as he could by playing whist at the Eldon. It was after +this fashion that Mr Wharton thought of the coming marriage +between his daughter and her lover. + +'I have your father's consent to marry your sister,' said +Ferdinand immediately on entering Everett's room. + +'I knew it must come soon,' said the invalid. + +'I cannot say that it has been given in the most gracious manner, +--but it has been given very clearly. I have his express +permission to see her. Those were his last words.' + +Then there was a sending of notes between the sick-room and the +sick man's sister's room. Everett wrote and Ferdinand wrote, and +Emily wrote,--short lines each of them,--a few words scrawled. +The last from Emily was as follows:--'Let him go into the +drawing-room. EW.' And so Ferdinand went down to meet his love, +--to encounter her for the first time as her recognized future +husband and engaged lover. Passionate, declared, and thorough as +was her love for this man, the familiar intercourse between them +had hitherto been very limited. There had been little,--we may +perhaps say none,--of that dalliance between them which is so +delightful to the man and so wondrous to the girl till custom +staled the edge of it. He had never sat with her arm around her +waist. He had rarely held even her hand in his for a happy +recognized pause of a few seconds. He had never kissed even her +brow. And there she was now, standing before him, all his own, +absolutely given to him, with the fullest assurance of love on +her part, and with the declared consent of her father. Even he +had been a little confused as he opened the door,--even he, as +he paused to close it behind him, had to think how he would +address her, and perhaps had thought in vain. But he had not a +moment for any thought after entering the room. Whether it was +his doing or hers he hardly knew, but she was in his arms, and +her lips were pressed to his, and his arms was tight around her +waist, holding her close to his breast. It seemed as though all +that was wanting had been understood in a moment, and as though +they had lived together and loved for the last twelve months, +with the fullest mutual confidence. And she was the first to +speak-- + +'Ferdinand, I am so happy! Are you happy?' + +'My love, my darling!' + +'You have never doubted me, I know,--since you first knew it.' + +'Doubted you, my girl!' + +'That I would be firm! And now papa has been good to me, and how +quickly one's sorrow is over. I am yours, my love, for ever and +ever. You knew it before, but I like to tell you. I will be +true to you in everything! Oh, my love!' + +He had but little to say to her, but we know that for "lovers +lacking matter, the cleanliest shift is to kiss." In such +moments silence charms, and almost any words are unsuitable +except those soft, bird-like murmurings of love which, sweet as +they are to the ear, can hardly be so written as to be sweet to +the reader. + + + +CHAPTER 24 + +THE MARRIAGE. + +The engagement was made in October, and the marriage took place +in the latter part of November. When Lopez pressed for an early +day,--which he did very strongly,--Emily raised no difficulties +in the way of his wishes. The father, foolishly enough, would at +first have postponed it, and made himself so unpleasant to Lopez +by his manner of doing this, that the bride was driven to take +her lover's part. As the thing was to be done, what was to be +gained by the delay? It could not be made a joy to him; nor, +looking at the matter as he looked at it, could he make a joy +even of her presence during the few intervening weeks. Lopez +proposed to take his bride into Italy for the winter months, and +to stay there at any rate through December and January, alleging +that he must be back in town by the beginning of February;--and +this was taken as a fair plea for hastening the marriage. + +When the matter was settled, he went back to Gatherum Castle, as +he had arranged to do with the Duchess and managed to interest +her Grace in all his proceedings. She promised that she would +call on his bride in town, and even went so far as to send her a +costly wedding present. 'You are sure she has got money?' said +the Duchess. + +'I am not sure of anything,' said Lopez,--'except this, that I +do not mean to ask a single question about it. If he says +nothing to me about money, I certainly shall say nothing to him. +My feeling is this, Duchess, that I am not marrying Miss Wharton +for her money. The money, if there be any, has had nothing to do +with it. But of course it will be a pleasure added if it be +there.' The Duchess complimented him, and told him that this was +exactly as it should be. + +But there was some delay as to the seat of Silverbridge. Mr +Grey's departure for Persia had been postponed,--the Duchess +thought only for a month or six weeks. The Duke, however, was of +the opinion that Mr Grey should not vacate his seat till the day +of his going was at any rate fixed. The Duke, moreover, had not +made any promise of supporting his wife's favourite. 'Don't set +your heart upon it too much, Mr Lopez,' the Duchess had said; +'but you may be sure I will not forget you.' Then it had been +settled between them that the marriage should not be postponed, +or the promised trip to Italy abandoned, because of the probable +vacancy at Silverbridge. Should the vacancy occur during his +absence, and should the Duke consent, he could return at once. +All this occurred in the last week or two before his marriage. + +There were various little incidents which did not tend to make +the happiness of Emily Wharton complete. She wrote to her cousin +Mary Wharton, and also to Lady Wharton;--and her father wrote to +Sir Alured; but the folk at Wharton Hall did not give their +adherence. Old Mrs Fletcher was still there, but John Fletcher +had gone home to Longbarns. The obduracy of the Whartons might +probably be owing to these two accidents. Mrs Fletcher declared +aloud, as soon as the tidings reached her, that she never wished +to see or hear anything more of Emily Wharton. 'She must be a +girl,' said Mrs Fletcher, 'of an ingrained vulgar taste.' Sir +Alured, whose letter from Mr Wharton had been very short, replied +as shortly to his cousin. 'Dear Abel,--We all hope that Emily +will be happy, though of course we regret the marriage.' The +father, though he had not himself written triumphantly, or even +hopefully,--as fathers are wont to write when their daughters +are given away in marriage,--was wounded by the curtness and +unkindness of the baronet's reply, and at the moment declared to +himself that he would never go to Hertfordshire any more. But on +the following day there came a worse blow than Sir Alured's +single line. Emily, not in the least doubting but that her +request would be received with the usual ready assent, had asked +Mary Wharton to be one of the bridesmaids. It must be supposed +that the answer to this was written, if not under the dictation, +at any rate under the inspiration, of Mrs Fletcher. It was as +follows: + + DEAR EMILY, + Of course we all wish you to be very happy in your + marriage; but equally of course we are all disappointed. + We had taught ourselves to think you would have bound + yourself closer with us down here, instead of separating + yourself entirely from us. + Under all the circumstances mamma thinks it would not be + wise for me to go up to London as one of your + bridesmaids. +Your affectionate cousin +MARY WHARTON + +This letter made poor Emily very angry for a day or two. 'It is +as unreasonable as it is ill-natured,' she said to her brother. + +'What else could you expect from a stiff-necked, prejudiced set +of provincial ignoramuses?' + +'What Mary says is not true. She did not think I was going to +bind myself closer with them, as she calls it. I have been quite +open with her, and have always told her that I could not be +Arthur Fletcher's wife.' + +'Why on earth should you marry to please them?' + +'Because they don't know Ferdinand and are determined to insult +him. It is an insult never to mention even his name. And to +refuse to come to my marriage! The world is wide and there is +room for us and them; but it makes me unhappy,--very unhappy,-- +that I should have to break with them.' And then tears came into +her eyes. It was intended, no doubt, to be a complete breach, +for not a single wedding present was sent from Wharton Hall to +the bride. But from Longbarns,--from John Fletcher himself,-- +there did come an elaborate coffee-pot, which, in spite of its +inutility and ugliness, was very valuable to Emily. + +But there was one other of her old Hertfordshire friends who +received the tidings of her marriage without quarrelling with +her. She herself had written to her old lover. + + MY DEAR ARTHUR, + There has been so much true friendship and affection + between us that I do not like that you should hear from + anyone by myself the news that I am to be married to Mr + Lopez. We are to be married on the 28th November,--this + day month. +Yours affectionately, +EMILY WHARTON + +To this she received a very short reply. + + DEAR EMILY, + I am as I always have been. + Yours, + A.F. + +He sent her no present, nor did he say a word beyond this; but in +her anger against the Hertfordshire people she never included +Arthur Fletcher. She pored over the little note a score of +times, and wept over it, and treasured it up among her most +inmost treasures, and told herself that it was a thousand pities. +She could talk, and did talk, to Ferdinand about the Whartons, +and about old Mrs Fletcher, and described to him the arrogance +and the stiffness and the ignorance of the Hertfordshire +squirearchy generally; but she never spoke to him of Arthur +Fletcher,--except in that one narrative of her past life, in +which, girl-like, she told her lover of the one other lover who +had loved her. + +But these things of course gave a certain melancholy to the +occasion which perhaps was increased by the season of the year,-- +by the November fogs, and by the emptiness and general sadness of +the town. And added to this was the melancholy of old Mr Wharton +himself. After he had given his consent to the marriage he +admitted a certain amount of intimacy with his son-in-law, asking +him to dinner, and discussing with him matters of general +interest,--but never, in truth, opening his heart to him. +Indeed, how can any man open his heart to one whom he dislikes? +At best he can only pretend to open his heart, and even this Mr +Wharton would not do. And very soon after the engagement Lopez +left London and went to the Duke's place in the country. His +objects in doing this and his aspirations in regard to a seat in +Parliament were all made known to his future wife,--but he said +not a word on the subject to her father; and she, acting under +his instructions, was equally reticent. 'He will get to know me +in time,' he said to her, 'and his manner will be softened +towards me. But till that time shall come, I can hardly expect +him to take a real interest in my welfare.' + +When Lopez left London not a word had been said between him and +his father-in-law as to money. Mr Wharton was content with such +silence, not wishing to make any promise as to immediate income +from himself, pretending to look at the matter as though he +should say that, as his daughter had made herself her own bed, +she must lie on it, such as it might be. And this silence +certainly suited Ferdinand Lopez at the time. To tell the truth +of him--though he was not absolutely penniless, he was altogether +propertyless. He had been speculating in money without capital, +and though he had now and again been successful, he had also now +and again failed. He had contrived that his name should be +mentioned here and there with the names of well-known wealthy +commercial men, and had for the last twelve months made up a +somewhat intimate alliance with that very sound commercial man Mr +Mills Happerton. But his dealings with Mr Sextus Parker were in +truth much more confidential than those with Mr Mills Happerton, +and at the present moment poor Sexty Parker was alternately +between triumph and despair as things this way or that. + +It was not therefore surprising that Ferdinand Lopez should +volunteer no statements to the old lawyer about money, and that +he should make no inquiries. He was quite confident that Mr +Wharton had the wealth which was supposed to belong to him, and +was willing to trust his power of obtaining a fair portion of it +as soon as he should in truth be Mr Wharton's son-in-law. +Situated as he was, of course, he must run some risk. And then, +too, he had spoken of himself with a grain of truth when he had +told the Duchess that he was not marrying for money. Ferdinand +Lopez was not an honest man or a good man. He was a self- +seeking, intriguing adventurer, who did not know honesty from +dishonesty when he saw them together. But he had at any rate +this good about him, that he did love the girl whom he was about +to marry. He was willing to cheat all the world,--so that he +might succeed, and make a fortune, and become a big and rich man; +but he did not wish to cheat her. It was his ambition to carry +her up with him, and he thought how he might best teach her to +assist him in doing so,--how he might win her to help him in his +cheating, especially in regard to her own father. For to +himself, to his own thinking, that which we call cheating was not +dishonesty. To this thinking there was something bold, grand, +picturesque, and almost beautiful in the battle which such a one +as himself must wage with the world before he could make his way +up in it. He would not pick a pocket or turn a false card, or, +as he thought, forge a name. That which he did, and desired to +do, took with the name of speculation. When he persuaded poor +Sexty Parker to hazard his all, knowing well that he induced the +unfortunate man to believe what was false, and to trust what was +utterly untrustworthy, he did not himself think that he was going +beyond the limits of fair enterprise. Now, in his marriage, he +had in truth joined himself to real wealth. Could he only +command at once that which he thought ought to be his wife's +share of the lawyer's money, he did not doubt but that he could +make a rapid fortune. It would not do for him to seem to be +desirous of money a day before the time;--but, when the time +should come, would not his wife help him in his great career? +But before she could do so she must be made to understand +something of the nature of his career, and of the need of such +aid. + +Of course there arose the question where they should live. But +he was ready with an immediate answer to this question. He had +been to look at a flat,--a set of rooms,--in the Belgrave +Mansions, in Pimlico, or Belgravia you ought more probably to +call it. He proposed to take them furnished till they could look +about at their leisure and get a house that should suit them. +Would she like a flat? She would have liked a cellar with him, +and so she told him. Then they went to look at the flat, and old +Mr Wharton condescended to go with them. Though his heart was +not in the business, still he thought he was bound to look after +his daughter's comfort. 'They are very handsome rooms,' said Mr +Wharton, looking round upon the rather gorgeous furniture. + +'Oh, Ferdinand, are they too grand?' + +'Perhaps they are a little more than we quite want just at +present,' he said. 'But I'll tell you sir, just how it happened. +A man I know wanted to let them for one year, just as they are, +and offered them to me for 450 pounds,--if I could pay the money +in advance, at the moment. And so I paid it.' + +'You have taken them then?' said Mr Wharton. + +'Is it all settled?' said Emily, almost with disappointment. + +'I have paid the money, and I have so far taken them. But it is +by no means settled. You have only to say you don't like them, +and you shall never be asked to put your foot in them again.' + +'But I do like them,' she whispered to him. + +'The truth is, sir, that there is no slightest difficulty in +parting with them. So that when the chance came in my way I +thought it best to secure the thing. It had all to be done, so +to say, in an hour. My friend,--as far as he was a friend, for I +don't know much about him,--wanted the money and wanted to be +off. So here they are, and Emily can do as she likes.' Of +course the rooms were regarded from that moment as the home for +the next twelve months of Mr and Mrs Ferdinand Lopez. + +And then they were married. The marriage was by no means a gay +affair, the chief management of it falling into the hands of Mrs +Dick Roby. Mrs Dick indeed provided not only the breakfast,--or +saw rather that it was provided for, for of course Mr Wharton +paid the bill,--but the four bridesmaids also, and all the +company. They were married in the church in Vere Street, then +went back to the house in Manchester Square, and within a couple +of hours were on their road to Dover. Through it all not a word +was said about money. At the last moment,--when he was free +from fear as any questions about his own affairs,--Lopez had +hoped that the old man would say something. 'You will find so +many thousand pounds at your banker's,'--or, 'You may look to me +for so many hundreds a year.' But there was not a word. The +girl had come to him without the assurance of a single shilling. +In his great endeavour to get her he had been successful. As he +thought of this in the carriage, he pressed his arm close round +her waist. If the worst were to come to the worst, he would +fight the world for her. But if this old man should be stubborn, +close-fisted, and absolutely resolved to bestow all his money +upon his son because of the marriage,--ah!--how should he be +able to bear such a wrong as that? + +Half-a-dozen times during that journey to Dover, he resolved to +think nothing further about it, at any rate for a fortnight; and +yet, before he reached Dover, he had said a word to her. 'I +wonder what your father means to do about money? He never told +you?' + +'Does it matter, dear?' + +'Not in the least. But of course I have to talk about everything +to you;--and it is odd.' + + + +CHAPTER 25 + +THE BEGINNING OF THE HONEYMOON. + +On the morning of his marriage, before he went to the altar, +Lopez made one or two resolutions as to his future conduct. The +first was that he would give himself a fortnight from his +marriage day in which he would not even think of money. He had +made certain arrangements, in the course of which he had caused +Sextus Parker to stare with surprise and to sweat with dismay, +but which nevertheless were successfully concluded. Bills were +drawn to run over to February, and ready money to a moderate +extent was forthcoming, and fiscal tranquillity was insured for a +certain short period. The confidence which Sextus Parker had +once felt in his friend's own resources was somewhat on the +decline, but he still believed in his friend's skill and genius, +and, after due inquiry, he believed entirely in his friend's +father-in-law. Sextus Parker still thought that things would +come round. Ferdinand,--he always now called his friend by his +Christian name,--Ferdinand was beautifully, seraphically +confident. And Sexty, who had been in a manner magnetized by +Ferdinand, was confident too,--at certain periods of the day. +He was very confident when he had had his two or three glasses of +sherry at luncheon, and he was often delightfully confident with +his cigar and brandy-and-water at night. But there were periods +in the morning in which he would shake with fear and sweat with +dismay. + +But Lopez himself, having with his friend's assistance, arranged +his affairs comfortably for a month or two, had, as a first +resolution, promised himself a fortnight's freedom from all +carking cares. His second resolution had been that at the end of +the fortnight he would commence his operations on Mr Wharton. Up +to the last moment he had hoped,--had almost expected,--that a +sum of money would have been paid to him. Even a couple of +thousand pounds for the time would have been of great use to him; +--but no tender of any kind had been made. Not a word had been +said. Things could not of course go on in that way. He was not +going to play the coward with his father-in-law. Then he +bethought himself how he would act if his father-in-law were +sternly to refuse to do anything for him, and he assured himself +that in such circumstances he would make himself very +disagreeable to his father-in-law. And then his third resolution +had reference to his wife. She must be instructed in his ways. +She must learn to look at the world in his eyes. She must be +taught the great importance of money,--not in a gripping, hard- +fisted, prosaic spirit; but that she might participate in that +feeling of his own which had in it so much that was grand, so +much that was delightful, so much that was picturesque. He would +never ask her to be parsimonious,--never even to be economical. +He would take a glory in seeing her well dressed and well +attended, with her own carriage, and her own jewels. But she +must learn that the enjoyment of these things must be built upon +a conviction that the most important pursuit in the world was the +acquiring of money. And she must be made to understand, first of +all, that she had a right to at any rate a half of her father's +fortune. He had perceived that she had much influence with her +father, and she must be taught to use this influence +unscrupulously on her husband's behalf. + +We have already seen that under the pressure of his thoughts he +did break his resolution within an hour or two of his marriage. +It is easy for a man to say that he will banish care, so that he +may enjoy to the full the delights of the moment. But this is a +power which none but a savage possesses,--or perhaps an +Irishman. We have learned the lesson from the divines, the +philosophers, and the poets. Post equitem sedes atra cura. Thus +was Ferdinand Lopez mounted high on his horse,--for he had +triumphed greatly in his marriage, and really felt that the world +could give him no delight so great as to have her beside him, and +her as his own. But the inky devil sat close upon his shoulders. +Where would he be at the end of three months if Mr Wharton would +do nothing for him,--and if a certain venture in guano, to which +he had tempted Sexty Parker, should not turn out the right way? +He believed in the guano and he believed in Mr Wharton, but it is +a terrible thing to have one's whole position in the world +hanging upon either an unwilling father-in-law or a probable rise +in the value of manure. And then how would he reconcile himself +to her if both father-in-law and guano should go against him, and +how should he endure her misery? + +The inky devil had forced him to ask the question even before +they had reached Dover. 'Does it matter,' she had asked. Then +for the time he had repudiated his solicitude, and had declared +that no question of money was of much consequence to him,-- +thereby making his future task with her so much the more +difficult. After that he said nothing to her on the subject on +that their wedding day,--but he could not prevent himself from +thinking of it. Had he gone to the depth of ruin without a wife, +what would it have mattered? For years past he had been at the +same kind of work,--but while he was unmarried there had been a +charm in the very danger. And as a single man he had succeeded, +being sometimes utterly impecunious, but still with the capacity +of living. Now he had laden himself with a burden of which the +very intensity of his love immensely increased the weight. As +for not thinking of it, that was impossible. Of course she must +help him. Of course she must be taught how imperative it was +that she should help him at once. 'Is there anything troubles +you,' she asked, as she sat leaning against him after their +dinner in the hotel at Dover. + +'What should trouble me on such a day as this?' + +'If there is anything, tell it me. I do not mean to say now, at +this moment,--unless you wish it. Whatever may be your +troubles, it shall be my present happiness, as it is my first +duty, to lessen them, if I can.' + +The promise was very well. It all went in the right direction. +It showed him that she was at any rate prepared to take a part in +the joint work of their life. But, nevertheless, she should be +spared for the moment. 'When there is trouble, you shall be told +everything,' he said, pressing his lips to her brow; 'but there +is nothing that need trouble you yet.' He smiled as he said +this, but there was something in the tone of his voice which told +her that there would be trouble. + +When he was in Paris he received a letter from Parker, to whom he +had been obliged to entrust a running address, but from whom he +had enforced a promise that there should be no letter-writing +unless under very pressing circumstances. The circumstances had +not been pressing. The letter contained only one paragraph of +any importance, and that was due to what Lopez tried to regard as +fidgety cowardice on the part of his ally. 'Please to bear in +mind that I can't and won't arrange for the bills for 1,500 +pounds due on 3rd of February.' That was the paragraph. Who had +asked him to arrange for these bills? And yet Lopez was well +aware that he intended poor Sexty should 'arrange' for them in +the event of his failure to make arrangements with Mr Wharton. + +At last he was quite unable to let the fortnight pass by without +beginning the lessons which his wife had to learn. As for the +first intention as to driving his cares out of his own mind for +that time, he had long since abandoned even the attempt. It was +necessary to him that a reasonable sum of money should be +extracted from the father-in-law, at any rate before the end of +January, and a week or even a day might be of importance. They +had hurried on southwards from Paris, and before the end of the +first week had passed over the Simplon, and were at a pleasant +inn on the shores of the Como. Everything in their travels had +been as yet delightful to Emily. This man, of whom she knew in +truth so little, had certain good gifts,--gifts of intellect, +gifts of temper, gifts of voice and manner and outward +appearance,--which had hitherto satisfied her. A husband who is +also an eager lover must be delightful to a young bride. And +hitherto no lover could have been more tender than Lopez. Every +word and every act, every look and every touch, had been loving. +Had she known the world better she might have felt, perhaps, that +something was expected where so much was given. Perhaps a +rougher manner, with some little touch of marital self-assertion, +might be a safer commencement of married life,--safer to the +wife as coming from her husband. Arthur Fletcher by this time +would have asked her to bring him his slippers, taking infinite +pride in having his little behests obeyed by so sweet a servitor. +That also would have been pleasant to her had her heart in the +first instance followed his image; but now also the idolatry of +Ferdinand Lopez had been very pleasant. + +But the moment for the first lesson had come. 'Your father has +not written to you since you started?' he said. + +'Not a line. He has not known our address. He is never very +good at letter-writing. I did write to him from Paris, and I +scribbled a few words to Everett yesterday.' + +'It is very odd that he should never have written to me.' + +'Did you expect him to write?' + +'To tell you the truth, I rather did. Not that I should have +dreamed of his corresponding with me had he spoken to me on a +certain subject. But as, on that subject, he never opened his +mouth to me, I almost thought he would write.' + +'Do you mean about money?' she asked in a very low voice. + +'Well;--yes; I do mean about money. Things hitherto have gone +so very strangely between us. Sit down, dear, till we have a +real domestic talk.' + +'Tell me everything,' she said as she nestled herself close to +his side. + +'You know how it was at first between him and me. He objected to +me violently,--I mean openly, to my face. But he based his +objection solely on my nationality,--nationality and blood. As +to my condition in the world, fortune, or income, he never asked +a word. That was strange.' + +'I suppose he thought he knew.' + +'He could not have thought he knew, dearest. But it was not for +me to force the subject upon him. You can see that.' + +'I am sure whatever you did was right, Ferdinand.' + +'He is indisputably a rich man,--one who might be supposed to be +able and willing to give an only daughter a considerable fortune. +Now I certainly had never thought of marrying for money.' Here +she rubbed her face upon his arm. 'I felt that it was not for me +to speak of money. If he chose to be reticent, I could be so +equally. Had he asked me, I should have told him that I had no +fortune, but was making a large though precarious income. It +would then be for him to declare what he intended to do. That +would, I think, have been preferable. As it is we are all in +doubt. In my position a knowledge of what your father intends to +do would be most valuable to me.' + +'Should you not ask him?' + +'I believe there has always been a perfect confidence between you +and him?' + +'Certainly,--as to all our ways of living. But he never said a +word to me about money in his life.' + +'And yet, my darling, money is most important.' + +'Of course it is. I know that, Ferdinand.' + +'Would you mind asking?' She did not answer him at once, but sat +thinking. And he also paused before he went on with his lesson. +But, in order that the lesson should be efficacious, it would be +so well that he should tell her as much as he could even at this +first lecture. 'To tell you the truth, this is quite essential +to me at present,--very much more than I had thought it would be +when we fixed the day for our marriage.' Her mind within her +recoiled at this, though she was very careful that he should not +feel any such motion in her body. 'My business is precarious.' + +'What is your business, Ferdinand?' Poor girl! That she should +have been allowed to marry a man, and than have to ask him such a +question! + +'It is generally commercial. I buy and sell on speculation. The +world, which is shy of new words, has not yet given it a name. I +am a good deal at present in the South American trade.' She +listened, but received no glimmering of an idea from his words. +'When we were engaged everything was as bright as roses with me.' + +'Why did you not tell me this before,--so that we might have +been more prudent?' + +'Such prudence would have been horrid to me. But the fact is +that I should not now have spoken to you at all, but that since +we left England I have had letters from a sort of partner of +mine. In our business things will go astray sometimes. It would +be of great service to me if I could learn what are your father's +intentions.' + +'You want him to give you some money at once.' + +'It would not be unusual, dear,--when there is money to be +given. But I want you specially to ask him what he himself would +propose to do. He knows already that I have taken a home for you +and paid for it, and he knows,--But it does not signify going +into that.' + +'Tell me everything.' + +'He is aware that there are many expenses. Of course if he were +a poor man there would not be a word about it. I can with +absolute truth declare that had he been penniless, it would have +made no difference to my suit to you. But it would possibly have +made some difference as to our after plans. He is a thorough man +of the world, and he must know all that. I am sure he must feel +that something is due to you,--and to me as your husband. But +he is odd-tempered, and, as I have not spoken to him, he chooses +to be silent to me. Now, my darling, you and I cannot afford to +wait and see who can be silent the longest.' + +'What do you want me to do?' + +'To write to him.' + +'And ask him for money?' + +'Not exactly in that way. I think you should say that we should +be glad to know what he intends to do, also saying that a certain +sum of money would at present be of use to me.' + +'Would it not be better from you? I only ask, Ferdinand. I +never have even spoken to him about money, and of course he would +know that you have dictated what I said.' + +'No doubt he would. It is natural that I should do so. I hope +the time may come when I may write quite freely to your +father myself, but hitherto has hardly been courteous to me. I +would rather that you should write,--if you do not mind it. +Write your own letter, and show it me. If there is anything too +much or anything too little I will tell you.' + +And so the first lesson was taught. The poor young wife did not +at all like the lesson. Even within her own bosom she found no +fault with her husband. But she began to understand that the +life before her was not to be a life of roses. The first word +spoken to her in the train, before it reached Dover, had +explained something of this to her. She had felt at once that +there would be trouble about money. And now, though she did not +at all understand what might be the nature of those troubles, +though she had derived no information whatever from her husband's +hints about the South American trade, though she was ignorant as +ever of his affairs, yet she felt that the troubles would come +soon. But never for a moment did it seem to her that he had been +unjust in bringing her into troubled waters. They had loved each +other, and therefore, whatever might be the troubles, it was +right that they should marry each other. There was not a spark +of anger against her in her bosom;--but she was unhappy. + +He demanded from her the writing of the letter almost immediately +after the conversation which has been given above, and of course +the letter was written,--written and recopied, for the paragraph +about money was, of course, at last of his wording. And she +could not make the remainder of the letter pleasant. The feeling +that she was making a demand for money on her father ran through +it all. But the reader need only see the passage in which +Ferdinand Lopez made his demand,--through her hand. + +'Ferdinand has been speaking to me about my fortune.' It had +gone much against the grain with her to write these words, 'my +fortune'. 'But I have no fortune,' she said. He insisted +however, explaining to her that she was entitled to use these +words by her father's undoubted wealth. And so, with an aching +heart, she wrote them. 'Ferdinand has been speaking to me about +my fortune. Of course, I told him I knew nothing, and that as he +had never spoken to me about money before our marriage, I had +never asked about it. He says that it would be of great service +to him to know what are your intentions, and also that he hopes +that you may find it convenient to allow him to draw upon you for +some portion of it at present. He says that 3,000 pounds would +be of great use to him in his business.' That was the paragraph, +and the work of writing it was so distasteful to her that she +could hardly bring herself to form the letters. It seemed as +though she were seizing the advantage of the first moment of +freedom to take a violent liberty with her father. + +'It is altogether his own fault, my pet,' he said to her. 'I +have the greatest respect in the world for your father, but he +has allowed himself to fall into the habit of keeping all his +affairs secret from his children; and, of course, as they go into +the world, this secrecy must in some degree be invaded. There is +precisely the same going on between him and Everett; only Everett +is a great deal rougher to him than you are likely to be. He +never will let Everett know whether he is to regard himself as a +rich man or a poor man.' + +'He gives him an allowance.' + +'Because he cannot help himself. To you he does not do even as +much as that, because he can help himself. I have chosen to +leave it to him and he has done nothing. But this is not quite +fair, and he must be told so. I don't think he could be told in +more dutiful language.' + +Emily did not like the idea of telling her father anything which +he might not like to hear; but her husband's behests were to her +in these, her early married, days, quite imperative. + + + +CHAPTER 26 + +THE END OF THE HONEYMOON. + +Mrs Lopez had begged her father to address his reply to her at +Florence, where,--as she explained to him,--they expected to +find themselves within a fortnight from the date of her writing. +They had reached the lake about the end of November, when the +weather had still been fine, but they intended to pass the winter +months of December and January within the warmth of the cities. +That intervening fortnight was to her a period of painful +anticipation. She feared to see her father's handwriting, feeling +almost sure that he would be bitterly angry with her. During +that time her husband frequently spoke to her about the letter,-- +about her own letter and her father's reply. It was necessary +that she should learn her lesson, and she could only do so by +having the subject of money made familiar to her ears. It was +not part of his plan to tell her anything of the means by which +he hoped to make himself a wealthy man. The less she knew of +that the better. But the fact that her father absolutely owed to +him a large amount of money as her fortune could not be made too +clear to her. He was very desirous to do this in such a manner +as not to make her think he was accusing her,--or that he would +accuse her if the money was not forthcoming. But she must learn +the fact, and must be imbued with the conviction that her husband +would be the most ill-treated of men unless the money were +forthcoming. 'I am a little nervous about it too,' said he, +alluding to the expected letter;--'not so much as to the money +itself, though that is important; but as to his conduct. If he +chooses simply to ignore us after our marriage, he will be +behaving very badly.' She had no answer to make to this. She +could not defend her father, because by doing so she would offend +her husband. And yet her whole life-long trust in her father +could not allow her to think it possible that he should behave +ill to them. + +On their arrival at Florence he went at once to the post-office, +but there was at yet no letter. The fortnight, however, which +had been named had only just run itself out. They went from day +to day inspecting buildings, looking at pictures, making for +themselves a taste in marble and bronze, visiting the lovely +villages which cluster on the hills around the city,--doing +precisely in this respect as do all young married couples who +devote a part of their honeymoon to Florence;--but in all their +little journeyings and in all their work of pleasure the inky +devil sat not only behind him but behind her also. The heavy +care of life was already beginning to work furrows on her face. +She would already sit, knitting her brow, as she thought of +coming troubles. Would not her father certainly refuse? And +would not her husband then begin to be less loving and less +gracious to herself? + +Every day for a week he called at the post-office when he went +out with her, and still the letter did not come. 'It can hardly +be possible,' he said at last to her, 'that he should decline to +answer his own daughter's letter.' + +'Perhaps he is ill,' she replied. + +'If there were anything of that kind Everett would tell us.' + +'Perhaps he has gone back to Hertfordshire?' + +'Of course his letter would go after him. I own it is very +singular to me that he should not write. It looks as if he were +determined to cast you off from him altogether because you have +married against his wishes.' + +'Not that, Ferdinand;--do not say that!' + +'Well, we shall see.' + +And on the next day they did see. He went to the post-office +before breakfast, and on this day he returned with a letter in +his hand. She was sitting waiting for him with a book in her +lap, and saw the letter at once. 'Is it from papa?' she said. +He nodded his head as he handed it to her. 'Open it and read it, +Ferdinand. I have got to be so nervous about it, that I cannot +do it. It seems to be so important.' + +'Yes;--it is important,' he said with a grim smile, and then he +opened the letter. She watched his face closely as he read it, +and at first she could tell nothing from it. Then, in that +moment, it first occurred to her that he had a wonderful command +of his features. All this, however, lasted but half a minute. +Then he chucked the letter, lightly, in among the tea-cups, and +coming to her took her closely in her arms and almost hurt her by +the violence of his repeated kisses. + +'Has he written kindly?' she said, as soon as she could find her +breath to speak. + +'By George, he's a brick after all. I own I did not think it. +My darling, how much I owe you for all the troubles I have given +you.' + +'Oh Ferdinand! If he has been good to you, I shall be so happy.' + +'He has been awfully good. Ha, ha, ha!' And then he began +walking about the room as he laughed in an unnatural way. 'Upon +my word it is a pity we didn't say four thousand, or five. Think +of his taking me just at my word. It's a great deal better than +I expected; that's all that I can say. And at the present moment +it is of the most importance to me.' + +All this did not take above a minute or two, but during that +minute or two she had been so bewildered by his manner as almost +to fancy that the expressions of his delight had been ironical. +He had been so unlike himself as she had known him that she +almost doubted the reality of his joy. But when she took the +letter and read it, she found that his joy was true enough. The +letter was very short, and was as follows: + + MY DEAR EMILY, + What you have said under your husband's instruction about + money, I find upon consideration to be fair enough. I + think he should have spoken to me before his marriage; + but then again perhaps I ought to have spoken to him. As + it is, I am willing to give him the sum he requires, and + I will pay 3,000 pounds to his account, if he would tell + me where he would require to have it lodged. Then I shall + think I have done my duty by him. What I shall do with + the remainder of any money that I may have, I do not + think he is entitled to ask. + + Everett is well again, and as idle as ever. Your aunt + Roby is making a fool of herself at Harrowgate. I have + heard nothing from Hertfordshire. Everything is quiet + and lonely here. + + Your affectionate father + A. WHARTON + +As he had dined at the Eldon every day since his daughter had +left him, and had played on an average a dozen rubbers of whist +daily, he was not justified in complaining the loneliness of +London. + +The letter seemed to Emily herself to be very cold, and had not +her husband rejoiced over it so warmly she would have considered +it to be unsatisfactory. No doubt the 3,000 pounds would be +given; but that, as far as she could understand her father's +words, was to be the whole of her fortune. She had never known +anything of her father's affairs or his intentions, but she had +certainly supposed that her fortune would be very much more than +this. She had learned in some indirect way that a large sum of +money would have gone with her hand to Arthur Fletcher, could she +have brought herself to marry that suitor favoured by her family. +And now, having learned, as she had learned, that money was of +vital importance to her husband, she was dismayed at what seemed +to her to be parental parsimony. But he was overjoyed,--so much +so that for a while he lost that restraint over himself which was +habitual to him. He ate his breakfast in a state of exultation, +and talked,--not alluding specially to this 3,000 pounds,--as +though he had the command of almost unlimited means. He ordered +a carriage and drove her out, and bought presents for her,-- +things as to which they had both before decided that they should +not be bought because of the expense. 'Pray don't spend your +money for me,' she said to him. 'It's nice to have you giving me +things, but it would be nicer to me even than that to think that +I could save you expense.' + +But he was not in a mood to be denied. 'You don't understand,' +he said. 'I don't want to be saved from little extravagances of +this sort. Owing to circumstances, your father's money was at +this moment of importance to me,--but he has answered to the +whip and the money is there, and the trouble is over. We can +enjoy ourselves now. Other troubles will spring up, no doubt, +before long.' + +She did not quite like being told that her father 'had answered +to the whip',--but she was willing to believe that it was a +phrase common among men to which it would be prudish to make +objection. There was, also, something in her husband's elation +which was distasteful to her. Could it be that reverses of +fortune with reference to moderate sums of money, such as this +which was now coming into his hands, would always affect him in +the same way? Was it not almost unmanly, or at any rate was it +not undignified? And yet she tried to make the best of it, and +lent herself to his holiday mood as well as she was able. 'Shall +I write and thank papa?' she said that evening. + +'I have been thinking of that,' he said. 'You can write if you +like, and of course you will. But I shall also write, and had +better do so a post or two before you. As he has come round I +suppose I ought to show myself civil. What he says about the +rest of his money is of course absurd. I shall ask him nothing +about it, but no doubt after a bit he will make permanent +arrangements.' Everything in the business wounded her more or +less. She now perceived that he regarded this 3,000 pounds only +as the first instalment of what he might get, and that his joy +was due simply to this temporary success. And then he called her +father absurd to her face. For a moment she thought that she +would defend her father; but she could not as yet bring herself +to question her husband's words even on such a subject as that. + +He did write to Mr Wharton, but in doing so he altogether laid +aside that flighty manner which for a while had annoyed her. He +thoroughly understood that the wording of the letter might be +very important to him, and he took much trouble with it. It must +be now the great work of his life to ingratiate himself with this +old man, so that, at any rate at the old man's death, he might +possess at least half of the old man's money. He must take care +that there should be no division between his wife and her father +of such a nature as to make the father think that his son ought +to enjoy any special privilege of primogeniture or of male +inheritance. And if it could be so managed that the daughter +should before the old man's death, become his favourite child, +that also would be well. He was therefore very careful about the +letter, which was as follows: + + MY DEAR MR WHARTON + I cannot let your letter to Emily pass without thanking + you myself for the very liberal response made by you to + what was of course a request from myself. Let me in the + first place assure you that had you, before our marriage, + made any inquiry about my money affairs, I would have + told you everything with accuracy; but as you did not do + so I thought that I should seem to intrude upon you, if I + introduced the subject. It is too long for a letter, but + whenever you may like to allude to it, you will find that + I will be quite open with you. + + I am engaged in business which often requires the use of + considerable amount of capital. It has so happened that + ever since we were married the immediate use of sum of + money became essential to me to save me from sacrificing + a cargo of guano, which will be of greatly increased + value in three months' time, but which otherwise must + have gone for what it would now fetch. Your kindness + will see me through that difficulty. + + Of course there is something precarious in such a + business as mine,--but I am endeavouring to make it less + so from day to day, and hope very shortly to bring into + that humdrum groove which best befits a married man. + Should I ask further assistance from you in doing this, + perhaps you will not refuse it if I can succeed in making + the matter clear to you. As it is I thank you sincerely + for what you have done. I will ask you to pay the 3,000 + pounds you have so kindly promised to my account at + Messrs. Hunky and Sons, Lombard Street. They are not + regular bankers, but I have an account there. + + We are wandering about and enjoying ourselves mightily in + the properly romantic manner. Emily sometimes seems to + think that she would like to give up business, and + London, and all subsidiary troubles, in order that she + might settle herself for life under an Italian sky. But + the idea does not generally remain with her very long. + Already she is beginning to show symptoms of home + sickness in regard to Manchester Square. + + Yours always most faithfully, + FERDINAND LOPEZ + +To this letter Lopez received no reply;--nor did he expect one. +Between Emily and her father a few letters passed, not very long; +nor as regarded those from Mr Wharton, were they very +interesting. In none of them, however, was there any mention of +money. But early in January, Lopez received a more pressing,-- +we might almost say an agonising letter from his friend Parker. +The gist of the letter was to make Lopez understand that Parker +must at once sell certain interests in a coming cargo of guano,-- +at whatever sacrifice,--unless he could be certified as that +money which must be paid in February, and which he, Parker, must +pay, should Ferdinand Lopez be at that moment be unable to meet +his bond. The answer sent to Parker shall be given to the +reader. + + MY DEAR OLD AWFULLY SILLY, AND ABSURDLY, IMPATIENT FRIEND + You are always like a toad under a harrow, and that + without the slightest cause. I have money lying at + Hunky's more than double enough for those bills. Why + can't you trust a man? If you won't trust me in saying + so, you can go to Mills Happerton and ask him. But, + remember, I shall be very much annoyed if you do so,-- + and that such an inquiry cannot but be injurious to me. + If, however, you won't believe me, you can go and ask. At + any rate, don't meddle with the guano. We should lose + over 4,000 pounds each of us, if you were to do so. By + George, a man should neither marry, nor leave London for + a day, if he has to do with a fellow as nervous as you + are. As it is I think I shall be back in a week or two + before my time is properly up, lest you and one or two + others should think that I have levanted altogether. + + I have no hesitation in saying that more fortunes are + lost in business by trembling cowardice than by any + amount of imprudence or extravagance. My hair stands on + end when you talk of parting with guano in December + because there are bills which have to be met in February. + Pluck up your heart, man, and look around, and see what + is done by men with good courage. + + Yours always + FERDINAND LOPEZ + +These were the only communications between our married couple and +their friends at home with which I need trouble my readers. Nor +need I tell any further tales of their honeymoon. If the time +was not one of complete and unalloyed joy to Emily,--and we must +fear that it was not,--it is to be remembered that but very +little complete and unalloyed joy is allowed to sojourners in +that vale of tears, even though they have been but two months +married. In the first week in February they appeared in the +Belgrave mansion, and Emily Lopez took possession of her new home +with a heart as full of love for her husband as it had been when +she walked out of the church in Vere Street, though it may be +that some of her sweetest illusions had already been dispelled. + + + +CHAPTER 27 + +THE DUKE'S MISERY. + +We must go back for a while to Gatherum Castle and see the guests +whom the Duchess had collected there for her Christmas +festivities. The hospitality of the Duke's house had been +maintained almost throughout the autumn. Just at the end of +October they went to Matching, for what the Duchess called a +quiet month--which, however, at the Duke's urgent request, +became six weeks. But even here the house was full all the time, +though from deficiency of bedrooms the guests were very much less +numerous. But at Matching the Duchess had been uneasy and almost +cross. Mrs Finn had gone with her husband to Ireland, and she +had taught herself to fancy that she could not live without Mrs +Finn. And her husband had insisted upon having round him +politicians of his own sort, men who really preferred work to +archery, or even to hunting, and who discussed the evils of +direct taxation absolutely in the drawing-room. The Duchess was +assured that the country could not be governed by the support of +such men as these, and was very glad to get back to Gatherum,-- +whither also came Phineas Finn with his wife, and St Bungay +people, and Barrington Erle, and Mr Monk, the Chancellor of the +Exchequer, with Lord and Lady Cantrip, and Lord and Lady +Drummond,--Lord Drummond being the only representative of the +other or coalesced party. And Major Pountney was there, having +been urgent with the Duchess,--and having fully explained to his +friend Captain Gunner that he had acceded to the wishes of his +hostess only on the assurance of her Grace that the house would +not be again troubled with the presence of Ferdinand Lopez. Such +assurances were common between the two friends, but were +innocent, as, of course, neither believed the other. And Lady +Rosina was again there,--with many others. The melancholy +poverty of Lady Rosina had captivated the Duke. 'She shall come +and live here, if you like,' the Duchess had said in answer to a +request from her husband on his new friend's behalf,--'I've no +doubt she will be willing.' The place was not crowded as it had +been before, but still about thirty guests sat down to dinner +daily, and Locock, Millepois, and Mrs Pritchard were all kept +hard at work. Nor was our Duchess idle. She was always making +up the party,--meaning the coalition,--doing something to +strengthen the buttresses, writing letters to little people, who, +little as they were, might become big by amalgamation. 'One +always has to be binding one's faggot,' she said to Mrs Finn, +having read her Aesop, not altogether in vain. 'Where should we +have been without you?' she had whispered to Sir Orlando Drought +when that gentleman was leaving Gatherum at the termination of +his second visit. She had particularly disliked Sir Orlando, and +was aware that her husband had been peculiarly shy of Sir Orlando +since the day on which they had walked together in the park,-- +and consequently, the Duchess had whispered to him. 'Don't bind +your faggot too conspicuously,' Mrs Finn had said to her. Then +the Duchess had fallen to a seat almost exhausted by labour, +mingled with regrets, and by the doubts which from time to time +pervaded even her audacious spirit. 'I'm not a god,' she said, +'or a Pitt, or an Italian with a long name beginning with M., +that I should be able to do these things without ever making a +mistake. And yet they must be done. And as for him,--he does +not help me in the least. He wanders about among the clouds of +the multiplication table, and thinks that a majority will drop +into his mouth because he does not shut it. Can you tie the +faggot any better?' 'I think I would leave it untied,' said Mrs +Finn. 'You would not do anything of the kind. You'd be just as +fussy as I am.' And thus the game was carried on at Gatherum +Castle from week to week. + +'But you won't leave him?' This was said to Phineas Finn by his +wife a day or two before Christmas, and the question was +introduced to ask whether Phineas Finn thought of giving up his +place. + +'Not if I can help it.' + +'You like the work.' + +'That has but little to do with the question, unfortunately. I +certainly like having something to do. I like earning money.' + +'I don't know why you like that especially,' said the wife +laughing. + +'I do at any rate,--and, in a certain sense, I like authority. +But in serving with the Duke I find a lack of that sympathy which +one should have with one's chief. He would never say a word to +me unless I spoke to him. And when I do speak, though he is +studiously civil,--much too courteous,--I know that he is +bored. He has nothing to say to me about the country. When he +has anything to communicate, he prefers to write a minute for +Warburton, who then writes to Morton,--and so it reaches me.' + +'Doesn't it do as well?' + +'It may do with me. There are reasons which bind me to him, +which will not bind other men. Men don't talk to me about it, +because they know I am bound to him through you. But I am aware +of the feeling which exists. You can't be really loyal to a king +if you never see him,--if he be always locked up in some almost +divine recess.' + +'A king may make himself too common, Phineas.' + +'No doubt. A king has to know where to draw the line. But the +Duke draws no intentional line at all. He is not by nature +gregarious or communicative, and is therefore hardly fitted to be +the head of a ministry.' + +'It will break her heart if anything goes wrong.' + +'She ought to remember that Ministries seldom live very long,' +said Phineas. 'But she'll recover even if she does break her +heart. She is too full of vitality to be much repressed by +calamity. Have you heard what is to be done about Silverbridge?' + +'The Duchess wants to get it for this man, Ferdinand Lopez.' + +'But it has not been promised yet.' + +'The seat is not vacant,' said Mrs Finn, 'and I don't know when +it will be vacant. I think there is a hitch about it,--and I +think the Duchess is going to be made very angry.' + +Throughout the autumn the Duke had been an unhappy man. While +the absolute work of the Session had lasted he had found +something to console him; but now, though he was surrounded by +private secretaries, and though dispatch boxes went and came +twice a day, though there were dozens of letters as to which he +had to give some instruction,--yet, there was in truth nothing +for him to do. It seemed to him that all the real work of +Government had been filched from him by his colleagues, and that +he was stuck up in pretended authority,--a kind of wooden Prime +Minister, from whom no real ministration was demanded. His first +real fear had been that he was himself unfit;--but now he was +uneasy, fearing that others thought him to be unfit. There was +Mr Monk with his budget, and Lord Drummond with his three or four +dozen half-rebellious colonies, and Sir Orlando Drought with the +House to lead and a ship to build, and Phineas Finn with his +scheme of municipal Home Rule for Ireland, and Lord Ramsden with +a codified Statute Book,--all full of work, all with something +special to be done. But for him,--he had to arrange who should +attend the Queen, what ribbons should be given away, and what +middle-aged young man should move the address. He sighed as he +thought of those happy days in which he used to fear that his +mind and body would both give way under the pressure of decimal +coinage. + +But Phineas Finn had read the Duke's character right in saying +that he was neither gregarious nor communicative, and therefore +but little fitted to rule Englishmen. He had thought that it was +so himself, and now from day to day he was becoming more assured +of his own deficiency. He could not throw himself into cordial +relations with the Sir Orlando Droughts, or even the Mr Monks. +But, though he had never wished to be put into his present high +office, now that he was there he dreaded the sense of failure +which would follow his descent from it. It is this feeling +rather than genuine ambition, rather than the love of power or +patronage or pay, which induces men to cling to place. The +absence of real work, and the quantity of mock work, both alike +made the life wearisome to him; but he could not endure the idea +that it should be written in history that he had allowed himself +to be made a faineant Prime Minister, and than had failed even in +that. History would forget what he had done as a working +Minister in recording the feebleness of the Ministry which would +bear his name. + +The one man with whom he could talk freely, and from whom he +could take advice, was now with him, here at his Castle. He was +shy at first even with the Duke of St Bungay, but that shyness he +could generally overcome, after a few words. But though he was +always sure of his old friend's sympathy and of his friend's +wisdom, yet he doubted his old friend's capacity to understand +himself. The young Duke felt the old Duke to be thicker- +skinned than himself and therefore unable to appreciate the +thorns which so sorely worried his own flesh. 'They talk to me +about a policy,' said the host. They were closeted at this time +in the Prime Minister's own sanctum, and there yet remained an +hour before they need dress for dinner. + +'Who talks about a policy?' + +'Sir Orlando Drought especially.' For the Duke of Omnium had +never forgotten the arrogance of that advice given in the park. + +'Sir Orlando is of course entitled to speak, though I do not know +that he is likely to say anything very well worth of hearing. +What is his special policy?' + +'If he had any, of course, I would hear him. It is not that he +wants any special thing to be done, but he thinks that I should +get up some special thing in order that Parliament may be +satisfied.' + +'If you wanted to create a majority that might be true. Just +listen to him and have done with it.' + +'I cannot go on in that way. I cannot submit to what amounts to +complaint from the gentlemen who are acting with me. Nor would +they submit long to my silence. I am beginning to feel that I +have been wrong.' + +'I don't think you have been wrong at all.' + +'A man is wrong if he attempts to carry a weight too great for +his strength.' + +'A certain nervous sensitiveness, from which you should free +yourself as from a disease, is your only source of weakness. +Think about your business as a shoemaker thinks of his. Do your +best, and then let your customers judge for themselves. Caveat +emptor. A man should never endeavour to price himself, but +should accept the price which others put on him,--only being +careful that he should learn what that price is. Your policy +should be to keep your government together by a strong majority. +After all, the making of new laws is too often but an unfortunate +necessity laid on us by the impatience of the people. A +lengthened period of quiet and therefore good government with a +minimum of new laws would be the greatest benefit the country +could receive. When I recommended you to comply with the Queen's +behest I did so because I thought you might inaugurate such a +period more certainly than any other one man.' This old Duke was +quite content with the state of things such as he described. He +had been a Cabinet Minister for more than half his life. He +liked being a Cabinet Minister. He thought it well for the +country generally that his party should be in power,--and if not +his party in its entirety, then as much of his party as might be +possible. He did not expect to be written of as Pitt or a +Somers, but he thought that memoirs would speak of him as a +useful nobleman,--and he was contented. He was not only not +ambitious himself, but the effervescence and general turbulence +of ambition in other men was distasteful to him, and the power of +submitting to defeat without either shame or sorrow had become +perfect with him by long practice. He would have made his +brother Duke such as he was himself,--had not his brother Duke +been so lamentably thin-skinned. + +'I suppose we must try it for another Session?' said the Duke of +Omnium with a lachrymose voice. + +'Of course we must,--and for others after that, I both hope and +trust,' said the Duke of St Bungay, getting up. 'If I don't go +upstairs I shall be late, and then her Grace will look at me with +unforgiving eyes.' + +On the following day after lunch the Prime Minister took a walk +with Lady Rosina De Courcy. He had fallen into a habit of +walking with Lady Rosina almost every day of his life, till the +people in the Castle began to believe that Lady Rosina was the +mistress of some deep policy of her own. For there were many +there who did in truth think that statecraft could never be +absent from a minister's mind, day or night. But in truth Lady +Rosina chiefly made herself agreeable to the Prime Minister by +never making the most distant allusion to public affairs. It +might be doubted whether she even knew that the man who paid her +so much honour was the Head of the British Government as well as +the Duke of Omnium. She was a tall, thin, shrivelled-up old +woman,--not very old, fifty perhaps, but looking at least ten +years more,--very melancholy, and sometimes very cross. She had +been notably religious, but that was gradually wearing off as she +advanced in years. The rigid strictness of Sabbatarian practice +requires the full energy of middle life. She had been left +entirely alone in the world, with a very small income, and not +many friends who were in any way interested in her existence. +But she knew herself to be Lady Rosina De Courcy, and felt that +the possession of that name ought to be more to her than money or +friends, or even than brothers and sisters. 'The weather is not +frightening you,' said the Duke. Snow had fallen, and the paths, +even where they had been swept, were wet and sloppy. + +'Weather never frightens me, your Grace. I always have thick +boots,--I am very particular about that;--and cork soles.' + +'Cork soles are admirable.' + +'I think I owe my life to cork soles,' said Lady Rosina +enthusiastically. 'There is a man named Sprout in Silverbridge +who makes them. Did you Grace ever try him for boots?' + +'I don't think I ever did,' said the Prime Minister. + +'Then you had better. He's very good and very cheap too. Those +London tradesmen never think they can charge you enough. I find +I can wear Sprout's boots the whole winter through and then have +them resoled. I don't suppose you ever think of such things?' + +'I like to keep my feet dry.' + +'I have got to calculate what they cost.' They then passed Major +Pountney, who was coming and going between the stables and the +house, and who took off his hat and who saluted the host and his +companion with perhaps more flowing courtesy than was necessary. +'I never found out what that gentleman's name is yet,' said Lady +Rosina. + +'Pountney. I think, I believe they call him Major Pountney.' + +'Oh, Pountney! There are Pountneys in Leicestershire. Perhaps +he is one of them.' + +'I don't know where he comes from,' said the Duke,--'nor, to +tell the truth where he goes to.' Lady Rosina looked up at him +with an interested air. 'He seems to be one of those idle men +who get into people's houses heaven knows why, and never do +anything.' + +'I suppose you asked him?' said Lady Rosina. + +'The Duchess did, I dare say.' + +'How odd it must be if she were to suppose that you had asked +him.' + +'The Duchess, no doubt, knows all about it.' Then there was a +little pause. 'She is obliged to have all sorts of people,' said +the Duke apologetically. + +'I suppose so;--when you have so many coming and going. I am +sorry to say that my time is up to-morrow, so that I shall make +way for somebody else.' + +'I hope you won't think of going, Lady Rosina,--unless you are +engaged elsewhere. We are delighted to have you.' + +'The Duchess has been very kind, but--' + +'The Duchess, I fear, is almost to much engaged to see as much of +her guests individually as she ought to do. To me your being +here is a great pleasure.' + +'You are too good to me,--much too good. But I shall have +stayed out my time, and I think, Duke, I will go to-morrow. I am +very methodical, you know, and always act by rule. I have walked +my two miles now, and I will go in. If you do want boots with +cork soles mind you go to Sprout's. Dear me, there is that Major +Pountney again. That is four times he has been up and down that +path since we have been walking here.' + +Lady Rosina went in, and the Duke turned back, thinking of his +friend and perhaps thinking of the cork soles of which she had to +be so careful and which was so important to her comfort. It +could not be that he fancied Lady Rosina to be clever, nor can we +imagine that her conversation satisfied any of those wants to +which he and all of us are subject. But nevertheless he liked +Lady Rosina, and was never bored by her. She was natural, and +she wanted nothing from him. When she talked about cork soles +she meant cork soles. And then she did not tread on any of his +numerous corns. As he walked on he determined that he would +induce his wife to persuade Lady Rosina to stay a little longer +at the Castle. In meditating upon this he made another turn in +the grounds, and again came upon Major Pountney as that gentleman +was returning from the stables. 'A very cold afternoon,' he +said, feeling it to be ungracious to pass one of his own guests +in his own grounds without a word of salutation. + +'Very cold indeed, your Grace,--very cold.' The Duke had +intended to pass on, but the Major managed to stop him by +standing in the pathway. The Major did not in the least know his +man. He had heard the Duke was shy, and therefore thought that +he was timid. He had not hitherto been spoken to by the Duke,-- +a condition of things which he attributed to the Duke's shyness +and timidity. But, with much thought on the subject, he had +resolved that he would have a few words with his host, and had +therefore passed backwards and forwards between the house and the +stables rather frequently. 'Very cold indeed, but yet we've had +beautiful weather. I don't know when I have enjoyed myself so +much altogether as I have at Gatherum Castle.' The Duke bowed, +and made a little but a vain effort to get on. 'A splendid +pile!' said the Major, stretching his hand gracefully towards the +building. + +'It's a big house,' said the Duke. + +'A noble mansion;--perhaps the noblest mansion in the three +kingdoms,' said Major Pountney. 'I have seen a great many of the +best country residences in England, but nothing that at all +equals Gatherum.' Then the Duke made a little effort at +progression, but was still stopped by the daring Major. 'By-the- +by, your Grace, if your Grace has a few minutes to spare,--just +a half a minute,--I wish you would allow me to say something.' +The Duke assumed a look of disturbance, but he bowed and walked +on, allowing the Major to walk by his side. 'I have the greatest +possible desire, my Lord Duke, to enter public life.' + +'I thought you were already in the army,' said the Duke. + +'So I am,--was on Sir Bartholomew Bone's staff in Canada for two +years, and have seen as much of what I call home service as any +man going. One of my chief objects is to take up the army.' + +'I seems that you have taken it up.' + +'I mean in Parliament, your Grace. I am very fairly off as +regards private means, and would stand all the racket of the +expense of a contest myself,--if there were one. But the +difficulty is to get a seat, and, of course, if it can be +privately managed, it is very comfortable.' The Duke looked at +him again,--this time without bowing. But the Major, who was +not observant, rushed on to his destruction. 'We all know that +Silverbridge will soon be vacant. Let me assure your Grace that +if it might be consistent with your Grace's plans in other +respects to turn your kind countenance towards me, you would find +that you have a supporter than whom none would be more staunch, +and perhaps I may say one who in the House would not be the least +useful!' That portion of the Major's speech which referred to +the Duke's kind countenance had been learned by heart, and was +thrown trippingly off the tongue with a kind of twang. The Major +perceived that he had not been at once interrupted when he began +to open the budget of political aspirations, and had allowed +himself to indulge in pleasing auguries. 'Nothing ask and +nothing have,' had been adopted as the motto of his life, and +more than once he had expressed to Captain Gunner his conviction +that,--'By George, if you've only cheek enough, there is nothing +you cannot get.' On this emergency the Major certainly was not +deficient in cheek. 'If I might be allowed to consider myself as +your Grace's candidate, I should indeed be a happy man,' said the +Major. + +'I think, sir,' said the Duke, 'that your proposition is the most +unbecoming and the most impertinent that ever was addressed to +me.' The Major's mouth fell, and he stared with all his eyes as +he looked up into the Duke's face. 'Good afternoon,' said the +Duke, turning quickly round and walking away. The Major stood +for while transfixed to the place, and cold as was the weather, +was bathed in perspiration. A keen sense of having 'put his foot +in it' almost crushed him for a time. Then he assured himself +that, after all, the Duke 'could not eat him', and with that +consolatory reflection he crept back to the house and up to his +room. + +To put the man down had of course been an easy task to the Duke, +but he was not satisfied with that. To the Major it seemed that +the Duke had passed on with easy indifference,--but, in truth, +he was very far from being easy. The man's insolent request had +wounded him at many points. It was grievous to him that he +should have as a guest in his own house a man whom he had been +forced to insult. It was grievous to him that he himself should +not have been held in personal respect high enough to protect him +from such an insult. It was grievous to him that he should be +openly addressed,--addressed by an absolute stranger,--as a +boroughmongering lord, who would not scruple to give away a seat +in Parliament as seats were given away in former days. And it +was specially grievous to him that all these misfortunes should +have come upon him as part of the results of his wife's manner of +exercising his hospitality. If this was to be the Prime Minister +he certainly would not be Prime Minister much longer! Had any +aspirant to political life dared so to address Lord Brock, or +Lord de Terrier, or Mr Mildmay, the old Premiers whom he +remembered? He thought not. They had managed differently. They +had been able to defend themselves from such attacks by personal +dignity. And would it have been possible that any man should +have dared so to speak to his uncle, the late Duke? He thought +not. As he shut himself up in his own room he grieved inwardly +with a deep grief. After a while he walked off to his wife's +room, still perturbed in spirit. The perturbation had indeed +increased from minute to minute. He would rather give up +politics altogether and shut himself up in absolute seclusion +than find himself subject to the insolence of any Pountney that +might address him. With his wife he found Mrs Finn. Now for +this lady personally he entertained what for him was a warm +regard. In various matters of much importance he and she had +been brought together, and she had, to his thinking, invariably +behaved well. And an intimacy had been established which had +enabled him to be at ease with her,--so that her presence was +often a comfort to him. But at the present moment he had not +wished to find anyone with his wife, and felt that she was in his +way. 'Perhaps I am disturbing you,' he said in a tone of voice +that was solemn and almost funereal. + +'Not at all,' said the Duchess, who was in high spirits. 'I want +to get your promise about Silverbridge. Don't mind her. Of +course she knows everything.' To be told that anybody knew +everything was another shock to him. 'I have just got a letter +from Mr Lopez.' Could it be right that his wife should be +corresponding on such a subject with a person so little known as +this Mr Lopez? 'May I tell him that he shall have your interest +when the seat is vacant?' + +'Certainly not,' said the Duke, with a scowl that was terrible +even to his wife. 'I wish to speak to you, but I wish to speak +to you alone.' + +'I beg a thousand pardons,' said Mrs Finn, preparing to go. + +'Don't stir, Marie,' said the Duchess, 'he is going to be cross.' + +'If Mrs Finn will allow me, with every feeling of the most +perfect respect and sincerest regard, to ask her to leave me with +you for a few minutes, I shall be obliged. And if, with her +usual hearty kindness, she will pardon my abruptness--' Then he +could not go on, his emotions being too great; but he put out his +hand, and taking hers raised it to his lips and kissed it. The +moment had become too solemn for any further hesitation as to the +lady's going. The Duchess for a moment was struck dumb, and Mrs +Finn, of course, left the room. + +'Who is Major Pountney?' + +'Who is Major Pountney! How on earth should I know? He is-- +Major Pountney. He is about everywhere.' + +'Do not let him be asked into any house of mine again. But that +is a trifle.' + +'Anything about Major Pountney must, I should think, be a trifle. +Have tidings come that the heavens are going to fall? Nothing +short of that could make you so solemn.' + +'In the first place, Glencora, let me ask you not to speak to me +again about the seat for Silverbridge. I am not at present +prepared to argue the matter with you, but I have resolved that, +I will know nothing about the election. As soon as the seat is +vacant, if it should be vacated, I shall take care that my +determination be known in Silverbridge.' + +'Why should you abandon your privileges in that way? It is sheer +weakness.' + +'The interference of any peer is unconstitutional.' + +'There is Braxon,' said the Duchess energetically, 'where the +Marquis of Crumber returns the member regularly, in spirt of all +their Reform bills, and Bamford and Cobblesborough;--and look at +Lord Lumley with a whole county in his pocket, not to speak of +two boroughs! What nonsense, Plantagenet! Anything is +constitutional, or anything is unconstitutional, just as you +choose to look at it.' It was clear that the Duchess had really +studied the subject carefully. + +'Very well, my dear, let it be nonsense. I only beg to assure +you that it is my intention, and I request you to act +accordingly. And there is another thing I have to say to you. I +shall be sorry to interfere in any way with the pleasure which +you may derive from society, but as long as I am burdened with +the office which has been imposed upon me, I will not again +entertain any guests in my own house.' + +'Plantagenet!' + +'You cannot turn the people out who are here now; but I beg that +they may be allowed to go when the time comes, and that their +place may not be filled by further invitations.' + +'But further invitations have gone out ever so long ago, and have +been accepted. You must be ill, dear.' + +'Ill at ease,--yes. At any rate let none others be sent out.' +Then he remembered a kindly purpose, which he had formed early in +the day, and fell back on that. 'I should, however, be glad if +you would ask Lady Rosina De Courcy to remain here.' The Duchess +stared at him, really thinking now that something was amiss with +him. 'The whole thing is a failure and I will have no more of +it. It is degrading me.' Then without allowing her a moment in +which to answer him, he marched back to his own room. + +But even here his spirit was not as yet at rest. That Major must +not go unpunished. Though he hated all fuss and noise he must do +something. So he wrote as follows to the Major: + + The Duke of Omnium trusts that Major Pountney will not + find it inconvenient to leave Gatherum Castle shortly. + Should Major Pountney wish to remain at the Castle over + the night, the Duke of Omnium hopes that he will not + object to be served with his dinner and with his + breakfast in his own room. A carriage with horses will + be ready for Major Pountney's use, to take him to + Silverbridge, as soon as Major Pountney may express to + the servants his wish to that effect. + + Gatherum Castle,--December, 18-- + +This note the Duke sent by the hands of his own servant, having +said enough to the man as to the carriage and the possible dinner +in the Major's bedroom, to make the man understand almost exactly +what had occurred. A note from the Major was brought to the Duke +while he was dressing. The Duke having glanced at the note threw +it into the fire; and the Major that evening ate his dinner at +the Palliser's Arms Inn at Silverbridge. + + + +CHAPTER 28 + +THE DUCHESS'S MIND IS TROUBLED. + +It is hardly possible that one man should turn another out of his +house without any people knowing it, and when the one person is a +Prime Minister and the other such as Major Pountney, the affair +is likely to be talked about very widely. The Duke of course +never opened his mouth on the subject, except in answer to +questions from the Duchess; but all the servants knew it. +'Pritchard tells me you have sent that wretched man out of the +house with a flea in his ear,' said the Duchess. + +'I sent him out of the house, certainly.' + +'He was hardly worth your anger.' + +'He is not at all worth my anger;--but I could not sit down to +dinner with a man who insulted me.' + +'What did he say, Plantagenet? I know it was something about +Silverbridge.' To this question the Duke gave no answer, but in +respect to Silverbridge he was stern as adamant. Two days after +the departure of the Major it was known in Silverbridge generally +that in the event of there being an election the Duke's agent +would not as usual suggest a nominee. There was a paragraph on +the subject in the County paper, and another in the London +"Evening Pulpit". The Duke of Omnium,--that he might show his +respect to the law, not only as to the letter of the law, but as +to the spirit also,--had made it known to his tenantry in and +round Silverbridge generally that he would in no way influence +their choice of candidate in the event of an election. But these +newspapers did not say a word about Major Pountney. + +The clubs of course knew all about it, and no man at any club +ever knew more than Captain Gunner. Soon after Christmas he met +his friend the Major on the steps of the new military club, The +Active Service, which was declared by many men in the army to +have left all the other military clubs 'absolutely nowhere'. +'Halloa, Punt!' he said, 'you seem to have made a mess of it at +last down at the Duchess's.' + +'I wonder what you know about it.' + +'You had to come away pretty quick, I take it.' + +'Of course I came away pretty quick.' So much as that the Major +was aware must be known. There were details which he could deny +safely, as it would be impossible that they should be supported +by evidence, but there were matters which must be admitted. +'I'll bet a fiver that beyond that you know nothing about it.' + +'The Duke ordered you off, I take it.' + +'After a fashion he did. There are circumstances in which a man +cannot help himself.' This was diplomatical because it left the +Captain to suppose that the Duke was the man who could not help +himself. + +'Of course I was not there,' said Gunner, 'and I can't absolutely +know, but I suppose you had been interfering with the Duchess +about Silverbridge. Glencora will bear a great deal,--but since +she has taken up politics, by George, you had better not touch +her there.' At last it came to be believed that the Major had +been turned out by the order of the Duchess because he had +ventured to put himself forward as an opponent to Ferdinand +Lopez, and the Major felt himself really grateful to his friend +the Captain for this arrangement of the story. And there came at +last to be mixed up with the story some half-understood innuendo +that the Major's jealousy against Lopez had been of a double +nature,--in reference both to the Duchess and the borough,--so +that he escaped from much of that disgrace which naturally +attracts itself to a man who has been kicked out of another man's +house. There was a mystery;--and when there is a mystery a man +should never be condemned. Where there is a woman in the case a +man cannot be expected to tell the truth. As for calling out or +in any punishing the Prime Minister, that of course was out of +the question. And so it went on till at last the Major was +almost proud of what he had done, and talked about it willingly +with mysterious hints, in which practice made him perfect. + +But with the Duchess the affair was very serious, so much so that +she was driven to call in for advice,--not only from her +constant friend, Mrs Finn, but afterwards from Barrington Erle, +from Phineas Finn, and lastly even from the Duke of St Bungay, to +whom she was hardly willing to subject herself, the Duke being +the special friend of her husband. But the matter became so +important to her that she was unable to trifle with it. At +Gatherum the expulsion of Major Pountney soon became a forgotten +affair. When the Duchess learned the truth she quite approved of +the expulsion, only hinting to Barrington Erle that the act of +kicking out should have been more absolutely practical. And the +loss of Silverbridge, though it hurt her sorely, could be +endured. She must write to her friend Ferdinand Lopez, when the +time should come, excusing herself as best she might, and must +lose the exquisite delight of making a Member of Parliament out +of her own hand. The newspapers, however, had taken that matter +up in the proper spirit, and political capital might to some +extent be made of it. The loss of Silverbridge, though it +bruised, broke no bones. But the Duke again expressed himself +with unusual sternness respecting her ducal hospitalities, and +had reiterated the declaration of his intention to live out the +remainder of his period of office in republican simplicity. 'We +have tried it and it has failed, and let there be an end of it,' +he said to her. Simple and direct disobedience to such an order +was as little in her way as simple or direct obedience. She knew +her husband well, and knew how he could be managed and how he +could not be managed. When he declared that there should be 'an +end of it',--meaning an end of the very system by which she +hoped to perpetuate his power,--she did not dare argue with him. +And yet he was so wrong! The trial had been no failure. The +thing had been done and well done, and had succeeded. Was +failure to be presumed because one impertinent puppy had found +his way into the house? And then to abandon the system at once, +whether it had failed or whether it had succeeded, would be to +call the attention of all the world to an acknowledged failure,-- +to a failure so disreputable that its acknowledgement must lead +to the loss of everything! It was known now,--so argued the +Duchess to herself,--that she had devoted herself to the work of +cementing and consolidating the Coalition by the graceful +hospitality which the wealth of herself and her husband enabled +her to dispense. She had made herself a Prime Ministress by the +manner in which she opened her saloons, her banqueting halls, and +her gardens. It had never been done before, and now it had been +well done. There had been no failure. And yet everything was to +be broken down because his nerves had received a shock! + +'Let it die out,' Mrs Finn had said. 'The people will come here +and will go away, and then, when you are up in London, you will +soon fall into your old ways.' But this did not suit the new +ambition of the Duchess. She had so fed her mind with daring +hopes that she could not bear that it 'should die out'. She had +arranged a course of things in her own mind by which she should +come to be known as the great Prime Minister's wife, and she had, +perhaps unconsciously, applied the epithet more to herself than +to her husband. She, too, wished to be written of in memoirs, +and to make a niche for herself in history. And now she was told +that she was to let it 'die out'. + +'I suppose he is a little bilious,' Barrington Erle had said. +'Don't you think he'll forget about it when he gets up to +London?' The Duchess was sure that her husband would not forget +anything. He never did forget anything. 'I want him to be +told,' said the Duchess, 'that everybody thinks he is doing very +well. I don't mean about politics exactly, but as to keeping the +party together. Don't you think that we have succeeded?' +Barrington Erle thought upon the whole they had succeeded; but +suggested at the same time that there were seeds of weakness. +'Sir Orlando and Sir Timothy Beeswax are not sound, you know,' +said Barrington Erle. 'He can't make them sounder by shutting +himself up like a hermit,' said the Duchess. Barrington Erle, +who had peculiar privileges of his own, promised that if he could +by any means make an occasion, he would let the Duke know that +their side of the Coalition was more than contented with the way +in which he did his work. + +'You don't think we've made a mess of it?' said the Duchess to +Phineas, asking him a question. 'I don't think that the Duke has +made a mess of it,--or you,' said Phineas, who had come to love +the Duchess because his wife loved her. 'But it won't go on for +ever, Duchess.' 'You know what I have done,' said the Duchess, +who took it for granted that Mr Finn knew all that his wife knew. +'Has it answered?' Phineas was silent for a moment. 'Of course +you will tell me the truth. You won't be so bad as to flatter me +now that I am much in earnest.' 'I almost think,' said Phineas, +'that the time has gone by for what one may call drawing-room +influences. They used to be very great. Old Lord Brock used +them extensively, though by no means as your Grace has done. But +the spirit of the world has changed since then.' 'The spirit of +the world never changes,' said the Duchess in her soreness. + +But her strongest dependence was on the old Duke. The party of +the Castle was almost broken up when she consulted him. She had +been so far true to her husband as not to ask another guest to +the house since his command;--but they who had been asked before +came and went as had been arranged. Then, when the place was +nearly empty, and when Locock and Millepois and Pritchard were +wondering among themselves at this general collapse, she asked +her husband's leave to invite their old friend again for a day or +two. 'I do so want to see him, and I think he'll come,' said the +Duchess. The Duke gave his permission with a ready smile,--not +because the proposed visitor was his own confidential friend, but +because it suited his spirit to grant such a request as to anyone +after the order that he had given. Had she named Major Pountney, +I think he would have smiled and acceded. + +The Duke came, and to him she poured out her whole soul. 'It has +been for him and for his honour that I have done it;--that men +and women might know how really gracious he is, and how good. Of +course, there has been money spent, but he can afford it without +hurting the children. It has been so necessary that with a +Coalition people should know each other! There was some absurd +little row here. A man who was a mere nobody, one of the +travelling butterfly men that fill up spaces and talk to girls, +got hold of him and was impertinent. He is so thin-skinned that +he could not shake the creature into the dust as you would have +done. It annoyed him,--that, and I think, seeing so many +strange faces,--so that he came to me and declared that as long +as he remained in office he would not have another person in the +house, either here or in London. He meant it literally, and he +meant me to understand it literally. I had to get special leave +before I could ask so dear an old friend as your Grace.' + +'I don't think he would object to me,' said the Duke, laughing. + +'Of course not. He was only too glad to think you would come. +But he took the request as being quite the proper thing. It will +kill me if this is to be carried out. After all that I have +done, I could show myself nowhere. And it will be so injurious +to him! Could you not tell him, Duke? No one else in the world +can tell him but you. Nothing unfair has been attempted. No job +has been done. I have endeavoured to make his house pleasant to +people, in order that they might look upon him with grace and +favour. Is that wrong? Is that unbecoming in a wife?' + +The old Duke patted her on the head as though she were a little +girl, and was more comforting to her than her other counsellors. +He would say nothing to her husband now;--but they must both be +up in London at the meeting of Parliament, and then he would tell +his friend that, in his opinion, no sudden change should be made. +'This husband of yours is a very peculiar man,' he said smiling. +'His honesty is not like the honesty of other men. It is more +downright;--more absolutely honest; less capable of bearing even +the shadow which the stain from another's dishonesty might throw +upon it. Give him credit for all that, and remember that you +cannot find everything combined in the same person. He is very +practical in some things, but the question is whether he is not +too scrupulous to be practical in all things.' At the close of +the interview the Duchess kissed him and promised to be guided by +him. The occurrences of the last few weeks had softened the +Duchess much. + + + + +CHAPTER 29 + +THE TWO CANDIDATES FOR SILVERBRIDGE. + +On his arrival in London Ferdinand Lopez found a letter waiting +for him from the Duchess. This came into his hand immediately on +his reaching the rooms at Belgrave Mansions and was of course the +first object of his care. 'That contains my fate,' he said to +his wife, putting his hand down upon the letter. He had talked +to her much of the chance that had come in his way, and had shown +himself to be very ambitious of the honour offered to him. She +of course had sympathized with him, and was willing to think all +good things both of the Duchess and the Duke, if they would +between them put her husband into Parliament. He paused a moment +still holding the letter under his hand. 'You would hardly think +that I should be such a coward that I don't like to open it,' he +said. + +'You've got to do it.' + +'Unless I make you do it for me,' he said, holding out the letter +to her. 'You will have to learn how weak I am. When I am really +anxious I become like a child.' + +'I do not think you are ever weak,' she said, caressing him. 'If +there were a thing to be done you would do it at once. But I'll +open it if you like.' Then he tore off the envelope with an air +of comic importance, and stood for a few minutes while he read +it. + +'What I first perceive is that there has been a row about it,' he +said. + +'A row about it! What sort of row?' + +'My dear friend the Duchess has not quite hit it off with my less +dear friend the Duke.' + +'She does not say so?' + +Oh dear no! My friend the Duchess is much too discreet for that; +--but I can see that it has been so.' + +'Are you to be the new member? If that is arranged I don't care +a bit about the Duke and Duchess.' + +'These things do not settle themselves quite so easily as that. +I am not to have the seat at any rate without fighting for it. +There's the letter.' + +The Duchess's letter to her new adherent shall be given, but it +must first be understood that many different ideas had passed +through the writer's mind between the writing of the letter and +the order given by the Prime Minister to his wife concerning the +borough. She of course became aware at once that Mr Lopez must +be informed that she could not do for him what she had suggested +that she would do. But there was no necessity of writing at the +instant. Mr Grey had not yet vacated the seat, and Mr Lopez was +away on his travels. The month of January was passed in +comparative quiet at the Castle, and during that time it became +known at Silverbridge that the election would be open. The Duke +would not even make a suggestion, and would neither express, nor +feel, resentment should a member be returned altogether hostile +to his Ministry. By degrees the Duchess accustomed herself to +this condition of affairs, and as the consternation caused by her +husband's very imperious conduct wore off, she began to ask +herself whether even yet she need not quite give up the game. +She could not make a Member of Parliament altogether out of her +own hand, as she had once fondly hoped she might do; but still +she might do something. She would in nothing disobey her +husband, but if Mr Lopez were to stand for Silverbridge, it could +not but be known in the borough that Mr Lopez was her friend. +Therefore she wrote the following letter: + +Gatherum,--January, 18-- + MY DEAR MR LOPEZ, + I remember that you said that you would be at home at + this time, and therefore I write to you about the + borough. Things are changed since you went away, and I + fear, not changed for your advantage. + + We understand that Mr Grey will apply for the Chiltern + Hundreds at the end of March, and that the election will + take place in April. No candidates will appear as + favoured from hence. We need to run a favourite, and our + favourite would sometimes win,--would sometimes even + have a walk over, but good times are gone. All the good + times are going, I think. There is no reason that I know + why you should not stand as well as anyone else. You can + be early in the field;--because it is only now known + that there will be no Gatherum interest. And I fancy it + has already leaked out that you would have been the + favourite had there been a favourite;--which might be + beneficial. + + I need hardly say that I do not wish my name to be + mentioned in the matter. + +Sincerely yours, +GLENCORA OMNIUM + + Sprugeon, the ironmonger, would I do not doubt, be proud + to nominate you. + +'I don't understand much about it,' said Emily. + +'I dare say not. It is not meant that any novice should +understand much about it. Of course you will not mention her +Grace's letter.' + +'Certainly not.' + +'She intends to do the very best she can for me. I have no doubt +that some understrapper from the Castle has had some +communication with Mr Sprugeon. The fact is that the Duke won't +be seen in it, but that the Duchess does not mean that the +borough shall quite slip through their fingers.' + +'Shall you try it?' + +'If I do I must send an agent down to see Mr Sprugeon on the sly, +and the sooner I do the better. I wonder what your father will +say about it.' + +'He is an old Conservative.' + +'But would he not like his son-in-law to be in Parliament?' + +'I don't know that he would care about it very much. He seems +always to laugh at people who want to get into Parliament. But +if you have set your heart upon it, Ferdinand--' + +'I have not set my heart on spending a great deal of money. When +I first thought of Silverbridge the expense would have been +almost nothing. It would have been a walk over, as the Duchess +calls it. But now there will certainly be a contest.' + +'Give it up if you cannot afford it.' + +'Nothing venture nothing have. You don't think your father would +help me doing it? It would add almost as much to your position +as to mine.' Emily shook her head. She had always heard her +father ridicule the folly of men who spent more than they could +afford in the vanity of writing two letters after their name, and +she now explained that it had always been so with him. 'You +would not mind asking him,' he said. + +'I will ask him if you wish it, certainly.' Ever since their +marriage he had been teaching her,--intentionally teaching her, +--that it would be the duty of both of them to get all they could +from her father. She had learned the lesson, but it had been +very distasteful to her. It had not induced her to think ill of +her husband. She was too much engrossed with him, too much in +love with him for that. But she was beginning to feel that the +world in general was hard and greedy and uncomfortable. If it +was proper that a father should give his daughter money when she +was married, why did not her father do so without being asked? +And yet, if he were unwilling to do so, would it not be better to +leave him to his pleasure in the matter? But now she began to +perceive that her father was to be regarded as a milch cow, and +that she was to be the dairy-maid. Her husband at times would +become terribly anxious on the subject. On receiving the promise +of 3,000 pounds he had been elated, but since that he had +continually talked of what more her father ought to do for them. + +'Perhaps I had better take the bull by the horns,' he said, 'and +do it myself. Then I shall find out whether he really has our +interest at heart, or whether he looks on you as a stranger +because you've gone away from him.' + +'I don't think he will look upon me as a stranger.' + +'We'll see,' said Lopez. + +It was not long before he made the experiment. He had called +himself a coward as to the opening of the Duchess's letter, but +he had in truth always courage for perils of this nature. On +the day of their arrival they dined with Mr Wharton in Manchester +Square, and certainly the old man had received his daughter with +great delight. He had been courteous to Lopez, and Emily, amidst +the pleasure of his welcome, had forgotten some of her troubles. +The three were alone together, and when Emily had asked after her +brother, Mr Wharton had laughed and said that Everett was an ass. +'You have quarrelled with him?' she said. He ridiculed the idea +of any quarrel, but again said Everett was an ass. + +After dinner Mr Wharton and Lopez were left together, as the old +man, whether alone or in company, always sat for half an hour +sipping port wine after the manner of his forefathers. Lopez had +already determined that he would not let the opportunity escape +him, and began his attack at once. 'I have been invited, sir,' +he said with his sweetest smile, 'to stand for Silverbridge.' + +'You too?' said Mr Wharton. But though there was a certain +amount of satire in the exclamation, it had been good-humoured +satire. + +'Yes sir. We all get bit sooner or later, I suppose.' + +'I never was bit.' + +'Your sagacity and philosophy have been the wonder of the world, +sir. There can be no doubt that in my profession a seat in the +House would be of the greatest possible advantage to me. It +enables a man to do a great many things which he could not touch +without it.' + +'It may be so. I don't know anything about it.' + +'And then it is a great honour.' + +'That depends on how you get it, and how you use it,--very much +also on whether you are fit for it.' + +'I shall get it honestly if I do get it. I hope I may use it +well. And as for my fitness, I must leave that to be ascertained +when I am there. I am sorry to say there will probably be a +contest.' + +'I suppose so. A seat in Parliament without a contest does not +drop into every young man's mouth.' + +'It very nearly dropped into mine.' Then he told his father-in- +law almost all the particulars of the offer which had been made +to him, and of the manner in which the seat was now suggested to +him. He somewhat hesitated in the use of the name of the +Duchess, leaving an impression on Mr Wharton that the offer had +in truth come from the Duke. 'Should there be a contest, would +you help me?' + +'In what way? I could not canvass at Silverbridge, if you mean +that.' + +'I was not thinking of giving you personal trouble.' + +'I don't know a soul in the place. I shouldn't know that there +was such a place except that it returns members of Parliament.' + +'I meant with money, sir.' + +'To pay the election bills! No, certainly not. Why should I?' + +'For Emily's sake.' + +'I don't think it would do Emily any good, or you either. It +would certainly do me none. It is a kind of luxury that a man +should not attempt unless he can afford it easily.' + +'A luxury!' + +'Yes, a luxury; just as much as a four-in-hand coach, or a yacht. +Men go into Parliament because it gives them fashion, position, +and power.' + +'I should go to serve my country.' + +'Success in your profession I thought you said was your object. +Of course you must go as you please. If you ask me my advice, I +advise you not to try it. But certainly I will not help you with +money. That ass Everett is quarrelling with me at this moment +because I won't give him money to go and stand somewhere.' + +'Not at Silverbridge?' + +'I'm sure I can't say. But don't let me do him an injury. To +give him his due, he is more reasonable than you, and only wants +a promise from me that I will pay his electioneering bills for +him at the next general election. I have refused him,--though +for reasons which I need not mention I think him better fitted +for Parliament than you. I must certainly also refuse you. I +cannot imagine any circumstances which would induce me to pay a +shilling towards getting you into Parliament. If you won't drink +any more wine, we'll join Emily upstairs.' + +This had been very plain speaking, and by no means comfortable to +Lopez. What of personal discourtesy there had been in the +lawyer's words,--and they had certainly not been flattering,-- +he could throw off from him as meaning nothing. As he could not +afford to quarrel with his father-in-law, he thought it probable +that he might have to bear a good deal of incivility from the old +man. He was quite prepared to bear it as long as he could see a +chance of a reward;--though, should there be no such chance, he +would be ready to avenge it. But there had been a decision in +the present refusal which made him quite sure that it would be +vain to repeat his request. 'I shall find out, sir,' he said, +'whether it may probably be a costly affair, and if so I shall +give up. You are rather hard upon me as to my motives.' + +'I only repeated what you told me yourself.' + +'I am quite sure of my own intentions, and know that I need not +be ashamed of them.' + +'Not if you have plenty of money. It all depends on that. If +you have plenty of money, and your fancy goes that way, it is all +very well. Come, we'll go upstairs.' + +The next day he saw Everett Wharton, who welcomed him back with +warm affection. 'He'll do nothing for me;--nothing at all. I +am almost beginning to doubt whether he'll ever speak to me +again.' + +'Nonsense.' + +'I tell you everything, you know,' said Everett. 'In January I +lost a little money at whist. They got plunging at the club, and +I was in it. I had to tell him, of course. He keeps me so short +that I can't stand any blow without going to him like a school- +boy.' + +'Was it much?' + +'No;--to him no more than half-a-crown to you. I had to ask him +for a hundred and fifty.' + +'He refused it!' + +'No;--he didn't do that. Had it been ten times as much, if I +owed the money, he would pay it. But he blew me up, and talked +about gambling,--and--and--' + +'I should have taken that as a matter of course.' + +'But I'm not a gambler. A man now and then may fall into a thing +of that kind, and if he's decently well off and don't do it +often, he can bear it.' + +'I thought your quarrel had been altogether about Parliament.' + +'Oh no! He has been always the same about that. He told me that +I was going head foremost to the dogs, and I couldn't stand that. +I shouldn't be surprised if he hasn't lost more at cards than I +have during the last two years.' Lopez made an offer to act as +go-between, to effect a reconciliation; but Everett declined the +offer. 'It would be making too much of an absurdity,' he said. +'When he wants to see me, I suppose he'll send for me.' + +Lopez did dispatch an agent down to Mr Sprugeon at Silverbridge, +and the agent found that Mr Sprugeon was a very discreet man. Mr +Sprugeon at first knew little or nothing,--seemed hardly to be +aware that there was a member of Parliament for Silverbridge, and +declared himself to be indifferent as to the parliamentary +character of the borough. But at last he melted a little, and by +degrees, over a glass of hot brandy-and-water with the agent at +the Palliser Arms, confessed to a shade of opinion that the +return of Mr Lopez for the borough would not be disagreeable to +some person or persons who did not live quite a hundred miles +away. The instructions given by Lopez to his agent were of the +most cautious kind. The agent was merely to feel the ground, +make a few inquiries, and do nothing. His client did not intend +to stand unless he could see the way to almost certain success +with very little outlay. But the agent, perhaps liking his job, +did a little outstep his employer's orders. Mr Sprugeon, when +the frost of his first modesty had been thawed, introduced the +agent to Mr Sprout, the maker of cork soles, and Mr Sprugeon and +Mr Sprout between them had soon decided that Mr Ferdinand Lopez +should be run for the borough as the 'Castle' candidate. 'The +Duke won't interfere,' said Sprugeon; 'and, of course, the Duke's +man of business can't do anything openly;--but the Duke's people +will know.' Then Mr Sprout told the agent that there was already +another candidate in the field, and in a whisper communicated the +gentleman's name. When the agent got back to London, he gave +Lopez to understand that he must certainly put himself forward. +The borough expected him. Sprugeon and Sprout considered +themselves pledged to bring him forward and support him,--on +behalf of the Castle. Sprugeon was quite sure that the Castle +influence was predominant. The Duke's name had never been +mentioned at Silverbridge,--hardly even that of the Duchess. +Since the Duke's declaration 'The Castle' had taken the part +which the old Duke used to play. The agent was quite sure that +no one would get in for Silverbridge without having the Castle on +His side. No doubt the Duke's declaration had the ill effect of +bringing in a competitor, and thus of causing expense. That +could not be helped. The agent was of the opinion that the Duke +had no alternative. The agent hinted that times were changing, +and that though dukes were still dukes, and could still exercise +ducal influences, they were driven by these changes to act in an +altered form. The proclamation had been especially necessary +because the Duke was Prime Minister. The agent did not think +that Mr Lopez should be in the least angry with the Duke. +Everything would be done that the Castle could do, and Lopez +would be no doubt returned,--though, unfortunately, not without +some expense. How would it cost? Any accurate answer to such a +question would be impossible, but probably about 600 pounds. It +might be 800 pounds;--could not possibly be above 1,000 pounds. +Lopez winced as he heard these sums named, but he did not decline +the contest. + +Then the name of the opposition candidate was whispered to Lopez. +It was Arthur Fletcher! Lopez started, and asked some question +as to Mr Fletcher's interest in the neighbourhood. The Fletchers +were connected with the De Courcys, and as soon as the +declaration of the Duke had been made known, the De Courcy +interest had aroused itself, and had invited that rising young +barrister, Arthur Fletcher, to stand for the borough on strictly +conservative views. Arthur Fletcher had acceded, and a printed +declaration of his purpose and political principles had been just +published. 'I have beaten him once,' said Lopez to himself, 'and +I think I can beat him again.' + + + +CHAPTER 30 + +'YES:--A LIE!' + +'So you went to Happerton after all,' said Lopez to his ally, Mr +Sextus Parker. 'You couldn't believe me when I told you the +money was all right! What a cur you are!' + +'That's right;--abuse me.' + +'Well, it was horrid. Didn't I tell you that it must necessarily +injure me with the house? How are two fellows to get on together +unless they can put some trust in each other? Even if I did run +you into a difficulty, do you really think I'm ruffian enough to +tell you that the money was there if it was untrue?' + +Sexty looked like a cur and felt like a cur, as he was being thus +abused. He was not angry with his friend for calling him bad +names, but only anxious to excuse himself. 'I was out of sorts,' +he said, 'and so d-d hippish. I didn't know what I was about.' + +'Brandy-and-soda,' suggested Lopez. + +'Perhaps a little of that;--though, by Jove, it isn't often I do +that kind of thing. I don't know a fellow who works harder for +his wife and children than I do. But when one sees such things +all round one,--a fellow utterly smashed here who had a string +of hunters yesterday, and another fellow buying a house in +Piccadilly and pulling it down because it isn't big enough, who +was contented with a little box in Hornsey last summer, one +doesn't quite know how to keep one's legs.' + +'If you want to learn a lesson look at the two men, and see where +the difference lies. The one has had some heart about him, and +the other has been a coward.' + +Parker scratched his head, balanced himself on the hind legs of +his stool, and tacitly acknowledged the truth of all that his +enterprising friend had said to him. 'Has old Wharton come down +well?' at last he asked. + +'I have never said a word to old Wharton about money,' Lopez +replied,--'except as the cost of this election I was telling you +of.' + +'And he wouldn't do anything in that?' + +'He doesn't approve of the thing itself. I don't doubt but that +the old gentleman and I shall understand each other before long.' + +'You've got the length of his foot.' + +'But I don't mean to drive him. I can get along without that. +He's an old man, and he can't take his money along with him when +he goes the great journey.' + +'There's a brother, Lopez,--isn't there?' + +'Yes,--there's a brother; but Wharton has enough for two, and if +he were to put either out of his will it wouldn't be my wife. +Old men don't like parting with their money, and he's like other +old men. If it were not so I shouldn't bother myself coming into +the city at all.' + +'Has he enough for that, Lopez?' + +'I suppose he's worth a quarter of a million.' + +'By Jove! And where did he get it?' + +'Perseverance, sir. Put by a shilling a day, and let it have its +natural increase, and see what it will come to at the end of +fifty years. I suppose old Wharton has been putting two or three +thousand out of his professional income, at any rate for the last +thirty years, and never for a moment forgetting its natural +increase. That's one way to make a fortune.' + +'It ain't rapid enough for you and me, Lopez.' + +'No. That is the old-fashioned way, and the most sure. But, as +you say, it is not rapid enough; and it robs a man of the power +of enjoying his money when he has made it. But it's a very good +thing to be closely connected with a man who has already done +that kind of thing. There's not doubt about the money when it is +there. It does not take to itself wings and fly away.' + +'But the man who has it sticks to it uncommon hard.' + +'Of course he does;--but he can't take it away with him.' + +'He can leave it to hospitals, Lopez. That's the devil.' + +'Sexty, my boy, I see you have taken an outlook into human life +which does you credit. Yes, he can leave it to hospitals. But +why does he leave it to hospitals?' + +'Something of being afraid about his soul, I suppose.' + +'No; I don't believe in that. Such a man as this, who has been +hard-fisted all his life, and who has had his eyes thoroughly +open, who has made his own money in the sharp intercourse of man +to man, and who keeps it to the last gasp,--he doesn't believe +that he'll do his soul any good by giving it to hospitals when he +can't keep it himself any longer. His mind has freed itself from +those cobwebs long since. He gives his money to hospitals +because the last pleasure of which he is capable is that of +spitting his relations. And it is a great pleasure to an old +man, when his relations have been disgusted with him for being +old and loving his money. I rather think I should do it myself.' + +'I'd give myself a chance of going to heaven, I think,' said +Parker. + +'Don't you know that men will rob and cheat on their death-beds, +and say their prayers all the time? Old Wharton won't leave his +money to hospitals if he's well handled by those about him.' + +'And you'll handle him well;--eh, Lopez?' + +'I won't quarrel with him, or tell him that he's a curmudgeon +because he doesn't do all that I want him. He's over seventy, +and he can't carry his money with him.' + +All this left so vivid an impression of the wisdom of his friend +on the mind of Sextus Parker, that in spite of the harrowing +fears by which he had been tormented on more than one occasion +already, he allowed himself to be persuaded into certain fiscal +arrangements, by which Lopez would find himself put at ease with +reference to money at any rate for the next four months. He had +at once told himself that this election would cost him 1,000 +pounds. When various sums were mentioned in reference to such an +affair, safety alone could be found in taking the outside sum;-- +perhaps might generally be more securely found by adding fifty +per cent to that. He knew that he was wrong about the election, +but he assured himself that he had had no alternative. The +misfortune had been that the Duke should have made his +proclamation about the borough immediately after the offer made +by the Duchess. He had been almost forced to send the agent down +to inquire;--and the agent, when making his inquiries, had +compromised him. He must go on with it now. Perhaps some idea +of the pleasantness of increased intimacy with the Duchess of +Omnium encouraged him in his way of thinking. The Duchess was up +in town in February, and Lopez left a card in Carlton Terrace. +On the very next day the card of the Duchess was left for Mrs +Lopez at the Belgrave Mansions. + +Lopez went into the city every day, leaving home at about eleven +o'clock, and not returning much before dinner. The young wife at +first found that she hardly knew what to do with her time. Her +aunt, Mrs Roby, was distasteful to her. She had already learned +from her husband that he had but little respect for Mrs Roby. +'You remember the sapphire brooch,' he said once. 'That was part +of the price I had to pay for being allowed to approach you.' He +was sitting at the time with his hand round her waist, looking +out on the beautiful scenery and talking of his old difficulties. +She could not find it in her heart to be angry with him, but the +idea brought to her mind was disagreeable to her. And she was +thoroughly angry with Mrs Roby. Of course in these days Mrs Roby. +came to see her, and of course when she was up in Manchester +Square, she went to the house round the corner,--but there was +no close intimacy between the aunt and the niece. And many of +her father's friends,--whom she regarded as the Hertfordshire +set,--were very cold to her. She had not made herself a glory +to Hertfordshire, and,--as all these people said,--had broken +the heart of the best Hertfordshire young man of the day. This +made a great falling-off in her acquaintance, which was the more +felt as she had never been, as a girl, devoted to a large circle +of dearest female friends. She whom she had loved best had been +Mary Wharton, and Mary Wharton had refused to be her bridesmaid +almost without an expression of regret. She saw her father +occasionally. Once he came and dined with them at their rooms, +on which occasion Lopez struggled hard to make up a well-sounding +party. There were Roby from the Admiralty, and the Happertons, +and Sir Timothy Beeswax, with whom Lopez had become acquainted at +Gatherum, and old Lord Mongrober. But the barrister, who had +dined out a good deal in his time, perceived the effort. Who, +that ever with difficulty scraped his dinner guests together, was +able afterwards to obliterate the signs of the struggle? It was, +however, a first attempt, and Lopez, whose courage was good, +thought that he might do better before long. If he could get +into the House and make his mark there people then would dine +with him fast enough. But while that was going on Emily's life +was rather dull. He had provided her with a brougham, and +everything around her was even luxurious, but there came upon her +gradually a feeling that by her marriage she had divided herself +from her own people. She did not for a moment allow this feeling +to interfere with her loyalty to him. Had she not known that +this division would surely take place? Had she not married him +because she loved him better than her own people? So she sat +herself down to read Dante,--for they had studied Italian +together during their honeymoon, and she found that he knew the +language well. And she was busy with her needle. And she +already began to anticipate the happiness which would come to her +when a child of his should be lying in her arms. + +She was of course much interested about the election. Nothing +could as yet be done, because as yet there was no vacancy; but +still the subject was discussed daily between them. 'Who do you +think is going to stand against me?' he said one day with a +smile. 'A very old friend of yours.' She knew at once who the +man was and the blood came to her face. 'I think he might as +well have left it alone, you know,' he said. + +'Did he know?' she asked in a whisper. + +'Know;--of course he knew. He is doing it on purpose. But I +beat him once, old girl, didn't I? And I'll beat him again.' +She liked him to call her old girl. She loved the perfect +intimacy with which he treated her. But there was something +which grated against her feelings in the allusion by him to the +other man who had loved her. Of course she had told him the whole +story. She had conceived it to be her duty to do so. But then +the thing should have been over. It was necessary, perhaps, that +he should tell her who was his opponent. It was impossible that +she should not know when the fight came. But she did not like to +hear that he had beaten Arthur Fletcher once, and that he would +beat him again. By doing so he likened the sweet fragrance of +her love to the dirty turmoil of an electioneering contest. + +He did not understand--how could he?--that though she had never +loved Arthur Fletcher, had never been able to bring herself to +love him when all her friends had wished it, her feelings to him +were nevertheless those of affectionate friendship;--that she +regarded him as being perfect in his way, a thorough gentleman, a +man who would not for worlds tell a lie, as most generous among +the generous, most noble among the noble. When the other +Whartons had thrown her off, he had not been cold to her. That +very day, as soon as her husband had left her, she looked again +at that little note. 'I am as I always have been!' And she +remembered that farewell down by the banks of the Wye. 'You will +always have one,--one besides him,--who will love you best in +the world.' They were dangerous words for her to remember; but +in recalling them to her memory she had often assured herself +that they should not be dangerous to her. She had loved the one +man and had not loved the other;--but yet, now when her husband +talked of beating him again, she could not but remember his +words. + +She did not think,--or rather had not thought,--that Arthur +Fletcher would willingly stand against her husband. It had +occurred to her at once that he must first have become a +candidate without knowing who would be his opponent. But +Ferdinand had assured her as a matter of fact that Fletcher had +known all about it. 'I suppose in politics men are different,' +she said to herself. Her husband had evidently supposed that +Arthur Fletcher had proposed himself as a candidate for +Silverbridge, with the express object of doing an injury to the +man who had carried off his love. And she repeated to herself +her husband's words, 'He's doing it on purpose.' She did not +like to differ from her husband, but she could hardly bring +herself to believe that revenge of this kind should have +recommended itself to Arthur Fletcher. + +Some little time after this, when she had settled in London, +above a month, a letter was brought to her, and she at once +recognized Arthur Fletcher's writing. She was alone at the time, +and it occurred to her at first that perhaps she ought not to +open any communication from him without showing it to her +husband. But then it seemed that such a hesitation would imply a +doubt of the man, and almost a doubt of herself. Why should she +fear what any man might write to her? So she opened the letter, +and read it,--with infinite pleasure. It was as follows: + + DEAR Mrs LOPEZ, + I think it best to make an explanation to you as to a + certain coincidence which might possibly be misunderstood + unless explained. I find that your husband and I are + opponents at Silverbridge. I wish to say that I had + pledged myself to the borough before I had heard his name + as connected with it. I have very old associations with + the neighbourhood, and was invited to stand by friends + who had known me all my life as soon as it was understood + that there would be an open contest. I cannot retire now + without breaking faith with my party, nor do I know that + there is a reason why I should do so. I should not, + however, have come forward had I known that Mr Lopez was + to stand. I think you had better tell him so, and tell + him also, with my compliments, that I hope we may fight + our political battle with mutual good-fellowship and good + feeling. +Yours very sincerely, +ARTHUR FLETCHER + +Emily was very much pleased by this letter, and yet she wept over +it. She felt that she understood accurately all the motives that +were at work within the man's breast when he was writing it. As +to its truth,--of course the letter was gospel to her. Oh,--if +the man could become her husband's friend how sweet it would be! +Of course she wished, thoroughly wished, that her husband should +succeed at Silverbridge. But she could understand that such a +contest as this might be carried out without personal animosity. +The letter was so like Arthur Fletcher,--so good, so noble, so +generous, so true! The moment her husband came in she showed it +to him with delight. 'I was sure,' she said as he was reading +the letter, 'that he had not known you were to stand.' + +'He knew it as well as I did,' he replied, and as he spoke there +came a dark scowl across his brow. 'His writing to you is a +piece of infernal impudence.' + +'Oh, Ferdinand!' + +'You don't understand, but I do. He deserves to be horsewhipped +for daring to write to you, and if I come across him he shall +have it.' + +'Oh;--for heaven's sake.' + +'A man who was your rejected lover,--who has been trying to +marry you for the last two years, presuming to commence a +correspondence with you without your husband's sanction!' + +'He meant you to see it. He says I'm to tell you.' + +'Psha! That is simple cowardice. He meant you not to tell me; +and then when you answered him without telling me, he would have +had the whip-hand of you.' + +'Oh, Ferdinand, what evil thoughts you have!' + +'You are a child, my dear, and must allow me to dictate to you +what you ought to think in such a matter as this. I tell you he +knew all about my candidature, and that what he has said here to +the contrary is a mere lie,--yes, a lie.' He repeated the word +because he saw that she shrank at hearing it; but he did not +understand why she shrank,--that the idea of such an accusation +against Arthur Fletcher was intolerable to her. 'I have never +heard of such a thing,' he continued. 'Do you suppose it is +common for men who have been thrown over to write to the ladies +who have rejected them immediately after their marriage?' + +'Do not the circumstances justify it?' + +'No;--they make it infinitely worse. He should have felt himself +to be debarred from writing to you, both as being my wife and as +being the wife of the man whom he intends to oppose at +Silverbridge.' + +This he said with so much anger that he frightened her. 'It is +not my fault,' she said. + +'No; it is not your fault. But you should regard it as a great +fault committed by him.' + +'What am I to do?' + +'Give me the letter. You, of course, can do nothing.' + +'You will not quarrel with him?' + +'Certainly I will. I have quarrelled with him already. Do you +think I will allow any man to insult my wife without quarrelling +with him? What I shall do I cannot as yet say, and whatever I +may do, you had better not know. I never thought much of these +Hertfordshire swells who believe themselves to be the very cream +of the earth, and now I think less of them than ever.' + +He was then silent, and slowly she took herself out of the room, +and went away to dress. All this was very terrible. He had +never been rough to her before, and she could not at all +understand why he had been so rough to her now. Surely it was +impossible that he should be jealous because her old lover had +written to her such a letter as that which she had shown him! +And then she was almost stunned by the opinions he had expressed +about Fletcher, opinions which she knew,--was sure that she +knew,--to be absolutely erroneous. A liar! Oh, heavens! And +then the letter itself was so ingenuous and so honest! Anxious +as she was to do all that her husband bade her, she could not be +guided by him in this matter. And then she remembered his words: +'You must allow me to dictate to you what you ought to think.' +Could it be that marriage meant as much as that,--that a husband +was to claim to dictate to his wife what opinions she was to form +about this and that person,--about a person she had known so +well, whom he had never known? Surely she could only think in +accordance with her own experience and her own intelligence! She +was certain that Arthur Fletcher was no liar. Not even her own +husband could make her think that. + + + +CHAPTER 31 + +'YES;--WITH A HORSEWHIP IN MY HAND.' + +Emily Lopez, when she crept out of her own room and joined her +husband just before dinner, was hardly able to speak to him so +thoroughly was she dismayed, and troubled, and horrified, by the +manner in which he had taken Arthur Fletcher's letter. While she +had been alone she had thought it all over, anxious if possible +to bring herself into sympathy with her husband; but the more she +thought of it the more evident did it become to her that he was +altogether wrong. He was so wrong that it seemed to her that she +would be a hypocrite if she pretended to agree with him. There +were half-a-dozen accusations conveyed against Mr Fletcher by her +husband's view of the matter. He was a liar, giving a false +account of his candidature;--and he was a coward; and an enemy +to her, who had laid a plot by which he had hoped to make her act +fraudulently towards her own husband, who had endeavoured to +creep into a correspondence with her, and so to compromise her! +All this, which her husband's mind so easily conceived, was not +only impossible to her, but so horrible that she could not +refrain from disgust at her husband's conception. The letter had +been left with him, but she remembered every word of it. She was +sure that it was an honest letter, meaning no more than had been +said,--simply intending to explain to her that he would not +willingly have stood in the way of a friend whom he had loved, by +interfering with her husband's prospects. And yet she was told +that she was to think as her husband bade her think! She could +not think so. She could not say that she thought so. If her +husband would not credit her judgement, let the matter be +referred to her father. Ferdinand would at any rate acknowledge +that her father could understand such a matter even if she could +not. + +During dinner he said nothing on the subject, nor did she. They +were attended by a page in buttons whom he had hired to wait upon +her, and the meal passed off almost in silence. She looked up at +him frequently and saw that his brow was still black. As soon as +they were alone she spoke to him, having studied during dinner +what words she would first say: 'Are you going down to the club +tonight!' He had told her that the matter of this election had +been taken up at the Progress, and that possibly he might have to +meet two or three persons there on this evening. There had been +a proposition that the club should bear a part of the +expenditure, and he was very solicitous that such an arrangement +should be made. + +'No,' said he, 'I shall not go out to-night. I am not +sufficiently light-hearted.' + +'What makes you heavy-hearted, Ferdinand?' + +'I should have thought you would have known.' + +'I suppose I do know,--but I don't know why it should. I don't +know why you should be displeased. At any rate, I have done +nothing wrong.' + +'No;--not as to the letter. But it astonishes me that you +should be so--so bound to this man that-' + +'Bound to him, Ferdinand!' + +'No;--you are bound to me. But that you have so much regard for +him as not to see that he has grossly insulted you.' + +'I have a regard for him.' + +'And you dare to tell me so?' + +'Dare! What should I be if I had any feeling which I did not +dare to tell you? There is no harm in regarding a man with +friendly feelings whom I have known since I was a child, and whom +all my family have loved.' + +'Your family wanted you to marry him!' + +'They did. But I have married you, because I loved you. But I +need not think badly of an old friend, because I did not love +him. Why should you be angry with him? What can you have to be +afraid of?' Then she came and sat on his knee and caressed him. + +'It is he that shall be afraid of me,' said Lopez. 'Let him give +the borough up if he means what he says.' + +'Who could ask him to do that?' + +'Not you,--certainly.' + +'Oh, no.' + +'I can ask him.' + +'Could you, Ferdinand?' + +'Yes;--with a horsewhip in my hand.' + +'Indeed, indeed you do not know him. Will you do this;--will +you tell my father everything, and leave it to him to say whether +Mr Fletcher has behaved badly to you?' + +'Certainly not. I will not have any interference from your +father between you and me. If I had listened to your father, you +would not have been here now. Your father is not as yet a friend +of mine. When he comes to know what I can do for myself, and +that I can rise higher than these Hertfordshire people, then +perhaps he may become my friend. But I will consult him in +nothing so peculiar to myself as my own wife. And you must +understand that in coming to me all obligation from you to him +become extinct. Of course he is your father; but in such a +matter as this he has no more say to you than any stranger.' +After that he hardly spoke to her; but sat for an hour with a +book in his hand, and then rose and said that he would go down to +the club. 'There is so much villainy about,' he said, 'that a +man if he means to do anything must keep himself on the watch.' + +When she was alone she at once burst into tears; but she soon +dried her eyes, and putting down her work, settled herself to +think of it all. What did it mean? Why was he thus changed to +her? Could it be that he was the same Ferdinand to whom she had +given herself, without a doubt as to his personal merit? Every +word that he had spoken since she had shown him the letter from +Arthur Fletcher had been injurious to her, and offensive. It +almost seemed as though he had determined to show himself to be a +tyrant to her, and had only put off playing the part till the +first convenient opportunity after their honeymoon. But through +all this, her ideas were loyal to him. She would obey him in all +things where obedience was possible, and would love him better +than all the world. Oh yes;--for was he not her husband? Were +he to prove himself the worst of men she would still love him. +It had been for better or for worse; and as she had repeated the +words to herself, she had sworn that if the worst should come, +she would still be true. + +But she could not bring herself to say that Arthur Fletcher had +behaved badly. She could not. She knew well that his conduct +had been noble and generous. Then unconsciously and +involuntarily,--or rather in opposition to her own will and +inward efforts,--her mind would draw comparisons between her +husband and Arthur Fletcher. There was some peculiar gift, or +grace, or acquirement belonging without dispute to the one, which +the other lacked. What was it? She had heard her father say +when talking of gentlemen,--of that race of gentlemen with whom +it had been his lot to live,--that you could not make a silk +purse out of a sow's ear. The use of the proverb had offended +her much, for she had known well whom he had then regarded as a +silk purse and whom a sow's ear. But now she perceived that +there had been truth in all this, though she was as anxious as +ever to think well of her husband, and to endow him with all +possible virtues. She had once ventured to form a doctrine for +herself, to preach to herself a sermon of her own, and to tell +herself that this gift of gentle blood and of gentle nurture, of +which her father thought so much, and to which something of +divinity was attributed down in Hertfordshire, was after all but +a weak, spiritless quality. It could exist without intellect, +without heart, and with very moderate culture. It was compatible +with many littlenesses and with many vices. As for that love of +honest, courageous truth which her father was wont to attribute +to it, she regarded his theory as based on legends, as in earlier +years was the theory of the courage, and constancy, and loyalty, +of the knights of those days. The beau ideal of a man which she +then pictured to herself was graced, first with intelligence, +then with affection, and lastly with ambition. She knew no +reason why such a hero as her fancy created should be born of +lords and ladies rather than of working mechanics, should be +English rather than Spanish or French. The man could not be her +hero without education, without attributes to be attained no +doubt more easily by the rich than the poor; but, with that +granted, with those attained, she did not see why she, or why the +world, should go beyond the man's own self. Such had been her +theories as to men and their attributes, and acting on that, she +had given herself and all her happiness into the keeping of +Ferdinand Lopez. Now, there was gradually coming upon her a +change in her convictions,--a change that was most unwelcome, +that she strove to reject,--one which she would not acknowledge +that she had adopted even while adopting it. But now,--ay, from +the very hour of her marriage,--she had commenced to learn what +it was that her father had meant when he spoke of the pleasure of +living with gentlemen. Arthur Fletcher certainly was a +gentleman. He would not have entertained the suspicion which her +husband had expressed. He could not have failed to believe such +assertions as had been made. He could never have suggested to +his own wife that another man had endeavoured to entrap her into +a secret correspondence. She seemed to hear the tones of Arthur +Fletcher's voice, as those of her husband still rang in her ear +when he bade her remember that she was now removed from her +father's control. Every now and then the tears would come to her +eyes, and she would sit pondering, listless, low in heart. Then +she would suddenly rouse herself with a shake, and take up her +book with a resolve that she would read steadily, would assure +herself as she did so that her husband should still be her hero. +The intelligence at any rate was there, and, in spite of his +roughness, the affection which she craved. And the ambition, +too, was there. But, alas, alas! why should such vile suspicions +have fouled his mind? + +He was late that night, but when he came he kissed her brow as +she lay in bed, and she knew that his temper was again smooth. +She feigned to be sleepy, though not asleep, as she just put her +hand up to his cheek. She did not wish to speak to him again +that night, but she was glad to know that in the morning he would +smile on her. 'Be early at breakfast,' he said to her as he left +her next morning, 'for I'm going down to Silverbridge today.' + +Then she started up. 'To-day!' + +'Yes,--by the 11.20. There is plenty of time, only don't be +unusually late.' + +Of course she was something more than usually early, and when she +came out she found him reading his paper. 'It's all settled +now,' he said. 'Grey has applied for the Hundreds, and Mr +Rattler is to move for the new writ to-morrow. It has come +rather sudden at last, as these things always do after long +delays. But they say the suddenness is rather in my favour.' + +'When will the election take place?' + +'I suppose in about a fortnight;--perhaps a little longer.' + +'And must you be at Silverbridge all that time?' + +'Oh dear no. I shall stay there to-night, and perhaps to-morrow +night. Of course I shall telegraph you directly I find how it is +to be. I shall see the principal inhabitants, and probably make +a speech or two.' + +'I do wish I could hear you.' + +'You'd find it awfully dull work, my girl. And I shall find it +awfully dull too. I do not imagine that Mr Sprugeon and Mr +Sprout will be pleasant companions. Well; I shall stay there a +day or two and settle when I am to go down for the absolute +canvass. I shall have to go with my hat in my hand to every +blessed inhabitant in that dirty little town, and ask them all to +be kind enough to drop in a paper for the most humble of their +servants, Ferdinand Lopez.' + +'I suppose all candidates have to do the same.' + +'Oh yes;--your friend, Master Fletcher, will have to do it.' She +winced at this. Arthur Fletcher was her friend, but at the +present moment he ought not so to have spoken of him. 'And from +all I hear, he is just the sort of fellow that will like the +doing of it. It is odious to me to ask a fellow that I despise +for anything.' + +'Why should you despise them?' + +'Low, ignorant, greasy cads, who have no idea of the real meaning +of political privileges;--men who would all sell their votes for +thirty shillings each, if that game had not been made a little +too hot!' + +'If they are like that I would not represent them.' + +'Oh yes, you would;--when you came to understand the world. +It's a fine thing to be in Parliament, and that is the way to get +in. However, on this visit I shall only see the great men of the +town,--the Sprouts and Sprugeons.' + +'Shall you go to Gatherum Castle?' + +'Oh, heavens no! I may go anywhere now rather than there. The +Duke is supposed to be in absolute ignorance of the very names of +the candidates, or whether there are candidates. I don't suppose +that the word Silverbridge will be even whispered in his ear till +the thing is over.' + +'But you are to get in by his friendship.' + +'Or by hers;--at least I hope so. I have no doubt that the +Sprouts and the Sprugeons have been given to understand by the +Lococks and the Pritchards what are the Duchess's wishes, and +that it has also been intimated in some subtle way that the Duke +is willing to oblige the Duchess. There are ever so many ways, +you know, of killing a cat.' + +'And the expense?' suggested Emily. + +'Oh,--ah; the expense. When you come to talk of the expense +things are not so pleasant. I never saw such a set of +meaningless asses in my life as those men at the club. They talk +and talk, but there is not one of them who knows how to do +anything. Now at the club over the way, they do arrange matters. +It's a common cause, and I don't see what right they have to +expect that one man should bear all the expense. I've a deuced +good mind to leave them in the lurch.' + +'Don't do it, Ferdinand, if you can't afford it.' + +'I shall go with it now. I can't help feeling that I've been a +little let in among them. When the Duchess first promised me it +was to be a simple walk over. Now that they've got their +candidate, they go back from that and open the thing to any +comer. I can't tell you what I think of Fletcher for taking +advantage of such a chance. And then the political committee of +the club coolly say that they've got no money. It isn't honest, +you know.' + +'I don't understand all that,' said Emily sadly. Every word that +he said about Fletcher cut her to the heart;--not because it +grieved her that Fletcher should be abused, but that her husband +should condescend to abuse him. She escaped from further +conflict at the moment by proclaiming her ignorance of the whole +matter; but she knew enough of it to be well aware that Arthur +Fletcher had as good a right to stand as her husband, and that +her husband lowered himself by personal animosity to the man. +Then Lopez took his departure. 'Oh, Ferdinand,' she said, 'I do +so hope you may be successful.' + +'I don't think he can have a chance. From what people say, he +must be a fool to try. That is, the Castle is true to me. I +shall know more about it when I come back.' + +That afternoon she dined with her father, and there met Mrs Roby. +It was of course known that Lopez had gone down to Silverbridge, +and Emily learned in Manchester Square that Everett had gone with +him. 'From all I hear, they're two fools for their pains,' said +the lawyer. + +'Why, papa?' + +'The Duke has given the thing up.' + +'But still his interest remains.' + +'No such thing! If there is an honest man in England it is the +Duke of Omnium, and when he says a thing he means it. Left to +themselves the people of a little town like Silverbridge are sure +to return a Conservative. They are half of them small farmers, +and of course will go that way if not made to go to the other. +If the club mean to pay the cost--' + +'The club will pay nothing, papa.' + +'Then I can only hope that Lopez is doing well in his business!' +After that nothing further was said about the election, but she +perceived that her father was altogether opposed to the idea of +her husband being in Parliament, and that his sympathies and even +his wishes were on the other side. When Mrs Roby suggested that +it would be a very nice thing for them all to have Ferdinand in +Parliament,--she always called him Ferdinand now,--Mr Wharton +railed at her. 'Why should it be a nice thing? I wonder whether +you have any idea of a meaning in your head when you say that. +Do you suppose that a man gets 1000 pounds a year by going into +Parliament?' + +'Laws, Mr Wharton; how uncivil you are! Of course I know that +members of Parliament aren't paid.' + +'Where's the niceness then? If a man has his time at his command +and has studied the art of legislation it be nice, because he +will be doing his duty;--or if he wants to get into the +government ruck like your brother-in-law, it may be nice;--or if +he be an idle man with a large fortune it may be nice to have +some place to go. But why should it be nice for Ferdinand Lopez. +I cannot understand. Everett has some idea in his head when he +talks about Parliament,--though I cannot say that I agree with +him.' It may easily be understood that after this Emily would +say nothing further in Manchester Square as to her husband's +prospects at Silverbridge. + +Lopez was at Silverbridge for a couple of days, and then +returned, as his wife thought, by no means confident of success. +He remained in town nearly a week, and during that time he +managed to see the Duchess. He had written to her saying that he +would do himself the honour of calling on her, and when he came +was admitted. But the account he gave to his wife of the visit +did not express much satisfaction. It was quite late in the +evening before he told her whither he had been. He had intended +to keep the matter to himself, and at last spoke of it,--guided +by the feeling which induces all men to tell their secrets to +their wives,--because it was a comfort to him to talk to someone +who would not openly contradict him. 'She's a sly creature after +all,' he said. + +'I had always thought that she was too open rather than sly,' +said his wife. + +'People always try to get a character just opposite to what they +deserve. When I hear that a man is always to be believed, I know +that he is the most dangerous liar going. She hummed and hawed +and would not say a word about the borough. She went so far as +to tell me that I wasn't to say a word about it to her.' + +'Wasn't that best if her husband wished her not to talk of it?' + +'It is all humbug and falsehood to the very bottom. She knows +that I am spending money about it, and she ought to be on the +square with me. She ought to tell me what she can do and what +she can't. When I asked her whether Sprugeon might be trusted, +she said that she really wished I wouldn't say anything more to +her about it. I call that dishonest and sly. I shouldn't at all +wonder but that Fletcher has been with the Duke. If I find that +out, won't I expose them both!' + + + +CHAPTER 32 + +'WHAT BUSINESS IS IT OF YOURS?' + +Things had not gone altogether smoothly with the Duchess herself +since the breaking up of the party at Gatherum Castle,--nor +perhaps quite smoothly with the Duke. It was now March. The +House was again sitting, and they were both in London,--but till +they came to town they had remained at the Castle, and that huge +mansion had not been found to be more comfortable by either of +them as it became empty. For a time the Duchess had been cowed +by her husband's stern decision; but as he again became gentle to +her,--almost seeming by his manner to apologize for his unwonted +roughness,--she plucked up her spirit and declared herself that +she would not give up the battle. All that she did,--was it not +for his sake? And why should she not have her ambition in life +as well as he have his? And had she not succeeded in all that +she had done? Could it be right that she should be asked to +abandon everything, to own herself to have been defeated, to be +shown to have failed before all the world, because such a one as +Major Pountney had made a fool of himself? She attributed it all +to Major Pountney;--very wrongly. When a man's mind is veering +towards some decision, some conclusion which he has been perhaps +slow in reaching, it is probably a little thing which at last +fixes his mind and clenches his thoughts. The Duke had been +gradually teaching himself to hate the crowd around him and to +reprobate his wife's strategy, before he had known that there was +a Major Pountney under his roof. Others had offended him, and +first and foremost among them his own colleague, Sir Orlando. +The Duchess hardly read his character aright, and certainly did +not understand his present motives, when she thought that all +might be forgotten as soon as the disagreeable savour of the +Major should have passed away. + +But in nothing, as she thought, had her husband been so silly as +in his abandonment of Silverbridge. When she heard that the day +was fixed for declaring the vacancy, she ventured to ask him a +question. His manner to her lately had been more than urbane, +more than affectionate,--it had almost been that of a lover. He +had petted her and caressed her when they met, and once even said +that nothing should really trouble him as long as he had her with +him. Such a speech as that never in his life had he made before +to her! So she plucked up her courage and asked her question,-- +not exactly on that occasion, but soon afterwards. 'May I not +say a word to Sprugeon about the election?' + +'Not a word!' And he looked at her as he had looked on that day +when he had told her of the Major's sins. She tossed her head +and pouted her lips and walked on without speaking. If it was to +be so, then indeed would she have failed. And, therefore, though +in his general manner he was loving to her, things were not going +smooth with her. + +And things were not going smooth with him because there had +reached him a most troublous dispatch from Sir Orlando Drought +only two days before the Cabinet meeting at which the points to +be made in the Queen's speech were to be decided. It had been +already agreed that a proposition should be made to Parliament by +the Government, for an extension of the country suffrage, with +some slight redistribution of seats. The towns with less than +20,000 inhabitants were to take in some increased portion of the +country parishes around. But there was not enough of a policy in +this to satisfy Sir Orlando, nor was the conduct of the bill +through the House to be placed in his hands. That was to be +entrusted to Mr Monk, and Mr Monk would be, if not nominally the +leader, yet the chief man of the Government of the House of +Commons. This was displeasing to Sir Orlando, and he had, +therefore, demanded from the Prime Minister more of a 'policy'. +Sir Orlando's present idea of a policy was the building of four +bigger ships of war than had ever been built before,--with +larger guns, and more men, and thicker iron plates, and, above +all, with a greater expenditure of money. He had even gone so +far as to say, though not in his semi-official letter to the +Prime Minister, that he thought that 'The Salvation of the +Empire' should be the cry of the Coalition party. 'After all,' +he said, 'what the people care about is the Salvation of the +Empire!' Sir Orlando was at the head of the Admiralty; and if +glory was to be achieved by the four ships, it would rest first +on the head of Sir Orlando. + +Now the Duke thought that the Empire was safe, and had been +throughout his political life averse to increasing the army and +the navy estimates. He regarded the four ships as altogether +unnecessary,--and when reminded that he might in this way +consolidate the Coalition, said that he would rather do without +the Coalition and the four ships than have to do with both of +them together,--an opinion which was thought by some to be +almost traitorous to the party as now organized. The secrets of +Cabinets are not to be disclosed lightly, but it came to be +understood,--as what is done at Cabinet meetings generally does +come to be understood,--that there was something like +disagreement. The Prime Minister, the Duke of St Bungay, and Mr +Monk were altogether against the four ships. Sir Orlando, who +was supported by Lord Drummond and another of his old friends. +At the advice of the elder Duke, a paragraph was hatched, in +which it was declared that her Majesty, 'having regard to the +safety of the nation and the possible, though happily not +probable, chances of war, thought that the present strength of +the navy should be considered'. 'It will give him scope for a +new gun-boat on an altered principle,' said the Duke of St +Bungay. But the Prime Minister, could he have his own way, would +have given Sir Orlando no scope whatever. He would have let the +Coalition have gone to the dogs and have fallen himself into +infinite political ruin, but that he did not dare that men should +thereafter say of him that this attempt at government had failed +because he was stubborn, imperious, and self-confident. He had +known when he took his present place he must yield to others; but +he had not known how terrible it would be to have to yield when a +principle is in question,--how great was the suffering when a +man finds himself compelled to do that which he thinks should not +be done! Therefore, though he had been strangely loving to his +wife, the time had not gone smoothly with him. + +In direct disobedience to her husband the Duchess did speak a +word to Mr Sprugeon. When at the Castle she was frequently +driven through Silverbridge, and on one occasion had her carriage +stopped at the ironmonger's door. Out came Mr Sprugeon, and +there were at first half-a-dozen standing by who could hear what +she said. Millepois the cook wanted to have some new kind of +iron plate erected in the kitchen. Of course she had provided +herself beforehand with her excuse. As a rule, when the cook +wanted anything done, he did not send word to the tradesman by +the Duchess. But on this occasion the Duchess was personally +most anxious. She wanted to see how the iron plate would work. +It was to be a particular kind of iron plate. Then, having +watched her opportunity, she said her word, 'I suppose we shall +be safe with Mr Lopez?' When Mr Sprugeon was about to reply, she +shook her head and went on about the iron plate. This would be +quite enough to let Mr Sprugeon understand that she was still +anxious about the borough. Mr Sprugeon was an intelligent man, +and possessed of discretion to a certain extent. As soon as he +saw the little frown and shake of the head, he understood it all. +He and the Duchess had a secret together. Would not everything +about the Castle in which a morsel of iron was employed want +renewing? And would not the Duchess take care that it should all +be renewed by Sprugeon? But then he must be active, and his +activity would be of no avail unless others helped him. So he +whispered a word to Sprout, and it soon became known that the +Castle interest was all alive. + +But unfortunately the Duke was also on the alert. The Duke had +been very much in earnest when he made up his mind that the old +custom should be abandoned at Silverbridge and had endeavoured to +impress that determination of his upon his wife. The Duke knew +more about his property and was better acquainted with its +details than his wife or others believed. He heard that in spite +of all his orders the Castle interest was being maintained, and a +word was said to him which seemed to imply that this was his +wife's doings. It was then about the middle of February, and +arrangements were in process for the removal of the family to +London. The Duke had already been up to London for the meeting +of Parliament, and had now come back to Gatherum, purporting to +return to London with his wife. Then it was that it was hinted +to him that her Grace was still anxious as to the election,--and +had manifested her anxiety. The rumour hurt him, though he did +not in the least believe it. It showed to him, as he thought, +not that his wife had been false to him,--as in truth she had +been,--but that even her name could not be kept free from +slander. And when he spoke to her on the subject, he did so +rather with the view of proving to her how necessary it was that +she should keep herself altogether aloof from such matters, than +with any wish to make further inquiry. But he elicited the whole +truth. 'It is so hard to kill an old-established evil,' he said. + +'What evil have you failed to kill now?' + +'Those people at Silverbridge still say I want to return a member +for them.' + +'Oh; that's the evil! You know I think instead of killing an +evil, you have murdered an excellent institution.' This at any +rate was very imprudent on the part of the Duchess. After that +disobedient word spoken to Mr Sprugeon, she should have been more +on her guard. + +'As to that, Glencora, I must judge for myself.' + +'Oh yes,--you have been jury, and judge, and executioner.' + +'I have done as I thought right to do. I am sorry that I should +fail to carry you with me in such a matter, but even failing in that +I must do my duty. You will at any rate agree with me that when +I say the thing should be done, it should be done.' + +'If you wanted to destroy the house, and cut down all the trees, +and turn the place into a wilderness, I suppose you would only +have to speak. Of course I know it would be wrong that I should +have an opinion. As "man" you are of course to have your own +way.' She was in one of her most aggravating moods. Though he +might compel her to obey, he could not compel her to hold her +tongue. + +'Glencora, I don't think you know how much you add to my +troubles, or you would not speak to me like that.' + +'What am I to say? It seems to me that any more suicidal thing +than throwing away the borough never was done. Who will thank +you? What additional support will you get? How will it increase +your power? It's like King Lear throwing off his clothes in the +storm because his daughters turned him out. And you didn't do it +because you thought it right.' + +'Yes, I did,' he said, scowling. + +'You did it because Major Pountney disgusted you. You kicked him +out. Why wouldn't that satisfy without sacrificing the borough? +It isn't what I think or say about it, but that everybody is +thinking and saying the same thing.' + +'I choose that it will be so.' + +'Very well.' + +'And I don't choose your name shall be mixed up in it. They say +at Silverbridge that you are canvassing for Mr Lopez.' + +'Who says so?' + +'I presume it's not true.' + +'Who says so, Plantagenet?' + +'It matters not who has said so. If it be untrue, I presume it +to be false.' + +'Of course it is false.' Then the Duchess remembered her word to +Mr Sprugeon, and the cowardice of the lie was heavy on her. I +doubt whether she would have been so shocked by the idea of +falsehood as to have been kept back from it had she before +resolved that it would save her; but she was not in her practice +a false woman, her courage being too high for falsehood. It now +seemed to her that by this lie she was owning herself to be +quelled and brought into absolute subjection by her husband. So +she burst forth the truth. 'Now I think of it, I did say a word +to Mr Sprugeon. I told him that, that I hoped Mr Lopez would be +returned. I don't know whether you call that canvassing.' + +'I desired you not to speak to Mr Sprugeon.' + +'That's all very well, Plantagenet, but if you desire me to hold +my tongue altogether, what am I to do?' + +'What business is this of yours?' + +'I suppose I may have my political sympathies as well as another. +Really you are becoming so autocratic that I shall have to go in +for women's rights.' + +'You mean me to understand then that you intend to put yourself +in opposition to me.' + +'What a fuss you make about it all!' she said. 'Nothing that one +can do is right! You make me wish that I was a milkmaid or a +farmer's wife.' So saying she bounced out of the room, leaving +the Duke sick at heart, low in spirit, and doubtful whether he +were right or wrong in his attempts to manage his wife. Surely +he must be right in feeling that in his high office a clearer +conduct and cleaner way of walking was expected from him than +from other men! Noblesse oblige! To his uncle the privilege of +returning a member to Parliament had been a thing of course; and +when the radical newspapers of the day abused his uncle, his +uncle took that abuse as a thing of course. The old Duke acted +after his kind, and did not care what others said of him. And he +himself, when he first came to his dukedom, was not as he was +now. Duties, though they were heavy enough, were lighter then. +Serious matters were less serious. There was this and that +matter of public policy on which he was intent, but, thinking +humbly of himself, he had not yet learned to conceive that he +must fit his public conduct in all things to a straight rule of +patriotic justice. Now it was different with him, and though the +change was painful, he felt it to be imperative. He would fain +have been as other men, but he could not. But in this change it +was so needful to him that should carry with him the full +sympathies of one person;--that she who was nearest to him of +all should act with him! And now she had not only disobeyed him, +but had told him, as some grocer's wife might tell her husband, +that he was 'making a fuss of it all'! + +And then, as he thought of the scene which has been described, he +could not quite approve of himself. He knew that he was too +self-conscious,--that he was thinking too much about his own +conduct and the conduct of others to him. The phrase had been +odious to him, but still he could not acquit himself of 'making a +fuss'. Of one thing only was he sure,--that a grievous calamity +had befallen him when circumstances compelled him to become the +Queen's Prime Minister. + +He said nothing further to his wife till they were in London +together, and then he was tempted to caress her again, to be +loving to her, and to show her that he had forgiven her. But +she was brusque to him, as though she did not wish to be +forgiven. 'Cora,' he said, 'do not separate yourself from me.' + +'Separate myself! What on earth do you mean? I have not dreamed +of such a thing.' The Duchess answered him as though he had +alluded to some actual separation. + +'I do not mean that. God forbid that a misfortune such as that +should ever happen! Do not disjoin yourself from me in all these +troubles.' + +'What am I to do when you scold me? You must know pretty well by +this time that I don't like being scolded. "I desired you not to +speak to Mr Sprugeon!"' As she repeated his words she imitated +his manner and voice closely. 'I shouldn't dream of addressing +the children with such magnificence of anger. "What business is +it of yours!" No woman likes that sort of thing, and I'm not +sure that I am acquainted with any woman who likes it much less +than--Glencora, Duchess of Omnium.' As she said these last +words in a low whisper, she curtsied down to the ground. + +'You know how anxious I am,' he began, 'that you should share +everything with me,--even in politics. But in all things there +must at last be one voice that shall be the ruling voice.' + +'And that is to be yours,--of course.' + +'In such a matter it must be.' + +'And, therefore, I like to do a little business of my own behind +your back. It's human nature, and you've got to put up with it. +I wish you had a better wife. I dare say there are many who +would be better. There is the Duchess of St Bungay who never +troubles her husband about politics, but only scolds him because +the wind blows from the east. It is just possible that there +might be worse.' + +'Oh, Glencora!' + +'You had better make the best you can of your bargain and not +expect too much from her. And don't ride over her with a very +high horse. And let her have her own way a little if you really +believe that she has your interest at heart.' + +After this he was quite aware that she had got the better of him +altogether. On that occasion he smiled and kissed her, and went +his way. But he was by no means satisfied. That he should be +thwarted by her, ate into his very heart,--and it was a wretched +thing to him that he could not make her understand his feeling in +that respect. If it were to go on he must throw up everything. +Ruat coelum fiat--proper subordination from his wife in regard +to public matters! No wife had a fuller allowance of privilege, +or more complete power in her hands, as to things fit for a +woman's management. But it was intolerable to him that she +should seek to interfere with him in matters of a public nature. +And she was constantly doing so. She had always this or that +aspirant for office on hand,--this or that job to be carried, +though the jobs were not perhaps much in themselves;--this or +that affair to be managed by her own political allies, such as +Barrington Erle and Phineas Finn. And in his heart he suspected +her of a design of managing the Government in her own way, with +her own particular friend, Mrs Finn, for her Prime Minister. If +he could in no other way put an end to such evils as these, he +must put an end to his own political life. Ruat coelum fiat +justitia. Now 'justitia' to him was not compatible with feminine +interference in his own special work. + +It may therefore be understood that things were not going very +smoothly with the Duke and Duchess; and it may also be understood +why the Duchess had very little to say to Mr Lopez about the +election. She was aware that she owed something to Mr Lopez, +whom she had certainly encouraged to stand for the borough, and +she had therefore sent her card to his wife and was prepared to +invite them both to her parties;--but just at present she was a +little tired of Ferdinand Lopez, and perhaps unjustly disposed to +couple him with the unfortunate wretch, Major Pountney. + + + + +CHAPTER 33 + +SHOWING THAT A MAN SHOULD NOT HOWL. + +Arthur Fletcher, in his letter to Mrs Lopez, had told her that +when he found out who was to be his antagonist at Silverbridge, +it was too late for him to give up the contest. He was, he said, +bound in faith to continue it by what had passed between himself +and others. But in truth he had not reached this conclusion +without some persuasion from others. He had been at Longbarns +with his brother when he first heard that Lopez intended to +stand, and he at once signified his desire to give way. The +information reached him from Mr Frank Gresham, of Greshambury, a +gentleman connected with the De Courcys who was now supposed to +represent the De Courcy interest in the county, and who had first +suggested to Arthur that he should come forward. It was held at +Longbarns that Arthur was bound in honour to Mr Gresham and to Mr +Gresham's friends, and to this opinion he had yielded. + +Since Emily Wharton's marriage her name had never been mentioned +at Longbarns in Arthur's presence. When he was away,--and of +course his life was chiefly passed in London,--old Mrs Fletcher +was free enough in her abuse of the silly creature who had +allowed herself to be taken out of her own rank by a Portuguese +Jew. But she had been made to understand by her elder son, the +lord of Longbarns, that not a word was to be said when Arthur was +there. 'I think he ought to be taught to forget her.' Mrs +Fletcher had said. But John in his own quiet but imperious way, +had declared that there were some men to whom such lessons could +not be taught, and that Arthur was one of them. 'Is he never to +get a wife, then?' Mrs Fletcher had asked. John wouldn't +pretend to answer the question, but was quite sure that his +brother would not be tempted into other matrimonial arrangements +by anything that could be said against Emily Lopez. When Mrs +Fletcher declared her extreme anger that Arthur was a fool for +his trouble, John did not contradict her, but declared that the +folly was of a nature to require tender treatment. + +Matters were in this condition at Longbarns when Arthur +communicated to his brother the contents of Mr Gresham's letter, +and expressed his own purpose of giving up Silverbridge. 'I +don't quite see that,' said John. + +'No;--and it is impossible that you should be expected to see +it. I don't quite know how to talk about it even to you, though +I think you are about the softest-hearted fellow out.' + +'I don't acknowledge the soft heart,--but go on.' + +'I don't want to interfere with that man. I have a sort of +feeling that as he has got her he might as well have the seat +too.' + +'The seat, as you call it, is not there for his gratification or +for yours. The seat is there in order that the people of +Silverbridge may be represented in Parliament.' + +'Let them get somebody else. I don't want to put myself in +opposition to him, and I certainly do not want to oppose her.' + +'They can't change their candidate in that way at a day's notice. +You would be throwing Gresham over, and, if you ask me, I think +that is a thing you have no right to do. This objection of yours +is sentimental, and there is nothing of which a man should be so +much in dread is sentimentalism. It is not your fault that you +oppose Mr Lopez. You were in the field first, and you must go on +with it.' John Fletcher, when he spoke in this way, was, at +Longbarns, always supposed to be right; and on the present +occasion he, as usual, prevailed. Then Arthur Fletcher wrote his +letter to the lady. He would not have liked to have had it known +that the composition and copying of that little note had cost him +an hour. He had wished that she should understand his feelings, +and yet it was necessary that he should address her in words that +should be perfectly free from affection or emotion. He must let +her know that, though he wrote to her, the letter was for her +husband as well as for herself, and he must do this in a manner +which would not imply any fear that his writing to her would be +taken amiss. The letter when completed was at any rate simple +and true; and yet, as we know, it was taken very much amiss. + +Arthur Fletcher had by no means recovered from the blow he had +received that day when Emily had told him everything down by the +river side; but then, it must be said of him, that he had no +intention of recovery. He was as a man who, having taken a +burden on his back, declares to himself that he will, for certain +reasons, carry it throughout his life. The man knows that with +the burden he cannot walk as men walk who are unencumbered, but +for those reasons of his he has chosen to lade himself, and +having done so he abandons regret and submits to his +circumstances. So had it been with him. He would make no +attempts to throw off the load. It was now far back in his life, +as much at least as three years, since he at first assured +himself of his desire to make Emily Wharton the companion of his +life. From that day she had been the pivot on which his whole +existence had moved. She had refused his offers more than once, +but had done so with so much tender kindness, that, though he had +found himself to be wounded and bruised, he had never abandoned +his object. Her father and all his own friends encouraged him. +He was continually told that her coldness was due to the simple +fact that she had not yet learned to give her heart away. And so +he had persevered, being ever thoroughly intent on his purpose, +till he was told by herself that her love was given to this other +man. + +Then he knew that it behoved him to set some altered course of +life before him. He could not shoot his rival or knock him over +the head, nor could he carry off his girl, as used to be done in +rougher times. There was nothing now for a man in such a +catastrophe as this but submission. But he might submit and +shake off his burden, or submit and carry it hopelessly. He told +himself that he would do the latter. She had been his goddess, +and he would not now worship at another shrine. And then ideas +came into his head,--hot hopes, or purposes, or a belief even in +any possibility,--but vague ideas, mere castles in the air, that +a time might come in which it might be in his power to serve her, +and to prove to her beyond doubting what had been the nature of +his love. Like others of his family, he thought ill of Lopez, +believing the man to be an adventurer, one who would too probably +fall into misfortune, however high he might now seem to hold his +head. He was certainly a man not standing on the solid basis of +land, or of the Three Per Cents,--those solidities to which such +as the Whartons and the Fletchers are wont to trust. No doubt, +should there be such fall, the man's wife would have other help +than that of her rejected lover. She had a father, brother, and +cousins, who would also be there to aid her. The idea was, +therefore, but a castle in the air. And yet it was dear to him. +At any rate he resolved that he would live for it, and that the +woman should still be his goddess, though she was the wife of +another man, and might now perhaps never even be seen by him. +Then came upon him, immediately almost after their marriage, the +necessity of writing to her. The task was one which, of course, +he did not perform lightly. + +He never said a word of this to anybody else;--but his brother +understood it all, and in a somewhat silent fashion fully +sympathized with him. John could not talk to him about love, or +mark passages of poetry for him to read, or deal with him at all +romantically; but he could take care that his brother had the +best horses to ride, and the warmest corner out shooting, and +that everything in the house could be done for his brother's +comfort. As the squire looked and spoke at Longbarns, others +looked and spoke,--so that everybody knew than Mr Arthur was to +be contradicted in nothing. Had he, just at this period, ordered +a tree in the park cut down, it would, I think, have been cut +down, without reference to the master! But, perhaps, John's +power was most felt in the way in which he repressed the +expressions of his mother's high indignation. 'Mean slut!' she +once said, speaking of Emily in her elder son's hearing. For the +girl, to her thinking, had been mean and had been a slut. She +had not known,--so Mrs Fletcher thought,--what birth and blood +required of her. + +'Mother,' John Fletcher had said, 'you would break Arthur's heart +if he heard you speak of her in that way, and I am sure you would +drive him from Longbarns. Keep it to yourself.' The old woman +had shaken her head angrily, but she had endeavoured to do as she +had been bid. + +'Isn't your brother riding that horse a little rashly?' Reginald +Cosgrave said to John Fletcher in the hunting field one day. + +'I didn't observe,' said John; 'but whatever horse he's on he +always rides rashly.' Arthur was mounted on a long, raking +thorough-bred black animal, which he had bought himself about a +month ago, and which, having been run at steeplechase, rushed at +every fence as though he was going to swallow it. His brother +had begged him to put some rough-rider up till the horse could be +got to go quietly, but Arthur had persevered. And during the +whole of this day the squire had been in a tremor, lest there +should be some accident. + +'He used to have a little more judgement, I think,' said +Cosgrave. 'He went at that double just now as hard as the brute +could tear. If the horse hadn't done it all, where would he have +been?' + +'In the further ditch, I suppose. But you see the horse did it +all.' + +This was all very well as an answer to Reginald Cosgrave,--to +whom it was not necessary that Fletcher should explain the +circumstances. But the squire had known as well as Cosgrave that +his brother had been riding rashly, and he had understood the +reason why. 'I don't think a man ought to break his neck,' he +said, 'because he can't get everything that he wishes.' The two +brothers were standing then together before the fire in the +squire's own room, having just come in from hunting. + +'Who is going to break his neck?' + +'They tell me you tried to-day.' + +'Because I was riding a pulling horse. I'll back him to be the +biggest leaper and the quickest horse in Hertfordshire.' + +'I dare say,--though for the matter of that the chances are very +much against it. But a man shouldn't ride so as to have those +things said of him.' + +'What is a fellow to do if he can't ride a horse?' + +'Get off him.' + +'That's nonsense, John.' + +'No, it's not. You know what I mean very well. If I were to +lose half my property tomorrow, don't you think it would cut me +up a good deal?' + +'It would me, I know.' + +'But what would you think of me if I howled about it?' + +'Do I howl?' asked Arthur angrily. + +'Every man howls who is driven out of is ordinary course by any +trouble. A man howls if he goes about frowning always.' + +'Do I frown?' + +'Or laughing.' + +'Do I laugh?' + +'Or galloping over the country like a mad devil who wants to get +rid of his debts by breaking his neck. Aeqam mememto--You +remember all that, don't you?' + +'I remember it, but it isn't so easy to do, is it?' + +'Try. There are other things to be done in life except getting +married. You are going into Parliament.' + +'I don't know that.' + +'Gresham tells me there isn't a doubt about it. Think of that. +Fix your mind upon it. Don't take it only as an accident, but as +the thing you're to live for. If you'll do that,--if you'll +manage that there shall be something to be done in Parliament +which only you can do, you won't ride a runaway horse as you did +that brute to-day.' Arthur looked up into his brother's face +almost weeping. 'We expect much of you, you know. I'm not a man +to do anything except be a good steward for the family property, +and keep the old house from falling down. You're a clever +fellow,--so that between us, if we both do our duty, the +Fletchers may still thrive in the land. My house shall be your +house, and my wife your wife, and my children your children. And +then the honour you win shall be my honour. Hold up your head,-- +and sell the beast.' Arthur Fletcher squeezed his brother's hand +and went away to dress. + + + +CHAPTER 34 + +THE SILVERBRIDGE ELECTION. + +About a month after this affair with the runaway horse Arthur +Fletcher went to Greshambury, preparatory to his final sojourn at +Silverbridge for the week previous to the election. Greshambury, +the seat of Francis Gresham, Esq., who was a great man in these +parts, was about twenty miles from Silverbridge, and the tedious +work of canvassing the electors could not therefore be done from +thence;--but he spent a couple of pleasant days with his old +friend, and learned what was being said and what was being done +in and about the borough. Mr Gresham was a man, not as yet quite +forty years of age, very popular, with a large family, of great +wealth, and master of the county hounds. His father had been an +embarrassed man, with a large estate, but this Gresham had +married a lady with immense wealth, and had prospered in the +world. He was not an active politician. He did not himself care +for Parliament, or for the good things which political power can +give, and was on this account averse to the Coalition. He +thought that Sir Orlando Drought and the others were touching +pitch and had defiled themselves. But he was conscious that in +so thinking he was one of but a small minority. And, bad as the +world around him certainly was, terrible as had been the fall of +the glory of old England, he was nevertheless content to live +without loud grumbling as long as the farmers paid him their +wages, and the land when sold would fetch thirty years' purchase. +He had not therefore been careful to ascertain that Arthur +Fletcher would pledge himself to oppose the Coalition before he +proffered his assistance in this matter of the borough. It would +not be easy to find such a candidate, or perhaps possible to +bring him in when found. The Fletchers had always been good +Conservatives, and were proper people to be in Parliament. A +Conservative in Parliament is, of course, obliged to promote a +great many things which he does not really approve. Mr Gresham +quite understood that. You can't have tests and qualifications, +rotten boroughs and the divine right of kings, back again. But +as the glorious institutions of the country are made to perish, +one after the other, it is better that they should receive the +coup de grace tenderly from loving hands than be roughly +throttled by the Radicals. Mr Gresham would thank his stars that +he could still preserve foxes down in his own country, instead of +doing any of this dirty work,--for let the best be made of such +work, still it was dirty,--and was willing, now as always, to +give his assistance, and if necessary to spend a little money, to +put a Fletcher into Parliament and to keep a Lopez out. + +There was to be a third candidate. That was the first news that +Fletcher heard. 'It will do us all the good in the world,' said +Mr Gresham. 'The rads in the borough are not satisfied with Mr +Lopez. They say they don't know him. As long as a certain set +could make it be believed that he was the Duke's nominee they +were content to accept him--even though he was not proposed +directly by the Duke's people in the usual way. But the Duke has +made himself understood at last. You have seen the Duke's +letter?' Arthur had not seen the Duke's letter, which had only +been published in the "Silverbridge Gazette" of that week, and he +read it, sitting in Mr Gresham's magistrate's-room, as a certain +chamber in the house had been called since the days of the +present squire's great-grandfather. + +The Duke's letter was addressed to his recognized man of business +in those parts, and was as follows: + +Carlton Terrace,--March, 187- + + MY DEAR MR MORETON +(Mr Moreton was the successor of one Mr Fothergill, who had +reigned supreme in those parts under the old Duke.) + + I am afraid that my wishes with regard to the borough and + the forthcoming election there of a member of Parliament + are not yet clearly understood, although I endeavoured to + declare them when I was at Gatherum Castle. I trust that + no elector will vote for this or that gentleman with an + idea that the return of any special candidate will please + me. The ballot will of course prevent me or any other + man from knowing how an elector may vote;--but I beg to + assure the electors generally that should they think fit + to return a member pledged to oppose the Government of + which I form part, it would not in any way change my + cordial feelings towards the town. I may perhaps be + allowed to add that, in my opinion, no elector can do his + duty except by voting for the candidate whom he thinks + best qualified to serve the country. In regard to the + gentlemen who are now before the constituency, I have no + feeling for one rather than for the other; and had I any + such feeling I should not wish it to actuate the vote of + a single elector. I should be glad if this letter could + be published so as to be brought under the eyes of the + electors generally. +Yours faithfully, +OMNIUM + +When the Duke said that he feared that his wishes were not +understood, and spoke of the inefficacy of his former +declaration, he was alluding of course to the Duchess and to Mr +Sprugeon. Mr Sprugeon guessed that it might be so, and, still +wishing to have the Duchess for his good friend, was at once +assiduous in explaining to his friends in the borough that even +this letter did not mean anything. A Prime Minister was bound to +say that kind of thing! But the borough, if it wished to please +the Duke, must return Lopez in spite of the Duke's letter. Such +was Mr Sprugeon's doctrine. But he did not carry Mr Sprout with +him. Mr Sprout at once saw his opportunity, and suggested to Mr +Du Boung, the local brewer, that he should come forward. Du +Boung was a man rapidly growing into provincial eminence, and +jumped at the offer. Consequently there were three candidates. +Du Boung came forward as a Conservative prepared to give a +cautious, but very cautious, support to the Coalition. Mr Du +Boung in his printed address said very sweet things of the Duke +generally. The borough was blessed by the vicinity of the Duke. +But, looking at the present perhaps unprecedented crisis in +affairs, Mr Du Boung was prepared to give no more than a very +cautious support to the Duke's Government. Arthur Fletcher read +Mr Du Boung's address immediately after the Duke's letter. + +'The more the merrier,' said Arthur. + +'Just so. Du Boung will not rob you of a vote, but he will cut +the ground altogether from under the other man's feet. You see +that as far as the actual political programme goes there isn't +much to choose between any of you. You are all Government men.' + +'With a difference.' + +'One man in these days is so like another,' continued Gresham +sarcastically, 'that it requires eyes to meet the shades of the +colours.' + +'Then you had better support Du Boung,' said Arthur. + +'I think you've just a turn in your favour. Besides I couldn't +really carry a vote myself. As for Du Boung, I'd sooner have him +than a foreign cad like Lopez.' Then Arthur frowned and Mr +Gresham became confused, remembering the catastrophe about the +young lady whose story he had heard. 'Du Boung used to be plain +English as Bung before he got rich and made his name beautiful,' +continued Gresham, 'but I suppose Mr Lopez does come of foreign +extraction.' + +'I don't know what he comes from,' said Arthur moodily. 'They +tell me he's a gentleman. However, as we are to have a contest, +I hope he mayn't win.' + +'Of course you do. And he shan't win. Nor shall the great Du +Boung. You shall win, and become Prime Minister, and make me a +peer. Would you like papa to be Lord Greshambury?' he said to a +little girl, who then rushed into the room. + +'No, I wouldn't. I'd like my papa to give me the pony which the +man wants to sell out in the yard.' + +'She's quite right, Fletcher,' said the squire, 'I'm much more +likely to be able to buy them ponies as simple Frank Gresham than +I should be if I had a lord's coronet to pay for.' + +This was on a Saturday, and on the following Monday Mr Gresham +drove the candidate over to Silverbridge and started him on his +work of canvassing. Mr Du Boung had been busy ever since Mr +Sprout's brilliant suggestion had been made, and Lopez had been +in the field even before him. Each one of the candidates called +at the house of every elector in the borough,--and every man in +the borough was an elector. When they had been at work for four +or five days each candidate assured the borough that he had +already received promises of votes sufficient to insure his +success, and each candidate was as anxious as ever,--nay was +more rabidly anxious than ever,--to secure the promise of a +single vote. Hints were made by honest citizens of the pleasure +they would have in supporting this or that gentleman,--for the +honest citizens assured one gentleman after the other of the +satisfaction they had in seeing so all-sufficient a candidate in +the borough,--if the smallest pecuniary help were given them, +even a day's pay, so that their poor children might not be +injured by their going to the poll. But the candidates and their +agents were stern in their replies to such temptations. 'That's +a dodge of the rascal Sprout,' said Sprugeon to Mr Lopez. +'That's one of Sprout's men. If he could get half-a-crown from +you it would be all up with us.' But tough Sprugeon called +Sprout a rascal, he laid it in the same bait both for Du Boung +and for Fletcher;--but laid it in vain. Everybody said that it +was a very clean election. 'A brewer standing, and the devil a +glass of beer!' said one old elector who had remembered better +things when the borough never heard of a contest. + +On the third day of his canvass Arthur Fletcher with his gang of +agents and followers behind him met Lopez with his gang in the +street. It was probable that they would so meet, and Fletcher +had resolved what he would do when such a meeting took place. He +walked up to Lopez, and with a kindly smile offered his hand. +The two men, though they had never been intimate, had known each +other, and Fletcher was determined to show that he would not +quarrel with a man because that man had been his favoured rival. +In comparison with that other matter this affair of the +candidature was of course trivial. But Lopez who had, as the +reader may remember, made some threat about a horsewhip, had come +to a resolution of a very different nature. He put his arms +akimbo, resting his hands on his hips, and altogether declined to +proffered civility. 'You had better walk on,' he said, and then +stood, scowling, on the spot till the other should pass by. +Fletcher looked at him for a moment, then bowed and passed on. +At least a dozen men saw what had taken place, and were aware +that Mr Lopez had expressed his determination to quarrel +personally with Mr Fletcher, in opposition to Mr Fletcher's +expressed wish for amity. And before they had gone to bed that +night all the dozen knew the reason why. Of course there was +someone at Silverbridge clever enough to find out that Arthur +Fletcher had been in love with Miss Wharton, but that Miss +Wharton had lately been married to Mr Lopez. No doubt the +incident added a pleasurable emotion to the excitement caused by +the election at Silverbridge generally. A personal quarrel is +attractive everywhere. The expectation of such an occurrence +will bring together the whole House of Commons. And of course +this quarrel was very attractive at Silverbridge. There were +some Fletcherites and Lopezites in the quarrel; as there were +able Du Boungites, who maintained that when gentlemen could not +canvass without quarrelling in the streets they were manifestly +unfit to represent such a borough as Silverbridge in Parliament; +--and that therefore Mr Du Boung should be returned. + +Mr Gresham was in the town that day, though not till after the +occurrence, and Fletcher could not avoid speaking of it. 'The +man must be a cur,' said Gresham. + +'It would make no difference in the world to me,' said Arthur, +struggling hard to prevent signs of emotion from showing +themselves in his face, 'were it not that he has married a lady +whom I have long known and whom I greatly esteem.' He felt that +he could hardly avoid all mention of the marriage, and yet he was +determined that he would say no word that his brother would call +'howling'. + +'There has been no previous quarrel, or offence?' asked Gresham. + +'None in the least.' When Arthur so spoke he forgot altogether +the letter he had written; nor, had he then remembered it, would +he have thought it possible that that letter should have given +offence. He had been the sufferer, not Lopez. This man had +robbed him of his happiness; and, though it would have been +foolish in him to make a quarrel for a grievance such as that, +there might have been some excuse had he done so. It had taken +him some time to perceive that greatly as this man had injured +him, there had been no injustice done to him, and that therefore +there should be no complaint made by him. But that this other +man should complain was to him unintelligible. + +'He is not worth your notice,' said Mr Gresham. 'He is simply +not a gentleman, and does not know how to behave himself. I am +very sorry for the young lady;--that's all.' At this allusion +to Emily Arthur felt his face become red with rising blood; and +he felt also that his friend should not have spoken thus openly, +--this irreverently,--on so sacred a subject. But at the moment +he said nothing further. As far as his canvass was concerned it +had been successful, and he was beginning to feel sure that he +would be the new member. He endeavoured therefore to drown his +sorrow in this coming triumph. + +But Lopez had been by no means gratified with his canvass or with +the conduct of the borough generally. He had already begun to +feel that the Duchess and Mr Sprugeon and the borough had thrown +him over shamefully. Immediately on his arrival in Silverbridge +a local attorney had with the blandest possible smile asked him +for a cheque for 500 pounds. Of course there must be money spent +at once, and of course the money must come out of the candidate's +pocket. He had known all this beforehand, and yet the demand for +the money had come upon him as an injury. He gave the cheque, +but showed clearly by his manner that he resented the +application. This did not tend to bind him more closely to the +services of those who were present when the demand was made. And +then, as he began his canvass, he found that he could not conjure +at all with the name of the Duke, or even with that of the +Duchess; and was told on the second day by Mr Sprugeon himself +that he had better fight the battle 'on his own hook'. Now his +own hook in Silverbridge was certainly not a strong hook. Mr +Sprugeon was still of the opinion that a good deal might be done +by judicious manipulation, and went so far as to suggest that +another cheque for 500 pounds in the hands of Mr Wise, the +lawyer, would be effective. But Lopez did not give the other +cheque, and Sprugeon whispered to him that the Duke had been too +many for the Duchess. Still he had persevered, and a set of +understrappers around him, who would make nothing out of the +election without his candidature, assured him from time to time +that he would even as yet come out all right at the ballot. +But, on the morning of the day on which he met Fletcher in the +street, Mr Du Boung had called upon him accompanied by two of the +Du Boung agents and by Mr Sprugeon himself,--and had suggested +that he, Lopez, should withdraw from the contest, so that Du +Boung might be returned, and that the 'liberal interests' of the +borough might not be sacrificed. + +This was a heavy blow, and one which Ferdinand Lopez was not the +man to bear with equanimity. From the moment in which the +Duchess had mentioned the borough to him, he had regarded the +thing as certain. After a while he had understood that his return +must be accompanied by more trouble and greater expense than he +had at first anticipated;--but still he had thought that it was +all but sure. He had altogether misunderstood the nature of the +influence exercised by the Duchess, and the nature also of the +Duke's resolution. Mr Sprugeon had of course wished to have a +candidate, and had allured him. Perhaps he had in some degree +been ill-treated by the borough. But he was a man, whom the +feeling of injustice to himself would drive him almost to frenzy, +though he never measured the amount of his own injustice to +others. When the proposition was made to him, he scowled at them +all, and declared that he would fight the borough to the last. +'Then you'll let Mr Fletcher in to a certainty.'said Mr Sprout. +Now there was an idea in the borough that, although all the +candidates were ready to support the Duke's government, Mr Du +Boung and Mr Lopez were the two Liberals. Mr Du Boung was +sitting in the room when the appeal was made, and declared that +he feared that such would be the result. 'I'll tell you what +I'll do,' said Lopez. 'I'll toss up which of us retires.' Mr +Sprout, on behalf of Mr Du Boung, protested against that +proposition. Mr Du Boung, who was a gentleman of great local +influence, was in possession of four-fifths of the liberal +interests in the borough. Even were he to retire, Mr Lopez could +not get in. Mr Sprout declared that this was known to all the +borough at large. He, Sprout, was sorry that a gentleman like Mr +Lopez should have been brought down there under false ideas. He +had all through told Mr Sprugeon that the Duke had been in +earnest, but Mr Sprugeon had not comprehended the position. It +had been a pity. But anybody who understood the borough could +see with one eye that Mr Lopez had not a chance. If Mr Lopez +would retire Mr Du Boung would no doubt be returned. If Mr Lopez +went to the poll, Mr Fletcher would probably be the new member. +This was the picture as it was painted by Mr Sprout,--who had, +even then, heard something of the loves of the two candidates, and +who had thought that Lopez would be glad to injure Arthur +Fletcher's chances of success. So far he was not wrong;--but +the sense of injury done to himself oppressed Lopez so much that +he could not guide himself by reason. The idea of retiring was +very painful to him, and he did not believe these men. He +thought it to be quite possible that they were there to +facilitate the return of Arthur Fletcher. He had never even +heard of Du Boung till he had come to Silverbridge two or three +days ago. He still could not believe that Du Boung would be +returned. He thought over it all for a moment, and then he gave +his answer. 'I've been brought down here to fight, and I'll +fight it to the last,' he said. 'Then you'll hand over the +borough to Mr Fletcher,' said Sprout, getting up and ushering Mr +Du Boung out of the room. + +It was after that, but on the same day, that Lopez and Fletcher +met each other in the street. The affair did not take a minute, +and then they parted, each on his own way. In the course of the +evening Mr Sprugeon told his candidate that he, Sprugeon, could +not concern himself any further in that election. He was very +sorry for what had occurred,--very sorry indeed. It was no +doubt a pity that the Duke had been so firm. 'But,'--and Mr +Sprugeon shrugged his shoulders as he spoke,--'when a nobleman +like the Duke chooses to have a way of his own, he must have it.' +Mr Sprugeon went on to declare that any further candidature would +be a waste of money, waste of time, and waste of energy, and then +signified his intention of retiring, as far as the election went, +into private life. When asked, he acknowledged that they who had +been acting with him had come to the same resolve. Mr Lopez had +in fact come there as the Duke's nominee, and as the Duke had no +nominee, Mr Lopez was in fact 'nowhere'. + +'I don't suppose that any man was ever so treated before, since +members were first returned to Parliament,' said Lopez. + +'Well, sir;--yes, sir; it is a little hard. But, you see, sir, +her Grace meant the best. Her Grace did mean the best, no doubt. +It may be, sir, there was a little misunderstanding;--a little +misunderstanding at the Castle, sir.' Then Mr Sprugeon retired, +and Lopez understood that he was to see nothing more of the +ironmonger. + +Of course there was nothing for him now but to retire;--to shake +the dust off his feet and get out of Silverbridge as quickly as +he could. But his friends had all deserted him and he did not +know how to retire. He had paid 500 pounds, and he had a strong +opinion that a portion at least of the money should be returned +to him. He had a keen sense of ill-usage, and at the same time a +feeling that he ought not to run out of the borough like a whipt +dog, without showing his face to any one. But his strongest +suspicion at this moment was one of hatred against Arthur +Fletcher. He was sure that Arthur Fletcher would be the new +member. He did not put the least trust in Mr Du Boung. He had +taught himself really to think that Fletcher had insulted him by +writing to his wife, and that a further insult had been offered +to him at that meeting in the street. He had told his wife that +he would ask Fletcher to give up the borough, and that he would +make the request with a horsewhip in his hand. It was too late +now to say anything of the borough, but it might not be too late +for the horsewhip. He had a great desire to make good that +threat as far as the horsewhip was concerned,--having an idea +that he would thus lower Fletcher in his wife's eyes. It was not +that he was jealous,--not jealous in the ordinary meaning of the +word. His wife's love to himself had been too recently given and +too warmly maintained for such a feeling as that. But there was +a rancorous hatred in his heart against the man, and a conviction +that his wife at any rate esteemed a man whom he hated. And then +would he not make his retreat from the borough with more honour +if before he left he could horsewhip his successful antagonist? +We, who know the feeling of Englishmen generally better than Mr +Lopez did, would say--certainly not. We would think that such +an incident would by no means redound to the credit of Mr Lopez. +And he himself, probably, at cooler moments, would have seen the +folly of such an idea. But anger about the borough had driven +him mad, and now in his wretchedness the suggestion had for him a +certain charm. The man had outraged all propriety by writing to +his wife. Of course he would be justified in horsewhipping him. +But there were difficulties. A man is not horsewhipped simply +because you wish to horsewhip him. + +In the evening, as he was sitting alone, he got a note from Mr +Sprugeon. 'Mr Sprugeon's compliments. Doesn't Mr Lopez think an +address to the electors should appear in tomorrow's "Gazette",-- +very short and easy;--something like the following.' Then Mr +Sprugeon added a very 'short and easy letter' to the electors of +the borough of Silverbridge, in which Mr Lopez was supposed to +tell them that although his canvass had promised him every +success, he felt that he owed it to the borough to retire, lest +he should injure the borough by splitting the Liberal interest +with their much respected fellow-townsman, Mr Du Boung. In the +course of the evening he did copy that letter, and sent it out to +the newspaper office. He must retire, and it was better for him +that he should retire after some recognized fashion. But he +wrote another letter also, and sent it over to the opposition +hotel. The other letter was as follows: + + SIR + Before this election began you were guilty of gross + impertinence in writing a letter to my wife,--to her + extreme annoyance and to my most justifiable anger. Any + gentleman would think that the treatment you had already + received at her hands would have served to save her from + such insult, but there are men who will never take a + lesson without a beating. And now, since you have been + here, you have presumed to offer to shake hands with me + in the street, though you ought to have known that I + should not choose to meet you on friendly terms after + what has taken place. I now write to tell you that I + shall carry a horsewhip while I am here, and that if I + meet you in the streets again before I leave the town I + shall use it. +FERDINAND LOPEZ +Mr Arthur Fletcher. + +This letter he sent at once to his enemy, and then sat late into +the night thinking of the threat and the manner in which he would +follow it up. If he could only get one fair blow at Fletcher his +purpose, he thought, would be achieved. In any matter of +horsewhipping the truth hardly ever gets itself correctly known. +The man who has given the first blow, is generally supposed to +have thrashed the other. What might follow, though it might be +inconvenient, must be borne. The man had insulted him by writing +to his wife, and the sympathies of the world, he thought, would +be with him. To give him his due, it must be owned that he had +no personal fear as to the encounter. + +That night Arthur Fletcher had gone over the Greshambury, and on +the following morning he returned with Mr Gresham. 'For heaven's +sake, look at that!' he said, handing the letter to his friend. + +'Did you ever write to his wife?' asked Gresham, when he read it. + +'Yes,--I did. All this is dreadful to me:--dreadful. Well;-- +you know how it used to be with me. I need not go into all that, +need I?' + +'Don't say a word more than you think necessary.' + +'When you asked me to stand for the place I had not heard that he +thought of being a candidate. I wrote and told her so, and told +her also that had I known it before I would not have come here.' + +'I don't quite see that,' said Gresham. + +'Perhaps not;--perhaps I was a fool. But we needn't go into +that. At any rate there was no insult to him. I wrote in the +simplest language.' + +'Looking at it all round I think you had better not have +written.' + +'You wouldn't say so if you saw the letter. I'm sure you +wouldn't. I had known her all my life. My brother is married to +her cousin. Oh heavens! we had been all but engaged. I would +have done anything for her. Was it not natural that I should +tell her? As far as the language was concerned the letter was +one to be read at Charing Cross.' + +'He says that she was annoyed and insulted.' + +'Impossible! It was a letter that any man might have written to +any woman.' + +'Well;--you have got to take care of yourself at any rate. What +will you do?' + +'What ought I to do?' + +'Go to the police.' Mr Gresham had himself once, when young, +thrashed a man who had offended him, and had then thought himself +much aggrieved because the police had been called in. But that +had been twenty years ago, and Mr Gresham's opinions had been +matured and, perhaps, corrected by age. + +'No; I won't do that,' said Arthur Fletcher. + +'That's what you ought to do.' + +'I couldn't do that.' + +'Then take no notice of the letter, and carry a fairly big stick. +It should be big enough to hurt him a good deal, but not to do +him any serious damage.' At that moment an agent came in with +the news of the man's retirement from the contest. 'Has he left +the town?' asked Gresham. No;--he had not left the town, nor +had he been seen by any one that morning. 'You had better let me +go out and get the stick, before you show yourself,' said +Gresham. And so the stick was selected. + +As the two walked down the street together, almost the first +thing they saw was Lopez standing at his hotel door with a +cutting whip in his hand. He was at that moment quite alone, but +on the opposite side of the street was a policeman,--one of the +borough constables,--very slowly making his way along the +pavement. His movement, indeed, was so slow that anyone watching +him would have come to the conclusion that that particular part +of the High Street had some attraction for him at that special +moment. Alas, alas! How age will alter the spirit of a man! +Twenty years since Frank Gresham would have thought any one to be +a mean miscreant who would have interposed a policeman between +him and his foe. But it is to be feared that while selecting +that stick he had said a word which was causing the constable to +loiter on the pavement! + +'Do you usually walk around attended by a policeman?' said Lopez. + +'I didn't know that the man was here,' said Fletcher. + +'You may tell that to the marines. All the borough shall know +what a coward you are.' Then he turned round and addressed the +street, but still under the shadow, as it were, of the +policeman's helmet. 'This man who presumes to offer himself as a +candidate to represent Silverbridge in Parliament has insulted my +wife. And now, because he fears that I shall horsewhip him, he +goes about the street under the care of a policeman.' + +'This is intolerable,' said Fletcher, turning to his friend. + +'Mr Lopez,' said Gresham. 'I am sorry to say that I must give +you in charge;--unless you will undertake to leave the town +without interfering further with Mr Fletcher, either by word or +deed.' + +'I will undertake nothing,' said Lopez. 'The man has insulted my +wife, and is a coward.' + +About two o'clock on the afternoon of that day Mr Lopez appeared +before the Silverbridge bench of magistrates, and was there sworn +to keep the peace to Mr Fletcher for the next six months. After +that he was allowed to leave the town, and was back in London +with his wife in Belgrave Mansions, to dinner that evening. + +On the day but one after this the ballot was taken and at eight +o'clock on the evening of that day Arthur Fletcher was declared +to be duly elected. But Mr Du Boung ran him very hard. + +The numbers were-- + + FLETCHER . . . . . . .315 + DU BOUNG . . . . . . .308 + +Mr Du Boung's friends during these last two days had not +hesitated to make what use they could on behalf of their own +candidate of the Lopez and Fletcher quarrel. If Mr Fletcher had +insulted he other man's wife, surely he could not be a proper +member for Silverbridge. And then the row was declared to have +been altogether discreditable. Two strangers had come into this +peaceful town and had absolutely quarrelled with sticks and whips +in the street, calling each other opprobrious names. Would it +not be better that they should elect their own respectable +townsman? All this was nearly effective. But, in spite of all, +Arthur Fletcher was at last returned. + + + +CHAPTER 35 + +LOPEZ BACK IN LONDON. + +Lopez, as he returned to town, recovered something of his senses, +though he still fancied that Arthur Fletcher had done him a +positive injury by writing to his wife. But something of that +madness left him which had come from a deep sense of injury, both +as to the letter and as to the borough, and he began to feel that +he had been wrong about the horsewhip. He was very low in +spirits on this return journey. The money which he had spent +had been material to him, and the loss of it for the moment left +him nearly bare. While he had before his eyes the hope of being +a member of Parliament he had been able to buoy himself up. The +position itself would have gone very far with Sexty Parker, and +would, he thought, have had some effect even with his father-in- +law. But now he was returning a beaten man. Who is there that +has not felt that fall from high hope to utter despair which +comes from some single failure? As he thought of this he was +conscious that his anger had led him into great imprudence at +Silverbridge. He had not been circumspect, as it specially +behoved a man to be surrounded by such difficulties as his. All +his life he had been schooling his temper so as to keep it under +control,--sometimes with great difficulty, but always with a +consciousness that in his life everything might depend on it. Now +he had, alas, allowed it to get the better of him. No doubt he +had been insulted,--but, nevertheless, he had been wrong to +speak of a horsewhip. + +His one great object must now be to conciliate his father-in-law, +and he had certainly increased his difficulty in doing this by +his squabble down at Silverbridge. Of course the whole thing +would be reported in the London papers, and of course the story +would be told against him, as the respectabilities of the town +had been opposed to him. But he knew himself to be clever, and +he still hoped that he might overcome these difficulties. Then +it occurred to him that in doing this he must take care to have +his wife entirely on his side. He did not doubt her love; he did +not in the least doubt her rectitude--but there was that +lamentable fact that she thought well of Arthur Fletcher. It +might be that he had been a little too imperious with his wife. +It suited his disposition to be imperious within his own +household;--to be imperious out of it, if that were possible;-- +but he was conscious of having had a fall at Silverbridge, and he +must for a while take in some sail. + +He had telegraphed to her, acquainting her with his defeat, and +telling her to expect his return. 'Oh, Ferdinand,' she said, 'I +am so unhappy about this. It has made me so wretched!' + +'Better luck next time,' he said with his sweetest smile. 'It is +not good groaning over spilt milk. They haven't treated me +really well,--have they?' + +'I suppose not,--though I do not quite understand it all.' + +He was burning to abuse Arthur Fletcher, but he abstained. He +would abstain at any rate for the present moment. 'Dukes and +duchesses are no doubt very grand people,' he said, 'but it is a +pity they should not know now to behave honestly, as they expect +others to behave to them. The Duchess has thrown me over in the +most infernal way. I really can't understand it. When I think +of it I am in wonder. The truth, I suppose, is, that there has +been some quarrel between him and her.' + +'Who will get in?' + +'Oh Du Boung, no doubt.' He did not think so, but he could not +bring himself to declare the success of his enemy to her. 'The +people there know him. Your old friend is as much a stranger +there as I am. By-the-way, he and I had a little row in the +place.' + +'A row, Ferdinand?' + +'You needn't look like that, my pet. I haven't killed him. But +he came up to speak to me in the street, and I told him what I +thought about his writing to you.' On hearing this Emily looked +very wretched. 'I could not restrain myself from doing that. +Come,--you must admit that he shouldn't have written.' + +'He meant it in kindness.' + +'Then he shouldn't have meant it. Just think of it. Suppose +that I had making up to any girl,--which by-the-way I never did +but to one in my life,'--then he put his arm round her waist and +kissed her, 'and she were to have married someone else. What +would have been said of me if I had begun to correspond with her +immediately? Don't suppose I am blaming you, dear.' + +'Certainly I do not suppose that,' said Emily. + +'But you must admit that it was rather strong.' He paused, but +she said nothing. 'Only I suppose you can bring yourself to +admit nothing against him. However, so it was. There was a row, +and a policeman came up, and they made me give a promise that I +didn't mean to shoot him or anything of that kind.' As she heard +this she turned pale, but said nothing. 'Of course I didn't want +to shoot him. I wished him to know what I thought about it, and +I told him. I hate to trouble you with all this, but I couldn't +bear that you shouldn't know it all.' + +'It is very sad!' + +'Sad enough! I have had plenty to bear I can tell you. +Everybody seemed to turn away from me there. Everybody deserted +me.' As he said this he could perceive that he must obtain her +sympathy by recounting his own miseries and not Arthur Fletcher's +sins. 'I was all alone and hardly knew how to hold up my head +against so much wretchedness. And then I found myself called +upon to pay an enormous sum for my expenses.' + +'Oh, Ferdinand!' + +'Think of their demanding 500 pounds!' + +'Did you pay it?' + +'Yes, indeed. I had no alternative. Of course they took care to +come for that before they talked of my resigning. I believe it +was all planned beforehand. The whole thing seems to me to have +been a swindle from beginning to end. By heaven, I'm almost +inclined to think that the Duchess knew all about it herself!' + +'About the 500 pounds!' + +'Perhaps not the exact sum, but the way in which the thing was to +be done. In these days one doesn't know whom to trust. Men, and +women too, have become so dishonest that nobody is safe anywhere. +It has been awfully hard upon me,--awfully hard. I don't +suppose that there was ever a moment in my life when the loss of +500 pounds would have been so much to me as it is now. The +question is, what will your father do for us?' Emily could not +but remember her husband's intense desire to obtain money from +her father not yet three months since, as though all the world +depended on his getting it,--and his subsequent elation as +though all his sorrows were over for ever, because the money had +been promised. And now,--almost immediately,--he was again in +the same position. She endeavoured to judge him kindly, but a +feeling of insecurity in reference to his affairs struck her at +once and made her heart cold. Everything had been achieved, then, +by a gift of 3,000 pounds,--surely a small sum to effect such a +result with a man living as her husband lived. And now the whole +3,000 pounds was gone;--surely a large sum to have vanished in +so short a time! Something of the uncertainty of business she +could understand, but a business must be perilously uncertain if +subject to such vicissitudes as these! But as ideas of this +nature crowded themselves into her mind she told herself again +and again that she had taken him for better and for worse. If +the worse were already coming, she would still be true to her +promise. 'You had better tell papa everything.' + +'Had it not better come from you?' + +'No, Ferdinand. Of course I will do as you bid me. I will do +anything that I can do. But you had better tell him. His nature +is such that he will respect you more if it come from yourself. +And then it is so necessary that he should know all;--all.' She +put whatever emphasis she knew how to use upon this word. + +'You could tell him--all, as well as I.' + +'You would not bring yourself to tell it to me, nor could I +understand it. He will understand everything, and if he thinks +that you have told him everything, he will at any rate respect +you.' + +He sat silent for a while meditating, feeling always more and +more acutely that he had been ill-used,--never thinking for an +instant that he had ill-used others. '3,000 pounds, you know, +was no fortune for your father to give you!' She had no answer +to make, but she groaned in spirit as she heard the accusation. +'Don't you feel that yourself?' + +'I know nothing of money, Ferdinand. If you had told me to speak +to him about it before we were married, I would have done so.' + +'He ought to have spoken to me. It is marvellous how close- +fisted an old man can be. He can't take it with him.' Then he +sat for half an hour in moody silence, during which she was busy +with her needle. After that he jumped up, with a manner +altogether altered,--gay, only that the attempt was too visible +to deceive even her,--and shook himself, as though he were +ridding himself of his trouble. 'You are right, old girl. You +are always right,--almost. I will go to your father to-morrow, +and tell him everything. It isn't so very much that I want him +to do. Things will all come right again. I'm ashamed that you +should have seen me in this way,--but I have been disappointed +about the election, and troubled about that Mr Fletcher. You +shall not see me give way again like this. Give me a kiss, old +girl.' + +She kissed him, but she could not even pretend to recover her +self as he had done. 'Had we not better give up the brougham?' +she said. + +'Certainly not. For heaven's sake do not speak in that way! You +do not understand things.' + +'No; certainly I do not.' + +'It isn't that I haven't the means of living, but that my +business money is so often required for instant use. And +situated as I am at the present an addition to my capital would +enable me to do so much!' She certainly did not understand it, +but she had sufficient knowledge of the world and sufficient +common sense to be aware that their present rate of expenditure +ought to be a matter of importance to a man who felt the loss of +500 pounds as he felt that loss at Silverbridge. + +On the next morning Lopez was at Mr Wharton's chambers early,-- +so early that the lawyer had not yet reached them. He had +resolved,--not that he would tell everything, for such men never +even intend to tell everything,--but that he would tell a good deal. +He must, if possible, affect the mind of the old man in two ways. +He must ingratiate himself;--and at the same time make it +understood that Emily's comfort in life would depend very much on +her father's generosity. The first must be first accomplished, +if possible,--and then the second, as to which he could certainly +produce at any rate belief. He had not married a rich man's daughter +without an intention of getting the rich man's money! Mr Wharton +would understand that. If the worst came to the worst, Mr +Wharton must of course maintain his daughter,--and his +daughter's husband! But things had not come to the worst as yet, +and he did not intend on the present occasion to present that +view of his affairs to his father-in-law. + +Mr Wharton when he entered his chambers found Lopez seated there. +He was himself at this moment very unhappy. He had renewed his +quarrel with Everett,--or Everett rather had renewed the quarrel +with him. There had been words between them about money lost at +cards. Hard words had been used, and Everett had told his father +that if either of them were a gambler it was not he. Mr Wharton +had resented this bitterly and had driven his son from his +presence,--and now the quarrel with him had made him very +wretched. He certainly was sorry that he had called his son a +gambler, but his son had been, as he thought, inexcusable in the +retort which he had made. He was a man to whom his friends gave +credit for much sternness;--but still he was one who certainly +had no happiness in the world independent of his children. His +daughter had left him, not as he thought under happy auspices,-- +and he was now, at this moment, soft-hearted and tender in his +regards as to her. What was there in the world for him but his +children? And now he felt himself to be alone and destitute. He +was already tired of whist at the Eldon. That which would have +been a delight to him once or twice a week, became almost +loathsome when it was renewed from day to day;--and not the less +when his son told him that he also was a gambler. 'So you have +come back from Silverbridge?' he said. + +'Yes, sir; I have come back not exactly triumphant. A man should +not expect to win always.' Lopez had resolved to pluck up his +spirit and carry himself like a man. + +'You seem to have got into some scrape down there, besides losing +your election.' + +'Oh; you have seen that in the papers already. I have come to +tell you of it. As Emily is concerned in it you ought to know.' + +'Emily concerned! How is she concerned?' + +Then Lopez told the whole story,--after his own fashion, and yet +with no palpable lie. Fletcher had written to her a letter which +he had thought to be very offensive. On hearing this, Mr Wharton +looked very grave, and asked for the letter. Lopez said that he +had destroyed it, not thinking that such a document should be +preserved. Then he went on to explain that it had had reference +to the election, and that he had thought it to be highly improper +that Fletcher should write to his wife on that or on any other +subject. 'It depends very much on the letter,' said the old man. + +'But on any subject,--after what has passed.' + +'They were very old friends.' + +'Of course I will not agree with you, Mr Wharton; but I own that +it angered me. It angered me very much,--very much indeed. I +took it to be an insult to her, and when he accosted me in the +street down at Silverbridge I told him so. I may not have been +very wise, but I did it on her behalf. Surely you can understand +that such a letter might make a man angry.' + +'What did he say?' + +'That he would do anything for her sake,--even retire from +Silverbridge if his friends would let him.' Mr Wharton scratched +his head, and Lopez saw that he was perplexed. 'Should he have +offered to do anything for her sake, after what has passed?' + +'I know the man so well,' said Mr Wharton, 'that I cannot and do +not believe him to have harboured an improper thought in +reference to my child.' + +'Perhaps it was an indiscretion only.' + +'Perhaps so. I cannot say. And then they took you before the +magistrates?' + +'Yes,--in my anger I had threatened him. Then there was a +policeman and a row. And I had to swear that I would not hurt +him. Of course I had no wish to hurt him.' + +'I suppose it ruined your chance at Silverbridge?' + +'I suppose it did.' This was a lie, as Lopez had retired before +the row took place. 'What I care for most now is that you should +think I have misbehaved myself.' + +The story had been told very well, and Mr Wharton was almost +disposed to sympathize with his son-in-law. That Arthur Fletcher +had meant nothing that could be regarded as offensive to his +daughter he was quite sure;--but it might be that in making an +offer intended to be generous he had used language which the +condition of the persons concerned made indiscreet. 'I suppose,' +he said, 'that you spent a lot of money at Silverbridge?' This +gave Lopez the opening he wanted, and he described the manner in +which the 500 pounds had been extracted from him. 'You can't +play that game for nothing,' said Mr Wharton. + +'And just at present I could ill afford it. I should not have +done it if I had not felt it a pity to neglect such a chance of +rising in the world. After all, a seat in the British House of +Commons is an honour.' + +'Yes;--yes;--yes.' + + +'And the Duchess, when she spoke to me about it, was so certain.' + +'I will pay the 500 pounds,' said Mr Wharton. + +'Oh, sir, that is generous!' Then he got up and took the old +man's hands. 'Some day, when you are at liberty, I hope that you +will allow me to explain to you the exact state of my affairs. +When I wrote to you from Como I told you that I would wish to do +so. You do not object?' + +'No,' said the lawyer,--but with infinite hesitation in his +voice. 'No, I don't object. But I do not know how I could serve +them. I shall be busy just now, but I will give you the cheque. +And if you and Emily have nothing better to do, come and dine to- +morrow.' Lopez with real tears in his eyes took the cheque, and +promised to come on the morrow. 'And in the meantime I wish you +would see Everett.' Of course he promised that he would see +Everett. + +Again he was exalted, on this occasion not so much by the +acquisition of the money as by the growing conviction that his +father-in-law was a cow capable of being milked. And the quarrel +between Everett and his father might clearly be useful to him. +He might either serve the old man by reducing Everett to proper +submission, or he might manage to creep into the empty space +which his son's defection would make in the father's heart and +the father's life. He might at any rate make himself necessary +to the old man, and become such a part of the household in +Manchester Square as to be indispensable. Then the old man would +every day become older and more in want of assistance. He +thought that he saw the way to worm himself into confidence, and, +so on into possession. The old man was not a man of iron as he +had feared, but quite human, and if properly managed, soft and +malleable. + +He saw Sexty Parker in the city that day, and used his cheque for +500 pounds in some triumphant way, partly cajoling and partly +bullying his poor victim. To Sexty also he had to tell his own +story about the row down at Silverbridge. He had threatened to +thrash the fellow in the street, and the fellow had not dared to +come out of his house without a policeman. Yes;--he had lost +his election. The swindling of those fellows at Silverbridge had +been too much for him. But he flattered himself that he had got +the better of Master Fletcher. That was the tone in which he +told the story to his friend in the city. + +Then, before dinner, he found Everett at the club. Everett +Wharton was to be found there now almost every day. His excuse +to himself lay in the political character of the institution. +The club intended to do great things,--to find Liberal +candidates for all the boroughs and counties in England which had +not hitherto been furnished, and then to supply the candidates +with money. Such was the great purpose of the Progress. It had +not as yet sent out many candidates or collected much money. And +yet it was, politically, almost quiescent. And therefore Everett +Wharton, whose sense of duty took him there, spent his afternoons +either in the whist-room or at the billiard-table. + +The story of Silverbridge had to be told yet again, and was told +nearly with the same incidents as had been narrated to the +father. He could of course abuse Arthur Fletcher more roundly, +and be more confident in the assertion that Fletcher had insulted +his wife. But he came as quickly as he could to the task which +he had on hand. 'What's all this between you and your father?' + +'Simply this. I sometimes play a game of whist, and therefore he +called me a gambler. Then I reminded him that he also sometimes +played a game of whist, and I asked him what deduction was to be +drawn.' + +'He is awfully angry with you.' + +'Of course I was a fool. My father has the whip-hand of me, +because he has money and I have none, and it was simply kicking +against the pricks to speak as I did. And then too there isn't a +fellow in London has a higher respect for his father than I have, +not yet a warmer affection. But it is hard to be driven in that +way. Gambler is a nasty word.' + +'Yes, it is very nasty. But I suppose a man does gamble when he +loses so much money that he has to ask his father to pay it for +him.' + +'If he does so often, he gambles. I never asked him for money to +pay what I had lost before in my life.' + +'I wonder you told him.' + +'I never lie to him, and he ought to know that. But he is just +the man to be harder to his own son than to anybody else in the +world. What does he want me to do now?' + +'I don't know that he wants you to do anything,' said Lopez. + +'Did he send you to me?' + +'Well;--no; I can't say that he did. I told him that I should +see you as a matter of course, and he said something rough,-- +about your being an ass.' + +'I dare say he did.' + +'But if you ask me,' said Lopez, 'I think he would take it kindly +of you if you were to go and see him. Come and dine to-day, just +as if nothing had happened.' + +'I could not do that,--unless he asked me.' + +'I can't say that he asked you, Everett, I would say so, in spite +of its being a lie, if I didn't fear that your father might say +something unkind, so that the lie would be detected by both of +you.' + +'And yet you ask me to go and dine there!' + +'Yes, I do. It's only going away if he does cut up rough. And +if he takes it well,--why then,--the whole thing is done.' + +'If he wants me, he can ask me.' + +'You talk about it, my boy, just as if a father were the same as +anybody else. If I had a father with a lot of money, by George +he should knock me about with his stick if he liked, and I would +be just the same next day.' + +'Unfortunately I am of a stiffer nature,' said Everett, taking +some pride to himself for his stiffness, and being perhaps as +little 'stiff' as any young man of his day. + +That evening after dinner at Manchester Square, the conversation +between the father-in-law and the son-in-law turned almost +exclusively to the son and brother-in-law. Little or nothing was +said about the election, and the name of Arthur Fletcher was not +mentioned. But out of his full heart the father spoke. He was +wretched about Everett. Did Everett mean to cut him? + +'He wants you to withdraw some name you called him,' said Lopez. + +'Withdraw some name,--as he might ask some hot-headed fellow to +do, if his own age, like himself, some fellow that he had +quarrelled with! Does he expect his father to send him a written +apology? He had been gambling, and I told him that he was a +gambler. Is that too much for a father to say?' Lopez shrugged +his shoulders, and declared that it was a pity. 'He will break +my heart if he goes on like this,' said the old man. + +'I asked him to come and dine to-day, but he didn't seem to like +it.' + +'Like it! No. He likes nothing but that infernal club.' + +When the evening was over Lopez felt that he had done a good +stroke of work. He had not exactly made up his mind to keep the +father and son apart. That was not a part of his strategy,--at +any rate as yet. But he did intend to make himself necessary to +the old man,--to become the old man's son, and if possible the +favourite son. And now he thought that he had already done much +towards the achievement of his object. + + + +CHAPTER 36 + +THE JOLLY BLACKBIRD. + +There was great triumph at Longbarns when the news of Arthur's +victory reached the place;--and when he arrived there himself +with his friend Mr Gresham, he was received as a conquering hero. +But of course the tidings of 'the row' had gone before him, and +it was necessary that both he and Mr Gresham should tell the +story;--nor could it be told privately. Sir Alured Wharton was +there, and Mrs Fletcher. The old lady had heard of the row, and +of course required to be told all the particulars. This was not +pleasant to the hero, as in talking of the man it was impossible +for them not to talk of the man's wife. 'What a terrible +misfortune for poor Mr Wharton,' said the old lady, nodding her +head at Sir Alured. Sir Alured sighed and said nothing. +Certainly a terrible misfortune, and one which affected more or +less the whole family of Whartons! + +'Do you mean to say that he was going to attack Arthur with a +whip?' asked John Fletcher. + +'I only know that he was standing there with a whip in his hand,' +said Mr Gresham. + +'I think he would have had the worst of that.' + +'You would have laughed,' said Arthur, 'to see me walking +majestically along the High Street with a cudgel which Gresham +had just bought for me as being of the proper medium size. I +don't doubt he meant to have a fight. And then you should have +seen the policeman sloping over and putting himself in the way. +I never quite understood where the policeman came from.' + +'They are very well off for policemen in Silverbridge,' said +Gresham. 'They've always got them going about.' + +'He must be mad,' said John. + +'Poor unfortunate young woman!' said Mrs Fletcher, holding up +both her hands. 'I must say that I cannot but blame Mr Wharton. +If he had been firm, it never would have come to that. I wonder +whether he ever sees him.' + +'Of course he does,' said John. 'Why shouldn't he see him? +You'd see him if he'd married a daughter of yours.' + +'Never!' exclaimed the old woman. 'If I had a child so lost to +all respect as that, I do not say that I would not have seen her. +Human nature might have prevailed. But I would never willingly +have put myself into contact with one who had degraded me and +mine.' + +'I shall be very anxious to know what Mr Wharton does about his +money,' said John. + +Arthur allowed himself but a couple of days among his friends, +and then hurried up to London to take his seat. When there he +was astonished to find how many questions were asked him about +'the row', and how much was known about it,--and at the same +time how little was really known. Everybody had heard that there +had been a row, and everybody knew that there had been a lady in +the case. But there seemed to be a general idea that the lady +had been in some way misused, and that Arthur Fletcher had come +forwards like a Paladin to protect her. A letter had been +written, and the husband, ogre-like, had intercepted the letter. +The lady was the most unfortunate of human beings,--or would +have been but for that consolation which she must have in the +constancy of her old lover. As to all these matters the stories +varied; but everybody agreed on one point. All the world knew +that Arthur Fletcher had gone to Silverbridge, had stood for the +borough, and taken the seat away from his rival,--because that +rival had robbed him of his bride. How the robbery had been +effected the world could not quite say. The world was still of +the opinion that the lady was violently attached to the man she +had not married. But Captain Gunner explained it all clearly to +Major Pountney by asserting that the poor girl had been coerced +into the marriage by her father. And thus Arthur Fletcher found +himself almost as much a hero in London as at Longbarns. + +Fletcher had not been above a week in town, and had become +heartily sick of the rumours which in various shapes made their +way round to his own ears, when he received an invitation from Mr +Wharton to go and dine with him at a tavern called the Jolly +Blackbird. The invitation surprised him,--that he should be +asked by such a man to dine at such a place,--but he accepted it +as a matter of course. He was indeed much interested in a bill +for the drainage of common lands which was to be discussed in the +House that night, there was a good deal of common land round +Silverbridge, and he had some idea of making his first speech,-- +but he calculated that he might get his dinner and yet be back in +time for the debate. So he went to the Jolly Blackbird,--a very +quaint old-fashioned law dining-house in the neighbourhood of +Portugal Street, which had managed not to get itself not pulled +down a dozen years ago on behalf of the Law Courts which are to +bless some coming generation. Arthur had never been there before +and was surprised at the black wainscotting, the black tables, +the old-fashioned grate, the two candles on the table, and the +silent waiter. + +'I wanted to see you Arthur,' said the old man pressing his hand +in a melancholy way, 'but I couldn't ask you to Manchester +Square. They come in sometimes in the evening, and it might have +been unpleasant. At your young men's clubs they let strangers +dine. We haven't anything of that kind at the Eldon. You'll +find they'll give you a very good bit of fish here, and a fairish +steak.' Arthur declared that he thought it a capital place,-- +the best fun in the world. 'And they've a very good bottle of +claret;--better than we get at the Eldon, I think. I don't know +that I can say much for their champagne. We'll try it. You +young fellows always like champagne.' + +'I hardly ever touch it,' said Arthur. 'Sherry and claret are my +wines.' + +'Very well;--very well. I did want to see you, my boy. Things +haven't turned out just as we wanted;--have they?' + +'Not exactly, sir.' + +'No indeed. You know the old saying, "God disposes all". I have +to make the best of it,--and so no doubt have you.' + +'There's no doubt about it, sir,' said Arthur, speaking in a low +but almost angry voice. They were not in a room by themselves, +but in a recess which separated them from the room. 'I don't +know that I want to talk about it, but to me it is one of those +things for which there is no remedy. When a man loses his leg, +he hobbles on, and sometimes has a good time of it at last;--but +there he is, without a leg.' + +'It wasn't my fault, Arthur.' + +'There has been no fault but my own. I went in for the running, +and got distanced. That's simply all about it, and there's no +more to be said.' + +'You ain't surprised that I should wish to see you.' + +'I'm ever so much obliged. I think it's very kind of you.' + +'I can't go in for a new life as you can. I can't take up +politics and Parliament. It's too late for me.' + +'I'm going to. There's a bill coming on this very night that I'm +interested about. You mustn't be angry if I rush off a little +before ten. We are going to lend money to the parishes on the +security of the rates for draining bits of common land. Then we +shall sell the land and endow the unions, so as to lessen the +poor rates, and increase the cereal products of the country. We +think we can bring 300,000 acres under the plough in three years, +which now produce almost nothing, and in five years would pay all +the expenses. Putting the value of the land at 25 pounds an +acre, which is low, we shall have created property to the value +of seven million and a half. That's something, you know.' + +'Oh, yes,' said Mr Wharton, who felt himself quite unable to +follow with any interest the aspirations of the young legislator. + +'Of course it's complicated,' continued Arthur, 'but when you +come to look into it it comes out clear enough. It is one of the +instances of the omnipotence of capital. Parliament can do such +a thing, not because it has any creative power of its own, but +because it has the command of unlimited capital.' Mr Wharton +looked at him, sighing inwardly as he reflected that unrequited +love should have brought a clear-headed young barrister into +mists so thick and labyrinths so mazy as these. 'A very good +beef-steak indeed,' said Arthur; 'I don't know when I ate a +better one. Thank you, no;--I'll stick to the claret.' Mr +Wharton had offered him Madeira. 'Claret and brown meat always +go well together. Pancake? I don't object to a pancake. A +pancake's a very good thing. Now would you believe it, sir; they +can't make a pancake at the House.' + +'And yet they sometimes fall very flat too,' said the lawyer, +making a real lawyer's joke. + +But Mr Wharton still had something to say, though he hardly knew +how to say it. 'You must come and see us at the Square after a +bit.' + +'Oh;--of course.' + +'I wouldn't ask you to dine here to-day, because I thought we +should be less melancholy here;--but you mustn't cut us +altogether. You haven't seen Everett since you've been in town?' + +'No, sir. I believe he lives a good deal,--a good deal with-- +Mr Lopez. There was a little row down at Silverbridge. Of +course it will wear off, but just at present his lines and my +lines don't converge.' + +'I'm very unhappy about him, Arthur.' + +'There's nothing the matter?' + +'My girl has married that man. I've nothing to say against him; +--but of course it wasn't to my taste, and I feel it as a +separation. And now Everett has quarrelled with me.' + +'Quarrelled with you!' + +Then the father told the story as well as he knew how. His son +had lost some money, and he had called him a gambler,--and +consequently his son would not come near him. 'It is bad to lose +them both, Arthur.' + +'That is so unlike Everett.' + +'It seems to me that everybody has changed,--except myself. Who +would have dreamed that she would have married that man? Not +that I have anything to say against him except that he was not of +our sort. He has been very good about Everett, and is very good +about him. But Everett will not come to me unless--I withdraw +the word;--say that I was wrong to call him a gambler. That is +a proposition no man should make to a father.' + +'It is very unlike Everett,' repeated the other. 'Has he written +to you to that effect?' + +'He has not written a word.' + +'Why don't you go to see him yourself, and have it out with him?' + +'Am I to go to that club after him?' said the father. + +'Write to him and bid him come to you. I'll give up my seat if +he don't come to you. Everett was always a quaint fellow, a +little idle, you know,--mooning about after ideas--' + +'He's no fool, you know,' said the father. + +'Not at all;--only vague. But he's the last man in the world to +have nasty vulgar ideas of his own importance as distinguished +from yours.' + +'Lopez says--' + +'I wouldn't quite trust Lopez.' + +'He isn't a bad fellow in his way, Arthur. Of course he is not +what I would have liked for a son-in-law. I needn't tell you +that. But he is kind and gentle-mannered, and has always been +attached to Everett. You know he saved Everett's life at the +risk of his own.' Arthur could not but smile as he perceived how +the old man was being won round by the son-in-law, whom he had +treated so violently before the man had become his son-in-law. +'By-the-way, what was all that about a letter you wrote to him?' + +'Emily,--I mean Mrs Lopez,--will tell you if you ask her.' + +'I don't want to ask her. I don't want to appear to set the wife +against the husband. I am sure, my boy, you would write nothing +that could affront her.' + +'I think not, Mr Wharton. If I know myself well at all, or my +own nature, it is not probable that I should affront your +daughter.' + +'No; no; no. I know that, my dear boy. I was always sure of +that. Take some more wine.' + +'No more, thank you. I must be off because I'm so anxious about +this bill.' + +'I couldn't ask Emily about this letter. Now that they are +married I have to make the best of it,--for her sake. I +couldn't bring myself to say anything to her which might seem to +accuse him.' + +'I thought it right, sir, to explain to her that were I not in +the hands of other people, I would not do anything to interfere +with her happiness by opposing her husband. My language was more +guarded.' + +'He destroyed the letter.' + +'I have a copy of it if it comes to that,' said Arthur. + +'It will be best, perhaps to say nothing further about it. Well; +--good night, my boy, if you must go.' Then Fletcher went off to +the House, wondering as he went at the change which had +apparently come over the character of his old friend. Mr Wharton +had always been a strong man, and now he seemed as weak as water. +As to Everett, Fletcher was sure that there was something wrong, +but he could not see his way to interfere himself. For the +present he was divided from the family. Nevertheless he told +himself again and again that the division should not be +permanent. Of all the world she must always be to him the +dearest. + + + + +CHAPTER 37 + +THE HORNS. + +The first months of the session went on very much as the last +session had gone. The ministry did nothing brilliant. As far as +the outer world could see, they seemed to be firm enough. There +was no opposing party in the House strong enough to get a vote +against them on any subject. Outsiders, who only studied +politics in the columns of their newspapers, imagined the +Coalition to be very strong. But they who were inside, members +themselves, and the club quidnuncs who were always rubbing their +shoulders against members, knew better. The opposition to the +Coalition was within the Coalition itself. Sir Orlando Drought +had not been allowed to build his four ships, and was +consequently eager in his fears that the country would be invaded +by the combined forces of Germany and France, that India would be +sold by those powers to Russia, that Canada would be annexed to +the States, that a great independent Roman Catholic hierarchy +would be established in Ireland, and that Malta and Gibraltar +would be taken away from us;--all of which evils would be +averted by the building of four big ships. A wet blanket of so +terrible a size was in itself pernicious to the Cabinet, and +heartrending to the poor Duke. But Sir Orlando could do worse +even than this. As he was not to build his four ships, neither +should Mr Monk be allowed to readjust the country suffrage. When +the skeleton of Mr Monk's scheme was discussed in the Cabinet, +Sir Orlando would not agree to it. The gentlemen, he said, who +had joined the present Government with him, would never consent +to a measure which would be so utterly destructive of the +county's interest. If Mr Monk insisted on his measure in its +proposed form, he must, with very great regret, place his +resignation in the Duke's hands, and he believed that his friends +would find themselves compelled to follow the same course. Then +our Duke consulted the old Duke. The old Duke's advice was the +same as ever. The Queen's Government was the main object. The +present ministry enjoyed the support of the country, and he +considered it the duty of the First Lord of the Treasury to +remain at his post. The country was in no hurry, and the +question of suffrages in the counties might still be delayed. +Then he added a little counsel which might be called quite +private, as it was certainly intended for no other ears than +those of his younger friend. 'Give Sir Orlando rope enough and +he'll hang himself. His own party are becoming tired of him. If +you quarrel with him this session, Drummond, and Ramsden, and +Beeswax, would go out with him, and the Government would be +broken up; but next session you may get rid of him safely.' + +'I wish it were broken up,' said the Prime Minister. + +'You have your duty to do by the country and the Queen, and you +mustn't regard your own wishes. Next session, let Monk be ready +with his bill again,--the same measure exactly. Let Sir Orlando +resign then if he will. Should he do so I doubt whether anyone +would go with him. Drummond does not like him much better than +do you and I do.' The poor Prime Minister was forced to obey. +The old Duke was his only trusted counsellor, and he found +himself constrained by his conscience to do as that counsellor +counselled him. When, however, Sir Orlando, in his place as +Leader of the House, in answer to some question from a hot and +disappointed Radical, averred that the whole of Her Majesty's +Government had been quite in unison on this question of the +country's suffrage, he was hardly able to restrain himself. 'If +there be a difference of opinion they must be kept in the +background,' said the Duke of St Bungay. 'Nothing can justify a +direct falsehood,' said the Duke of Omnium. Thus it came to pass +that the only real measure which the Government had in hand was +one by which Phineas Finn hoped so to increase the power of Irish +municipalities as to make the Home Rulers believe that a certain +amount of Home Rule was being conceded to them. It was not a +great measure, and poor Phineas Finn hardly believed in it. And +thus the Duke's ministry came to be called the Faineants. + +But the Duchess, though she had been much snubbed, still +persevered. Now and again she would declare herself to be broken- +hearted, and would say that things might go their own way, that +she would send in her resignation, that she would retire into +private life, and milk cows, that she would shake hands with no +more parliamentary cads and "cadesses",--a word which her Grace +condescended to coin for her own use, that she would spend the +next three years in travelling about the world; and lastly, that, +let there come whatever of it whatever might, Sir Orlando Drought +should never again be invited into any house of which she was the +mistress. This last threat, which was perhaps the most +indiscreet of them all, she absolutely made good--thereby adding +very greatly to her husband's difficulties. + +But by the middle of June the parties at the house in Carlton +Terrace were as frequent and as large as ever. Indeed it was all +party with her. The Duchess possessed a pretty little villa down +at Richmond, on the river, called The Horns, and gave parties +there when there were none in London. She had picnics, and +flower parties, and tea parties, and afternoons, and evenings, on +the lawn,--till half London was always on its way to Richmond or +back again. How she worked! And yet from day to day she swore +that the world was ungrateful. Everybody went. She was so far +successful that nobody thought of despising her parties. It was +quite the thing to go to the Duchess's, whether at Richmond or in +London. But people abused her and laughed at her. They said +that she intrigued to get political support for her husband,-- +and worse than that, they said that she failed. She did not fail +altogether. The world was not taken captive as she had intended. +Young members of Parliament did not become hotly enthusiastic in +support of her and her husband as she had hoped that they would +do. She had not become an institution of granite, as her dreams +had fondly told her might be possible,--for there had been +moments in which she had almost thought that she could rule +England by giving dinner and supper parties, by ices and +champagne. But in a dull, phlegmatic way, they who ate the ices +and drank the champagne were true to her. There was a feeling +abroad that 'Glencora' was a 'good sort of fellow' and ought to +be supported. And when the ridicule became too strong, or the +abuse too sharp, men would take up the cudgels for her, and fight +her battles;--a little too openly, perhaps, as they would do it +under her eyes, and in her hearing, and would tell her what they +had done, mistaking on such occasions her good humour for +sympathy. There was just enough success to prevent that +abandonment of her project which she so often threatened, but not +enough to make her triumphant. She was too clever not to see +that she was ridiculed. She knew that men called her Glencora +among themselves. She was herself quite alive to the fact that +she herself was wanting in dignity, and that with all the means +at her disposal, with all her courage and all her talents, she +did not quite play the part of the really great lady. But she +did not fail to tell herself that labour continued would at last +be successful, and she was strong to bear the buffets of the ill- +natured. She did not think that she brought first-class +materials to her work, but she believed,--a belief so erroneous +as, alas, it is common,--that first-rate results might be +achieved by second-rate means. + +'We had such a battle about your Grace last night,' Captain +Gunner said to her. + +'And were you my knight?' + +'Indeed I was. I never heard such nonsense.' + +'What were they saying?' + +'Oh, the old story;--that you were like Martha, busying yourself +about many things.' + +'Why shouldn't I busy myself about many things? It is a pity, +Captain Gunner, that some of you men have not something to busy +yourselves about.' All this was unpleasant. She could on such +an occasion make up her mind to drop any Captain Gunner who had +ventured to take too much upon himself: but she felt that in the +efforts she had made after popularity, she had submitted herself +to unpleasant familiarities;--and though persistent in her +course, she was still angry about herself. + +When she had begun her campaign as the Prime Minister's wife, one +of her difficulties had been with regard to money. An abnormal +expenditure became necessary, for which her husband's express +sanction must be obtained, and steps taken in which his personal +assistance would be necessary;--but this had been done, and +there was now no further impediment in that direction. It seemed +to be understood that she was to spend what money she pleased. +There had been various contests between them, but in every +contest she had gained something. He had been majestically +indignant with her in reference to the candidature at +Silverbridge,--but, as is usual with many of us, had been unable +to maintain his anger about two things at the same time. Or, +rather, in the majesty of his anger about her interference, he +had disdained to descend to the smaller faults of her +extravagance. He had seemed to concede everything else to her, +on condition that he should be allowed to be imperious in +reference to the borough. In that matter she had given way, +never having opened her mouth about it after that one unfortunate +word to Mr Sprugeon. But, having done so, she was entitled to +squander her thousands without remorse,--and she squandered +them. 'It is your five-and-twenty thousand pounds, my dear,' she +once said to Mrs Finn, who often took upon herself to question +the prudence of all this expenditure. This referred to a certain +sum of money which had been left by the old Duke to Madame +Goesler, as she was then called,--a legacy which that lady had +repudiated. The money had, in truth, been given away to a +relation of the Duke's by the joint consent of the lady and the +Duke himself, but the Duchess was pleased to refer to it +occasionally as a still existing property. + +'My five-and-twenty thousand pounds, as you call it, would not go +very far.' + +'What's the use of money if you don't spend it? The Duke would +go on collecting it and buying more property,--which always +means more trouble,--not because he is avaricious, but because +for the time that comes easier than spending. Supposing he had +married a woman without a shilling, he would still have been a +rich man. As it is, my property was more even than his own. If +we can do any good by spending the money, why shouldn't it be +spent?' + +'If you can do any good!' + +'It all comes round to that. It isn't because I like always to +live in a windmill! I have come to hate it. At this moment I +would give worlds to be down at Matching with no one but the +children, and to go about in a straw hat and muslin gown. I have +a fancy that I could sit under a tree and read a sermon, and +think it the sweetest recreation. But I've made the attempt to +do all this, and it so mean to fail!' + +'But where is to be the end of it?' + +'There shall be no end as long as he is Prime Minister. He is +the first man in England. Some people would say the first in +Europe--or in the world. A Prince should entertain like a +Prince.' + +'He need not be always entertaining.' + +'Hospitality should run from a man with his wealth, and his +position, like water from a fountain. As his hand is known to be +full, so it should be known to be open. When the delight of his +friends is in question, he should know nothing of cost. Pearls +should drop from him as from a fairy. But I don't think you +understand me.' + +'Not when the pearls are to be picked up by Captain Gunners, Lady +Glen.' + +'I can't make the men any better,--nor yet the women. They are +poor mean creatures. The world is made up of such. I don't know +that Captain Gunner is worse than Sir Orlando Drought or Sir +Timothy Beeswax. People seen by the mind are exactly different +to things seen by the eye. They grow smaller and smaller as you +come nearer down to them, whereas things become bigger. I +remember when I used to think that members of the Cabinet were +almost gods, and now they seem to be no bigger than shoe-blacks,- +only less picturesque. He told me the other day of the time when +he gave up going into power for the sake of taking me abroad. +Ah! me; how much was happening then,--and how much has happened +since that! We didn't know you then.' + +'He has been a good husband to you.' + +'And I have been a good wife to him! I have never had him for an +hour out of my heart since that, or ever for a moment forgotten +his interest. I can't live with him because he shuts himself up +reading blue-books, and is always at his office or in the House; +--but I would if I could. Am I not doing it all for him? You +don't think that the Captain Gunnners are particularly pleasant +to me! Think of your life and of mine. You have had lovers.' + +'One in my life,--when I was entitled to have one.' + +'Well; I am the Duchess of Omnium, and I am the wife of the Prime +Minister, and I had a larger property of my own than any other +young woman that ever was born; and I am myself too,--Glencora +M'Cluskie that was, and I've made for myself a character that I'm +not ashamed of. But I'd be the curate's wife tomorrow, and make +puddings, if I could only have my own husband and my own children +with me. What's the use of it all? I like you better than +anybody else, but you do nothing but scold me.' Still the +parties went on, and the Duchess laboured hard among her guests, +and wore her jewels, and stood on her feet all the night, night +after night, being civil to one person, bright to a second, +confidential to a third, and sarcastic to an unfortunate fourth; +--and in the morning she would work hard with her lists, seeing +who had come to her and who had stayed away, and arranging who +should be asked and who should be omitted. + +In the meantime the Duke altogether avoided those things. At +first he had been content to show himself, and escape as soon as +possible;--but now he was never seen at all in his own house, +except at certain heavy dinners. To Richmond he never went at +all, and in his own house in town very rarely ever passed through +the door that led into the reception rooms. He had not time for +ordinary society. So said the Duchess. And many, perhaps the +majority of those who frequented the house, really believed that +his official duties were too onerous to leave him time for +conversation. But in truth the hours wore heavily with him as he +sat alone in his study, sighing for some sweet parliamentary +task, and regretting the days in which he was privileged to sit +in the House of Commons till two o'clock in the morning, in the +hope that he might get a clause or two passed in his bill for +decimal coinage. + +It was at The Horns at an afternoon party, given there in the +gardens by the Duchess, early in July, that Arthur Fletcher first +saw Emily after her marriage, and Lopez after the occurrence at +Silverbridge. As it happened he came out upon the lawn after +them, and found them speaking to the Duchess as they passed on. +She had put herself out of her way to be civil to Mr and Mrs +Lopez, feeling that she had in some degree injured him in +reference to the election, and had therefore invited both him and +his wife on more than one occasion. Arthur Fletcher was there as +a young man well known in the world and a supporter of the Duke's +government. The Duchess had taken up Arthur Fletcher,--as she +was wont to take up new men, and had personally become tired of +Lopez. Of course she had heard of the election, and had been +told that Lopez had behaved badly. Of Mr Lopez she did not know +enough to care anything, one way or the other;--but she still +encouraged him because she had caused him disappointment. She +had now detained them a minute on the terrace before the windows +while she said a word, and Arthur Fletcher became one of the +little party before he knew whom he was meeting. 'I am +delighted,' she said, 'that you two Silverbridge heroes should +meet together here as friends.' It was almost incumbent on her +to say something, though it would have been better for her not to +have alluded to their heroism. Mrs Lopez put out her hand, and +Arthur Fletcher of course took it. Then the two men bowed +slightly to each other, raising their hats. Arthur paused a +moment with them, as they passed on from the Duchess, thinking +that he would say something in a friendly tone. But he was +silenced by the frown on the husband's face, and was almost +constrained to go away without a word. It was very difficult for +him even to be silent, as her greeting had been kind. But yet it +was impossible for him to ignore the displeasure displayed in the +man's countenance. So he touched his hat, and asking her to +remember him affectionately to her father, turned off the path +and went away. + +'Why did you shake hands with that man?' said Lopez. It was the +first time since their marriage that his voice had been that of +an angry man and an offended husband. + +'Why not, Ferdinand? He and I are very old friends, and we have +not quarrelled.' + +'You must take up your husband's friendships and your husband's +quarrels. Did I not tell you that he had insulted you?' + +'He never insulted me.' + +'Emily, you must allow me to be the judge of that. He insulted +you, and then he behaved like a poltroon down at Silverbridge, +and I will not have you know him anymore. When I say so I +suppose that will be enough.' He waited for a reply, but she +said nothing. 'I ask you to tell me that you will obey me in +this.' + +'Of course he will not come to my house, nor should I think of +going to his, if you disapproved.' + +'Going to his house! He's unmarried.' + +'Supposing he had a wife! Ferdinand, perhaps it will be better +that you and I should not talk about him.' + +'By G-,' said Lopez, 'there shall be no subject on which I will +afraid to talk to my own wife. I insist upon your assuring me +that you will never speak to him again.' + +He had taken her along one of the upper walks because it was +desolate, and he could there speak to her, as he thought, +without being heard. She had, almost unconsciously, made a faint +attempt to lead him down the lawn, no doubt feeling averse to +private conversations at the moment; but he had persevered, and +had resented the little effort. The idea in his mind that she +was unwilling to renounce the man, anxious to escape his order +for such renunciation, added fuel to his jealousy. It was not +enough for him that she had rejected this man and had accepted +him. The man had been her lover, and she should be made to +denounce the man. It might be necessary for him to control his +feelings before old Wharton;--but he knew enough of his wife to +be sure that would not speak evil of him or betray him to her +father. Her loyalty to him, which he could understand though not +appreciate, enabled him to be a tyrant to her. So now he +repeated his order to her, pausing in the path, with a voice +unintentionally loud, and frowning down upon her as he spoke. +'You must tell me, Emily, that you will never speak to him +again.' + +She was silent, looking up into his face, not with tremulous +eyes, but with infinite woe written in them, had he been able to +read the writing. She knew that he was disgracing himself, and +yet he was the man whom she loved! 'If you bid me not to speak +to him, I will not,--but he must know the reason why.' + +'He shall know nothing from you. You do not mean to say that you +would write to him.' + +'Papa must tell him.' + +'I will not have it so. In this matter, Emily, I will be the +master,--as it is fit that I should be. I will not have you +talk to your father about Mr Fletcher.' + +'Why not, Ferdinand?' + +'Because I have so decided. He is an old family friend. I can +understand that, and do not therefore wish to interfere between +him and your father. But he has taken upon himself to write an +insolent letter to you as my wife, and to interfere in my +affairs. As to what should be done between you and him, I must +be the judge and not your father.' + +'And I must not speak to papa about it?' + +'No!' + +'Ferdinand, you make too little, I think, of the associations and +affections of a whole life.' + +'I will hear nothing about affection,' he said angrily. + +'You cannot mean that,--that--you doubt me?' + +'Certainly not. I think too much of myself and too little of +him.' It did not occur to him to tell her that he thought too +well of her for that. 'But the man who has offended me must be +held to have offended you also.' + +'You might say the same if it were my father.' + +He paused at this, but only for a moment. 'Certainly I might. +It is not probable, but no doubt I might do so. If your father +were to quarrel with me, you would not, I suppose, hesitate +between us?' + +'Nothing on earth could divide me from you.' + +'Nor me from you. In this very matter I am only taking your +part, if you did but know it.' They had now passed on, and had +met other persons, having made their way through a little +shrubbery on to a further lawn; and she had hoped, as they were +surrounded by people, that he would allow the matter to drop. +She had been unable as yet to make up her mind as to what she +should say if he pressed her hard. But, if it could be passed +by,--if nothing more were demanded from her,--she would +endeavour to forget it all, saying to herself that it had come +from sudden passion. But he was too resolute for such a +termination as that, and too keenly alive to the expediency of +making her thoroughly subject to him. So he turned her round and +took her back through the shrubbery, and in the middle of it +stopped her again and renewed his demand. + +'Promise me that you will not speak again to Mr Fletcher.' + +'Then I must tell papa.' + +'No;--you shall tell him nothing.' + +'Ferdinand, if you exact a promise from me that I will not speak +to Mr Fletcher, or bow to him should circumstances bring us +together as they did just now, I must explain to my father why I +have done so.' + +'You will wilfully disobey me?' + +'In that I must.' He glared at her, almost as though he were +going to strike her, but she bore his look without flinching. 'I +have left all my old friends, Ferdinand, and have given my heart +and soul to you. No woman did so with a truer love or more +devoted intention of doing her duty to her husband. Your affairs +shall be my affairs.' + +'Well; yes; rather.' + +She was endeavouring to assure him of her truth, but could +understand the sneer which was conveyed in his acknowledgment. +'But you cannot, nor can I for your sake, abolish the things +which have been.' + +'I wish you to abolish nothing that has been. I speak of the +future.' + +'Between our family and that of Mr Fletcher there has been old +friendship which is still very dear to my father,--the memory of +which is still very dear to me. At your request I am willing to +put all that aside from me. There is no reason why I should ever +see any of the Fletchers again. Our lives will be apart. Should +we meet our greeting would be very slight. The separation can be +effected without words. But if you demand an absolute promise,-- +I must tell my father.' + +'We will go home at once,' he said instantly, and aloud. And +home they went, back to London, without exchanging a word on the +journey. He was absolutely black with rage, and she was content +to remain silent. The promise was not given, nor indeed, was it +exacted under the conditions which the wife had imposed upon it. +He was most desirous to make her subject to his will in all +things, and quite prepared to exercise tyranny over her to any +extent,--so that her father should know nothing of it. He could +not afford to quarrel with Mr Wharton. 'You had better go to +bed,' he said, when he got her back to town;--and she went, if +not to bed, at any rate into her own room. + + + +CHAPTER 38 + +SIR ORLANDO RETIRES. + +'He is a horrid man. He came here and quarrelled with the other +man in my house, or rather down at Richmond, and made a fool of +himself, and then quarrelled with his wife and took her away. +What fools, what asses, what horrors men are! How impossible it +is to be civil and gracious without getting into a mess. I am +tempted to say that I will never know anybody any more.' Such +was the complaint made by the Duchess to Mrs Finn a few days +after the Richmond party, and from this it was evident that the +latter affair had not passed without notice. + +'Did he make a noise about it?' asked Mrs Finn. + +'There was not a row, but there was enough of a quarrel to be +visible and audible. He walked about and talked loud to the poor +woman. Of course it was my own fault. But the man was clever +and I liked him, and people told me that he was of the right +sort.' + +'The Duke heard of it?' + +'No;--and I hope he won't. It would be such a triumph for him, +after all the fuss at Silverbridge. But he never heard of +anything. If two men fought a duel in his own dining-room he +would be the last man in London to know about it.' + +'Then say nothing about it, and don't ask the men anymore.' + +'You may be sure I won't ask the man with the wife any more. The +other man is in Parliament and can't be thrown over so easily-- +and it wasn't his fault. But I'm getting so sick of it all! I'm +told that Sir Orlando has complained to Plantagenet that he isn't +asked to the dinners.' + +'Impossible!' + +'Don't you mention it, but he has. Warburton has told me so.' +Warburton was one of the Duke's private secretaries. + +'What did the Duke say?' + +'I don't quite know. Warburton is one of my familiars, but I +didn't like to ask him for more than he chose to tell me. +Warburton suggested that I should invite Sir Orlando at once; but +there I was obdurate. Of course, if Plantagenet tells me I'll +ask the man to come every day of the week;--but it is one of +those things that I shall need to be told directly. My idea is, +you know, that they had better get rid of Sir Orlando,--and that +if Sir Orlando chooses to kick over the traces, he may be turned +loose without any danger. One has little birds that give one all +manner of information, and one little bird has told me that Sir +Orlando and Mr Roby don't speak. Mr Roby is not very much +himself, but he is a good straw to show which way the wind blows. +Plantagenet certainly sent no message about Sir Orlando, and I'm +afraid the gentleman must look for his dinners elsewhere.' + +The Duke had in truth expressed himself very plainly to Mr +Warburton; but with so much indiscreet fretfulness that the +discreet private secretary had not told it even to the Duchess. + +'This kind of thing argues a want of cordiality that may be fatal +to us,' Sir Orlando had said somewhat grandiloquently to the +Duke, and the Duke had made--almost no reply. 'I suppose I may +ask my own guests into my own house,' he had said afterwards to +Mr Warburton, 'though in public life I am everybody's slave.' Mr +Warburton, anxious of course to maintain the unity of the party, +had told the Duchess so much as would, he thought, induce her to +give way, but he had not repeated the Duke's own observations, +which were, Mr Warburton thought, hostile to the interests of the +party. The Duchess only smiled and made a little grimace, with +which the private secretary was already well acquainted. And Sir +Orlando received no invitation. + +In those days Sir Orlando was unhappy and irritable, doubtful of +further success as regarded the Coalition, but quite resolved to +put the house down about the ears of the inhabitants rather than +to leave it with gentle resignation. To him it seemed to be +impossible that the Coalition should exist without him. He too +had moments of high-vaulting ambition, in which he had almost +felt himself to be the great man required by the country, the one +ruler who could gather together in his grasp the reins of +government and drive the State coach single-handed safe through +its difficulties for the next half-dozen years. There are men +who cannot conceive of themselves that anything should be +difficult for them, and again others who cannot bring themselves +so to trust themselves as to think that they can ever achieve +anything great. Samples of each sort from time to time rise high +in political life, carried thither apparently by Epicurean +concourse of atoms; and it often happens that the more confident +samples are by no means the most capable. The concourse of atoms +had carried Sir Orlando so high that he could not but think +himself intended for something higher. But the Duke, who had +really been wafted to the very top, had always doubted himself, +believing himself capable of doing some one thing by dint of +industry, but with no further confidence in his own powers. Sir +Orlando had perceived something of his leader's weakness, and had +thought that he might profit by it. He was not only a +distinguished member of the Cabinet, but even the recognised +Leader of the House of Commons. He looked out the facts and +found that for five-and-twenty years out of the last thirty the +Leader of the House of Commons had been the Head of Government. +He felt that he would be mean not to stretch out his hand and +take the prize destined for him. The Duke was a poor timid man +who had very little to say for himself. Then came the little +episode about the dinners. It had become very evident to the +world that the Duchess of Omnium had cut Sir Orlando Drought,-- +that the Prime Minister's wife, who was great in hospitality, +would not admit the First Lord of the Admiralty into her house. +The doings of Gatherum Castle, and in Carlton Terrace, and at The +Horns were watched much too closely by the world at large to +allow such omissions to be otherwise than conspicuous. Since the +commencement of the session there had been a series of articles +in the "People's Banner" violently abusive of the Prime Minister, +and in one or two of these the indecency of these exclusions had +been exposed with great strength of language. And the Editor of +the "People's Banner" had discovered that Sir Orlando Drought was +the one man in Parliament fit to rule the nation. Till +Parliament should discover this fact, or at least acknowledge it, +--the discovery having been happily made by the "People's +Banner",--the Editor of the "People's Banner" thought there +could be no hope for the country. Sir Orlando of course saw all +these articles, and his very heart believed that a man at length +sprung up among them fit to conduct a newspaper. The Duke also +unfortunately saw the "People's Banner". In his old happy days +two papers a day, one in the morning and the other before dinner, +sufficed to tell him all that he wanted to know. Now he felt it +necessary to see almost every rag that was published. And he +would skim through them all till he found lines in which he +himself was maligned, and then, with sore heart and irritated +nerves, would pause over every contumelious word. He would have +bitten his tongue out rather that have spoken of the tortures he +endured, but he was tortured and did endure. He knew the cause +of the bitter personal attacks upon him,--of the abuse with +which he was loaded, and of the ridicule, infinitely more painful +to him, with which his wife's social splendour was bespattered. +He remembered well the attempt with which Mr Quintus Slide had +made to obtain an entrance into his house, and his own scornful +rejection of that gentleman's overtures. He knew,--no man knew +better,--the real value of that able Editor's opinion. And yet +every word of it was gall and wormwood to him. In every +paragraph there was a scourge which hit him on the raw and opened +the wounds which he could show to no kind surgeon, for which he +could find solace in no friendly treatment. Not even to his wife +could he condescend to say that Mr Quintus Slide had hurt him. + +Then Sir Orlando had come himself. Sir Orlando explained himself +gracefully. He of course could understand that no gentleman had a +right to complain because he was not asked to another gentleman's +house. But the affairs of the country were above private +considerations; and he, actuated by public feelings, would +condescend to do that which under other circumstances would be +impossible. The public press, which was every vigilant, had +suggested that there was some official estrangement, because Sir +Orlando had not been included in the list of guests invited by +His Grace. Did not his Grace think that there might be seeds of, +--he would not quite say decay for the Coalition, in such a state +of things? The Duke paused for a moment, and then said that he +thought there were no such seeds. Sir Orlando bowed haughtily +and withdrew,--swearing at that moment that the Coalition should +be made to fall into a thousand shivers. This had all taken +place a fortnight before the party at The Horns from which poor +Mrs Lopez had been withdrawn so hastily. + +But Sir Orlando, when he commenced the proceeding consequent on +this resolution, did not find all that support which he had +expected. Unfortunately there had been an uncomfortable word or +two between him and Mr Roby, the political Secretary at the +Admiralty. Mr Roby had never quite seconded Sir Orlando's ardour +in the matter of the four ships, and Sir Orlando in his pride of +place had ventured to snub Mr Roby. Now Mr Roby could perhaps +bear a snubbing perhaps as well as any other official +subordinate,--but he was one who would study the question and +assure himself that it was, or that it was not, worth his while +to bear it. He, too, had discussed with his friends the +condition of the Coalition, and had come to some conclusions +rather adverse to Sir Orlando than otherwise. When, therefore, +the First Secretary sounded him as to the expediency of some step +in the direction of a firmer political combination than at +present existing,--by which of course was meant the dethronement +of the present Prime Minister,--Mr Roby had snubbed him! Then +there had been slight official criminations and recriminations, +till a state of things had come to pass which almost justified +the statement by the Duchess to Mrs Finn. + +The Coalition had many component parts, some coalescing without +difficulty, but with no special cordiality. Such was the +condition of things between the very conservative Lord Lieutenant +of Ireland and his somewhat radical Chief Secretary, Mr Finn,-- +between probably the larger number of those who were contented +with the duties of their own offices and the pleasures and +profits arising therefrom. Some by this time hardly coalesced at +all, as was the case with Sir Gregory Grogram and Sir Timothy +Beeswax, the Attorney-General and Solicitor-General;--and was +especially the case with the Prime Minister and Sir Orlando +Drought. But in one or two happy cases the Coalition was sincere +and loyal,--and in no case was this more so than with regard to +Mr Rattler and Mr Roby. Mr Rattler and Mr Roby had throughout +their long parliamentary lives belonged to opposite parties, and +had been accustomed to regard each other with mutual jealousy and +almost with mutual hatred. But now they had come to see how +equal, how alike, and how sympathetic were their tastes, and how +well each might help the other. As long as Mr Rattler could keep +his place at the Treasury,--and his ambition never stirred him +to aught higher,--he was quite contented that his old rival +should be happy at the Admiralty. And that old rival, when he +looked about him and felt his present comfort, when he remembered +how short-lived had been the good things which had hitherto come +in his way, and how little probable it was that long-lived good +things should be his when the Coalition was broken up, manfully +determined that loyalty to the present Head of Government was his +duty. He had sat for too many years on the same bench with Sir +Orlando to believe much in his power of governing the country. +Therefore, when Sir Orlando dropped his hint Mr Roby did not take +it. + +'I wonder whether it's true that Sir Orlando complained to the +Duke that he was not asked to dinner?' said Mr Roby to Mr +Rattler. + +'I should hardly think so. I can't fancy that he would have the +pluck,' said Mr Rattler. 'The Duke isn't the easiest man in the +world to speak about such a thing as that.' + +'It would be a monstrous thing for a man to do! But Drought's +head is quite turned. You can see that.' + +'We never thought much about him, you know, on our side.' + +'It was what your side thought about him,' rejoined Roby, 'that +put him where he is now.' + +'It was the fate of accidents, Roby, which puts many of us in our +places, and arranges our work for us, and makes us little men or +big men. There are other men besides Drought who have been +tossed up in a blanket till they don't know whether their heads +or their heels are highest.' + +'I quite believe the Duke,' said Mr Roby, almost alarmed by the +suggestion which his new friend had seemed to make. + +'So do I, Roby. He has not the obduracy of Lord Brock, nor the +ineffable manner of Mr Mildmay, nor the brilliant intellect of Mr +Gresham.' + +'Nor the picturesque imagination of Mr Daubney,' said Mr Roby, +feeling himself bound to support the character of his late chief. + +'Nor the audacity,' said Mr Rattler. 'But he has the peculiar +gift of his own, and gifts fitted for the peculiar combination of +circumstances, if he will only be content to use them. He is a +just, unambitious, intelligent man, in whom after a while the +country would come to have implicit confidence. But he is thin- +skinned and ungenial.' + +'I have got into his boat,' said Roby, enthusiastically, 'and he +will find that I shall be true to him.' + +'There is not better boat to be in at present,' said the slightly +sarcastic Rattler. 'As to the Drought pinnace, it will be more +difficult to get it afloat than the four ships themselves. To +tell the truth honestly, Roby, we have to rid ourselves of Sir +Orlando. I have a great regard for the man.' + +'I can't say I ever liked him.' + +'I don't talk about liking,--but he has achieved success, and is +to be regarded. Now he has lost his head, and he is bound to get +a fall. The question is,--who shall fall with him?' + +'I do not feel myself at all bound to sacrifice myself.' + +'I don't know who does. Sir Timothy Beeswax, I suppose, will +resent the injury done him. But I can hardly think that a strong +government can be formed by Sir Orlando Drought and Sir Timothy +Beeswax. Any secession is a weakness,--of course; but I think +we may survive it.' And so Mr Rattler and Mr Roby made up their +minds that the first Lord of the Admiralty might be thrown +overboard without much danger to the Queen's ship. + +Sir Orlando, however, was quite in earnest. The man had spirit +enough to feel that no alternative was left to him after he had +condescended to suggest that he should be asked to dinner and had +been refused. He tried Mr Roby, and found that Mr Roby was a +mean fellow, wedded, as he told himself, to his salary. Then he +sounded Lord Drummond, urging various reasons. The country was +not safe without more ships. Mr Monk was altogether wrong about +revenue. Mr Finn's ideas about Ireland were revolutionary. But +Lord Drummond thought that, upon the whole, the present Ministry +served the country well, and considered himself bound to adhere +to it. 'He cannot beat the idea of being out of power,' said Sir +Orlando to himself. He next said a word to Sir Timothy; but Sir +Timothy was not the man to be led by the nose by Sir Orlando. +Sir Timothy had his grievance and meant to have his revenge, but +he knew how to choose his own time. 'The Duke's not a bad +fellow,' said Sir Timothy,--'perhaps a little weak, but well- +meaning. I think we ought to stand by him a little longer. As +for Finn's Irish bill, I haven't troubled myself about it.' Then +Sir Orlando declared himself that Sir Timothy was a coward, and +resolved that he would act alone. + +About the middle of July he went to the Duke at the Treasury, was +closeted with him, and in a very long narration of his own +differences, difficulties, opinions, and grievances, explained to +the Duke that his conscience called upon him to resign. The Duke +listened and bowed his head, and with one or two very gently- +uttered word expressed his regret. Then Sir Orlando, in another +long speech, laid bare his bosom to the Chief whom he was +leaving, declaring the inexpressible sorrow with which he had +found himself called upon to take a step which he feared might be +prejudicial to the political status of a man whom he honoured so +much as he did the Duke of Omnium. Then the Duke bowed again, +but said nothing. The man had been guilty of the impropriety of +questioning the way in which the Duke's private hospitality was +exercised, and the Duke could not bring himself to be genially +civil to such an offender. Sir Orlando went on to say that he +would of course explain his views in the Cabinet, but that he had +thought it right to make them known to the Duke as soon as they +were formed. 'The best friends must part, Duke,' he said as he +took his leave. 'I hope not, Sir Orlando. I hope not,' said the +Duke. But Sir Orlando had been too full of himself and of the +words he had to speak, and of the thing he was about to do, to +understand either the Duke's words or his silence. + +And so Sir Orlando resigned, and thus supplied the only morsel of +political interest which the Session produced. 'Take no more +notice of him than if your footman was going,' had been the +advice of the old Duke. Of course there was a Cabinet meeting on +the occasion, but even there the commotion was very slight, as +every member knew before entering the room what it was that Sir +Orlando intended to do. Lord Drummond said that the step was one +to be much lamented. 'Very much indeed,' said the Duke of St +Bungay. His word themselves were false and hypocritical, but the +tone of his voice took away all the deceit. 'I am afraid,' said +the Prime Minister, 'from what Sir Orlando has said to me +privately, that we cannot hope that he will change his mind.' +'That I certainly cannot do,' said Sir Orlando, with all the +dignified courage of a modern martyr. + +On the next morning the papers were full of the political fact, +and were blessed with a subject on which they could exercise +their prophetical sagacity. The remarks made were generally +favourable to the Government. Three or four of the morning +papers were of opinion that though Sir Orlando had been a strong +man, and a good public servant, the Ministry might exist without +him. But the "People's Banner" was able to expound to the people +at large, that the only grain of salt by which the Ministry had +been kept from putrefaction had been cast out, and that +mortification, death and corruption, must ensue. It was one of +Mr Quintus Slide's greatest efforts. + + + +CHAPTER 39 + +'GET ROUND HIM.' + +Ferdinand Lopez maintained his anger against his wife for more +than a week, after the scene at Richmond, feeding it with +reflections on what he called her disobedience. Nor was it a +make-believe anger. She had declared her intention to act in +opposition to his expressed orders. He felt that his present +condition was prejudicial to his interests, and that he must take +his wife back into favour, in order the he might make progress +with her father, but could hardly bring himself to swallow his +wrath. He thought it was her duty to obey him in everything,-- +and that disobedience on a matter touching her old lover was an +abominable offence, to be visited with severest marital +displeasure, and with a succession of scowls that should make her +miserable for a month at least. Nor on her behalf would he have +hesitated, though the misery might have continued three months. +But then the old man was the main hope in his life, and must be +made its mainstay. Brilliant prospects were before him. He used +to think that Mr Wharton was a hale man, with some terribly +vexatious term of his life before him. But now, now that he was +seen more closely, he appeared to be very old. He would sit half +bent in the arm-chair in Stone Buildings, and look as though he +were near a hundred. And from day to day he seemed to lean more +upon his son-in-law, whose visits to him were continued, and +always well taken. The constant subject of discourse between +them was Everett Wharton, who had not yet seen his father since +the misfortune of their quarrel. Everett had declared to Lopez a +dozen times that he would go to his father if his father wished +it, and Lopez as often reported the father that Everett would not +go to him unless he expressed such a wish. And so they had been +kept apart. Lopez did not suppose that the old man would +disinherit his son altogether,--did not, perhaps, wish it. But +he thought that the condition of the old man's mind would affect +the partition of his property, and that the old man would surely +make some new will in the present state of his affairs. The old +man always asked after his daughter, begging that she would come +to see him, and at last it was necessary that an evening should +be fixed. 'We shall be delighted to come to-day or to-morrow,' +Lopez said. + +'We had better say to-morrow. There would be nothing to eat to- +day. The house isn't now what it used to be.' It was therefore +expedient that Lopez should drop his anger when he got home, and +prepare his wife to dine in Manchester Square in a proper frame +of mind. + +Her misery had been extreme;--very much more bitter than he had +imagined. It was not only that his displeasure made her life for +the time wearisome, and robbed the only society she had of all +its charms. It was not only that her heart was wounded by his +anger. Those evils might have been short-lived. But she had +seen,--she could not fail to see,--that his conduct was +unworthy of her and of her deep love. Though she struggled hard +against the feeling, she could not but despise the meanness of +his jealousy. She knew thoroughly well that there had been no +grain of offence in that letter from Arthur Fletcher,--and she +knew that no man, to true man, would have taken offence at it. +She tried to quench her judgement, and to silence the verdict +which her intellect gave against him, but her intellect was too +strong even for her heart. She was beginning to learn that the +god of idolatry was but a little human creature, and that she +should not have worshipped at so poor a shrine. But nevertheless +the love should be continued, and, if possible, the worship, +though the idol had been already found to have feet of clay. He +was her husband, and she would be true to him. As morning after +morning he left her still with that harsh, unmanly frown upon his +face, she would look up at him with entreating eyes, and when he +returned would receive him with her fondest smile. At length he, +too, smiled. He came to after that interview with Mr Wharton and +told her, speaking with the soft yet incisive voice which she +used to love so well, that they were to dine in the Square on the +following day. 'Let there be an end of all of this,' he said, +taking her in his arms and kissing her. Of course she did not +tell him that 'all this' had sprung from his ill-humour and not +from hers. 'I own I have been angry,' he continued. 'I will say +nothing more about it now; but that man did vex me.' + +'I have been so sorry that you should have been vexed.' + +'Well;--let it pass away. I don't think your father is looking +very well.' + +'He is not ill?' + +'Oh no. He feels the loss of your society. He is so much alone. +You must be more with him.' + +'Has he not seen Everett yet?' + +'No. Everett is not behaving altogether well.' Emily was made +unhappy by this, and showed it. 'He is the best fellow in the +world. I may safely say there is no other man whom I regard so +warmly as I do your brother. But he takes wrong ideas into his +head, and nothing will knock them out. I wonder what your father +has done about his will.' + +'I have not an idea. Nothing you may be sure will make him +unjust to Everett.' + +'Ah!--You don't happen to know whether he ever made a will?' + +'Not at all. He would be sure to say nothing to me about it,-- +or to anybody.' + +'That is the kind of secrecy which I think is wrong. It leads to +so much uncertainty. You wouldn't like to ask him?' + +'No;--certainly.' + +'It is astonishing to me how afraid you are of your father. He +hasn't any land, has he?' + +'Land!' + +'Real estate. You know what I mean. He couldn't well have +landed property without your knowing it.' She shook her head. +'It might make an immense difference to us, you know.' + +'Why so?' + +'If he were to die without a will, any land,--houses and that +kind of property,--would go to Everett. I never knew a man who +told his children so little. I want you to understand these +things. You and I will be badly off if he doesn't do something +for us.' + +'You don't think he is really ill?' + +'No;--not ill. Men above seventy are apt to die, you know.' + +'Oh, Ferdinand,--what a way to talk of it!' + +'Well, my love, the thing is so seriously matter-of-fact, that it +is better to look at it in a matter-of-fact way. I don't want +your father to die.' + +'I hope not. I hope not.' + +'But I should be very glad to learn what he means to do while he +lives. I want to get you into sympathy with me on this matter;-- +but it is so difficult.' + +'Indeed I sympathise with you.' + +'The truth is that he has taken an aversion to Everett.' + +'God forbid!' + +'I am doing all I can to prevent it. But if he does throw +Everett over we ought to have advantage of it. There is no harm +in saying as much as that. Think what it should be if he should +take it into his head to leave his money to hospitals. My G-; +fancy what my condition would be if I were to hear of such a will +as that! If he destroyed the old will. Partly because he didn't +like our marriage, and partly in anger against Everett, and then +die without making another, the property would be divided,-- +unless he bought land. You see how many dangers there are. Oh +dear! I can look forward and see myself mad,--or else myself so +proudly triumphant!' All this horrified her, but he did not see +her horror. He knew that she disliked it, but thought that +disliked the trouble, and that she dreaded her father. 'Now I do +think that you could help me a little,' he continued. + +'What can I do?' + +'Get round him when he's a little down in the mouth. That is the +way in which old men are conquered.' How utterly ignorant he was +of the very nature of her mind and disposition! To be told by +her husband that she was to 'get round' her father! 'You should +see him every day. He would be delighted if you would go to him +at his chambers. Or you could take care to be in the Square when +he comes home. I don't know whether we had not better leave this +and go an live near him. Would you mind that?' + +'I would do anything you suggest as to living anywhere.' + +'But you won't do anything I suggest as to your father.' + +'As to my being with him, if I thought he wished it,--though I +had to walk my feet off, I would go to him.' + +'There's no need of hurting your feet. There's the brougham.' + +'I do so wish, Ferdinand, you would discontinue the brougham. I +don't at all want it. I don't at all dislike cabs. And I was +only joking about walking. I walk very well.' + +'Certainly not. You fail altogether to understand my ideas about +things. If things were going bad with us, I would infinitely +prefer getting a pair of horses for you to putting down the one +you have.' She certainly did not understand his ideas. +'Whatever we do we must hold our heads up. I think he is coming +round to cotton to me. He is very close, but I can see that he +likes my going to him. Of course, as he gets older from day to +day, he'll constantly want someone to lean on more than +heretofore.' + +'I would go and stay with him if he wanted me.' + +'I have thought of that too. Now that would be a saving,-- +without any fall. And if we were both there we could hardly fail +to know what he was doing. You could offer that, couldn't you? +You could say as much as that?' + +'I could ask him if he wished it.' + +'Just so. Say that it occurs to you that he is lonely by +himself, and that we will both go to the Square at a moment's +notice if he thinks it will make him comfortable. I feel sure +that that will be the best step to take. I have already had an +offer for these rooms, and could get rid of the things we have +bought to advantage.' + +This, too, was terrible to her, and at the same time altogether +unintelligible. She had been invited to buy little treasures to +make their home more comfortable, and had already learned to take +that delight in her belongings which is one of the greatest +pleasures of a young married woman's life. A girl in her old +home, before she is given up to a husband, has many sources of +interest, and probably from day to day sees many people. And the +man just married goes to his work, and occupies his time, and has +his thickly-peopled world around him. But the bride, when the +bridal honours of the honeymoon are over, when the sweet care of +the first cradle has not yet come to her, is apt to be lonely and +to be driven to the contemplation of the pretty things with which +her husband and her friends have surrounded her. It had +certainly been so with this young bride, whose husband left her +in the morning and only returned for their late dinner. And now +she was told that her household gods had had a price put on them, +and that they were to be sold. She had intended to suggest that +she would pay her father a visit, and her husband immediately +proposed that they should quarter themselves permanently on the +old man! She was ready to give up her brougham, though she liked +the comfort of it well enough, but to that he would not consent +because the possession of it gave him an air of wealth; but +without a moment's hesitation he could catch up the idea of +throwing upon her father the burden of maintaining both her and +himself! She understood the meaning of this. She could read his +mind so far. She endeavoured not to read the book too closely,-- +but there it was, opened to her wider day by day, and she knew +that the lessons which it taught were vulgar and damnable. + +And yet she had to hide from him her own perception of himself! +She had to sympathise with his desires and yet abstain from doing +that which his desires demanded from her. Alas, poor girl! She +soon knew that the marriage had been a mistake. There was +probably no one moment in which she made the confession to +herself. But the conviction was there, in her mind, as though +the confession had been made. Then there would come upon her +unbidden, unwelcome reminiscences of Arthur Fletcher,--thoughts +that she would struggle to banish, accusing herself of some +heinous crime because the thoughts would come back to her. She +remembered his light wavy hair, which she had loved as one who +loves the beauty of a dog, which had seemed to her young +imagination, to her in the ignorance of her early years to lack +something of a dreamed-of manliness. She remembered his eager, +boyish, honest entreaties to herself, which to her had been +without that dignity of a superior being which a husband should +possess. She became aware that she had thought the less of him +because he had thought more of her. She had worshipped this +other man because he had assumed superiority and had told her +that he was big enough to be her master. But now,--now that it +was all too late,--the veil had fallen from her eyes. She could +not see the difference between manliness and 'deportment'. Ah,-- +that she should ever have been so blind, she who had given +herself credit for seeing so much clearer than they who were +their elders! And now, though at last she did see clearly, she +could not have the consolation of telling anyone what she had +seen. She must bear it all in silence, and live with it, and +still love this god of clay that she had chosen. And, above all, +she must never allow herself even to think of that other man with +the wavy light hair,--that man who was rising in the world, of +whom all people said good things, and who was showing himself to +be a man by the work he did, and whose true tenderness she could +never doubt. + +Her father was left to her. She could still love her father. It +might be that it would be best for him that she should go back to +her old home, and take care of his old age. If he should wish +it, she would make no difficulty in parting with the things +around her. Of what concern were the prettinesses of life to one +whose inner soul was hampered with such ugliness! It might be +better that they should live in Manchester Square,--if her +father wished it. It was clear to her now that her husband was +in urgent need of money, though of his affairs, even of his way +of making money, she knew nothing. As that was the case, of +course she would consent to any practicable retrenchment which he +would propose. And then she thought of other coming joys and +coming troubles,--of how in future years she might have to teach +a girl falsely to believe that her father was a good man, and to +train a boy to honest purposes whatever parental lessons might +come from the other side. + +But the mistake she had made was acknowledged. The man who could +enjoin her to 'get round' her father could never have been worthy +of the love she had given him. + + + +CHAPTER 40 + +'COME AND TRY IT.' + +The husband was almost jovial when he came home just in time to +take his young wife to dine with their father. 'I've had such a +day in the city,' he said, laughing. 'I wish I could introduce +you to my friend, Mr Sextus Parker.' + +'Cannot you do so?' + +'Well, no; not exactly. Of course you'd like him, because he is +such a wonderful character, but he'd hardly do for your drawing- +room. He's the vulgarest little creature you ever put your eyes +on; and yet in a certain way he is my partner.' + +'Then I suppose you trust him?' + +'Indeed I don't;--but I make him useful. Poor little Sexty! I +do trust him to a degree, because he believes in me and thinks he +can do best by sticking to me. The old saying of "honour among +thieves" isn't without a dash of truth in it. When two men are +in a boat together, they must be true to each other, else neither +will get to the shore.' + +'You don't attribute high motives to your friend.' + +'I'm afraid there are not very many high motives in the world, my +girl, especially in the city;--nor yet at Westminster. It can +hardly be from high motives when a lot of men, thinking +differently on every possible subject, come together for the sake +of pay and power. I don't know whether, after all, Sextus Parker +mayn't have as high motives as the Duke of Omnium. I don't +suppose anyone ever had lower motives than the Duchess when she +chiselled me about Silverbridge. Never mind,--it'll all be one +a hundred years hence. Get ready, for I want you to be with your +father a little before dinner.' + +Then, when they were in the brougham together, he began a course +of very plain instructions. 'Look here, dear, you had better get +him to talk to you before dinner. I dare say Mrs Roby will be +there, and I will get her on one side. At any rate you can +manage it, because we shall be early, and I'll take up a book +while you are talking to him.' + +'What do you wish me to say to him, Ferdinand?' + +'I have been thinking of your own proposal, and I am quite sure +that we had better join him in the Square. The thing is, I am in +a little mess about the rooms, and can't stay on without paying +very dearly for them.' + +'I thought you had paid for them.' + +'Well;--yes; in one sense I had, but you don't understand about +business. You had better not interrupt me now, as I have got a +good deal to say before we get to the Square. It will suit me to +give up the rooms. I don't like them, and they are very dear. +As you yourself said, it will be a capital thing for us to go and +live with your father.' + +'I meant only for a visit.' + +'It will be for a visit;--and we'll make it a long visit.' It +was odd that the man should have been so devoid of right feeling +himself as not to have known that the ideas which he expressed +were revolting! 'You can sound him. Begin by saying that you +are afraid he is desolate. He told me himself that he was +desolate, and you can refer to that. Then tell him that we are +both of us prepared to do anything that we can to relieve him. +Put your arm over him, and kiss him, and all that sort of thing.' +She shrunk from him into the corner of the brougham, and yet he +did not perceive it. 'Then say that you think he would be +happier if we were to join him here for a time. You can make him +understand that there would be no difficulty about the +apartments. But don't say it all in a set speech, as though it +were prepared,--though of course you can let him know that you +have suggested it to me, and that I am willing. Be sure to let +him understand that the idea began with you.' + +'But it did not.' + +'You proposed to go and stay with him. Tell him just that. And +you should explain to him that he can dine at the club just as +much as he likes. When you were alone with him here, of course, +he had to come home, but he needn't do that now unless he +chooses. Of course the brougham would be my affair. And if he +should say anything about sharing the house expenses, you can +tell him that I would do anything he might propose.' Her father +to share the household expenses in his own house, and with his +own children! 'You say as much as you can of all this before +dinner, so that when we are sitting below he may suggest it if he +pleases. It would suit me to get in there next week if +possible.' + +And so one lesson had been given. She had said little or nothing +in reply, and he had only finished as they entered the Square. +She had hardly a minute allowed her to think how far she might +follow, and in what she must ignore, her husband's instructions. +If she might use her own judgement, she would tell her father at +once that a residence for a time beneath his roof would be of +service to them pecuniarily. But this she might not do. She +understood that her duty to her husband did forbid her to +proclaim his poverty in opposition to his wishes. She would tell +nothing that he did not wish her to tell,--but make the +suggestion about their change of residence, and would make it +with proper affection;--but as regarded themselves she would +simply say that it would suit their views to give up their rooms +if it suited them. + +Mr Wharton was all alone when they entered the drawing-room,-- +but as Mr Lopez had surmised, had asked his sister-in-law round +the corner to come to dinner. 'Roby always likes an excuse to +get to his club,' said the old man, 'and Harriet likes an excuse +to go anywhere.' It was not long before Lopez began to play his +part by seating himself close to the open window and looking out +into the Square; and Emily when she found herself close to her +father, with her hand in his, could hardly divest herself of a +feeling that she also was playing her part. 'I see so very +little of you,' said the old man plaintively. + +'I'd come oftener if I thought you'd like it.' + +'It isn't liking, my dear. Of course you have to live with your +husband. Isn't it sad about Everett?' + +'Very sad. But Everett hasn't lived here for ever so long.' + +'I don't know why he shouldn't. He was a fool to go away when he +did. Does he go to you?' + +'Yes;--sometimes.' + +'And what does he say?' + +'I'm sure he would be with you at once if you would ask him.' + +'I have asked him. I've sent word by Lopez over and over again. +If he means that I am to write to him and say that I'm sorry for +offending him, I won't. Don't talk of him any more. It makes me +so angry that I sometimes feel inclined to do things which I know +I should repent when dying.' + +'Not anything to injure Everett, papa?' + +'I wonder whether he ever thinks that I am an old man and all +alone, and that his brother-in-law is daily with me. But he's a +fool, and thinks of nothing. I know it is very sad being here +night after night by myself.' Mr Wharton forgot, no doubt, at +the moment, that he passed the majority of his evenings at the +Eldon,--though had he been reminded of it, he might have +declared with perfect truth that the delights of his club were +not satisfactory. + +'Papa,' said Emily, 'would you like us to come and live here?' + +'What,--you and Lopez;--here in the Square?' + +'Yes,--for a time. He is thinking of giving up the place in +Belgrave Mansions.' + +'I thought he had them for,--for ever so many months.' + +'He does not like them, and they are expensive, and he can give +them up. If you would wish it, we would come here,--for a time.' +He turned round and looked at her almost suspiciously; and she,-- +she blushed as she remembered how accurately she was obeying her +husband's orders. 'It would be such a joy to me to be near you +again.' + +There was something in her voice which instantly reassured him. +'Well--;' he said, 'come and try it if it will suit him. The +house is big enough. It will ease his pocket and be a comfort to +me. Come and try it.' + +It astonished her that the thing should be done so easily. Here +was all that her husband had proposed to arrange by deep +diplomacy settled in three words. And yet she felt ashamed of +herself,--as though she had taken her father in. That terrible +behest to 'get round him' still grated on her ears. Had she got +round him? Had she cheated him into this? + +'Papa,' she said, 'do not do this unless you feel sure that you +will like it.' + +'How is anybody to feel sure of anything, my dear?' + +'But if you doubt, do not do it.' + +'I feel sure of one thing, that is that it will be a great saving +to your husband, and I am nearly sure that ought not to be a +matter of indifference to him. There is plenty of room here, and +it will at any rate be a comfort to me to see you sometimes.' +Just at this moment Mrs Roby came in, and the old man began to +tell his news aloud. 'Emily has not gone away for long. She's +coming back like a bad shilling.' + +'Not to live in the Square?' said Mrs Roby, looking round at +Lopez. + +'Why not? There's room here for them, and it will be just as +well to save expense. When will you come, my dear?' + +'Whenever the house may be ready, papa.' + +'It's ready now. You ought to know that I am not going to +refurnish the rooms for you, or anything of that kind. Lopez can +come in an hang up his hat whenever it pleases him.' + +During this time Lopez had hardly known how to speak or what to +say. He had been very anxious that his wife should pave the way +as he would have called it. He had been urgent with her to break +the ice to her father. But it had not occurred to him that the +matter would be settled without any reference to himself. Of +course he had heard every word that had been spoken, and was +aware that his own poverty had been suggested as the cause for +such a proceeding. It was a great thing for him in every way. +He would live for nothing, and would also have almost unlimited +power of being with Mr Wharton as old age grew on him. This +ready compliance with his wishes was a benefit far too precious +to be lost. But yet he felt that his own dignity required some +reference to himself. It was distasteful to him that his father- +in-law should regard him,--or, at any rate, that he should speak +of him,--as a pauper, unable to provide a home for his own wife. +'Emily's notion in suggesting it, sir,' he said, 'has been her +care for her comfort.' The barrister turned round and looked at +him, and Lopez did not quite like the look. 'It was she thought +of it first, and she certainly had no other idea than that. When +she mentioned it to me, I was delighted to agree.' + +Emily heard it all and blushed. It was not absolutely untrue in +words,--this assertion of her husband's,--but altogether false +in spirit. And yet she could not contradict him. 'I don't see +why it should not do very well indeed,' said Mrs Roby. + +'I hope it may,' said the barrister. 'Come, Emily, I must take +you down to dinner to-day. You are not at home yet, you know. +As you are to come, the sooner the better.' + +During dinner not a word was said on the subject. Lopez exerted +himself to be pleasant, and told all that he had heard as to the +difficulties of the Cabinet. Sir Orlando had resigned, and the +general opinion was that the Coalition was going to pieces. Had +Mr Wharton seen the last article in the "People's Banner" about +the Duke? Lopez was strongly of the opinion that Mr Wharton ought +to see that article. 'I never had the "People's Banner" within +my fingers in my life,' said the barrister angrily, 'and I +certainly never will.' + +'Ah, sir; this is an exception. You shall see this. When Slide +really means to cut a fellow up, he can do it. There's no one +like him. And the Duke has deserved it. He's a poor, +vacillating creature, led by the Duchess; and she,--according to +all that one hears,--she isn't much better than she should be.' + +'I thought the Duchess was a great friend of yours.' + +'I don't care much for such friendship. She threw me over most +shamefully.' + +'And therefore you are justified in taking away her character. I +never saw the Duchess of Omnium in my life, and should probably +be very uncomfortable if I found myself in her society; but I +believe her to be a good woman in her way.' Emily sat perfectly +silent, knowing that her husband had been rebuked, but feeling +that he had deserved it. He, however, was not abashed; but +changed the conversation, dashing into city rumours, and legal +reforms. The old man from time to time said sharp little things, +showing that his intellect was not senile, all of which his son- +in-law bore imperturbably. It was not that he liked it, or was +indifferent, but that he knew he could not get the good things +which Mr Wharton could do for him without making some kind of +payment. He must take the sharp words of the old man,--and take +all that he could get besides. + +When the two men were alone together after dinner, Mr Wharton +used a different tone. 'If you are to come,' he said, 'you might +as well do it as soon as possible.' + +'A day or two will be enough for us.' + +'There are one or two things you should understand. I shall be +very happy to see your friends at any time, but I shall like to +know when they are coming before they come.' + +'Of course, sir.' + +'I dine out a good deal.' + +'At the club,' suggested Lopez. + +'Well;--at the club or elsewhere. It doesn't matter. There +will always be dinner for you and Emily, just as though I were at +home. I say this, so that there need be no questioning's or +doubts about it hereafter. And don't let there ever be any +question of money between us.' + +'Certainly not.' + +'Everett has an allowance, and this will be tantamount to an +allowance to Emily. You have also had 3,500 pounds. I hope it +has been well expended;--except the 500 pounds at that election, +which has, of course, been thrown away.' + +'The other was brought into the business.' + +'I don't know what the business is. But you and Emily must +understand that the money has been given as her fortune.' + +'Oh, quite so;--part of it, you mean.' + +'I mean just what I say.' + +'I call it part of it, because, as you observed just now, our +living here will be the same as though made Emily an allowance.' + +'Ah;--well; you can look at it in that light, if you please. +John has the key to the cellar. He's a man I can trust. As a +rule I have port and sherry at table every day. If you like +claret, I will get some a little cheaper than what I use when +friends are here.' + +'What wine I have is indifferent to me.' + +'I like it good, and I have it good. I always breakfast at 9.30. +You can have yours earlier if you please. I don't know that +there's anything else to be said. I hope we shall get into the +way of understanding each other, and being mutually comfortable. +Shall we go upstairs to Emily and Mrs Roby?' And so it was +determined that Emily was to come back to her old house about +eight months after her marriage. + +Mr Wharton himself sat late into the night all alone, thinking +about it. What had he done, he had done in a morose way, and he +was aware that it was so. He had not beamed with smiles, and +opened his arms lovingly, and, bidding God bless his dearest +children, told them that if they would only come and sit round +his hearth he should be the happiest old man in London. He had +said little or nothing of his own affection even for his +daughter, but had spoken of the matter as one which the pecuniary +aspect alone was important. He had found out that the saving so +effected would be material to Lopez, and had resolved that there +should be no shirking of the truth in what he was prepared to do. +He had been almost asked to take the young married couple in, and +feed them,--so that they might live free of expense. He was +willing to do it,--but was not willing that there should be any +soft-worded, high-toned false pretension. He almost read Lopez +to the bottom,--not, however giving the man credit for +dishonesty so deep or cleverness so great as he possessed. But +as regarded Emily, he was so actuated by a personal desire to +have her back again as an element of happiness to himself. He +had pined for her since he had been left alone, hardly knowing +what it was that he had wanted. And how as he thought of it all, +he was angry with himself that he had not been more loving and +softer in his manner to her. She at any rate was honest. No +doubt of that crossed his mind. And now he had been bitter to +her,--bitter in his manner,--simply because he had not wished +to appear to have been taken in by her husband. Thinking of all +this, he got up, and went to his desk, and wrote her a note, +which she would receive on the following morning after her +husband had left her. It was very short. + + DEAREST E. + I am so overjoyed that you are coming back to me. +A.W. + +He had judged her quite rightly. The manner in which the thing +had been arranged had made her very wretched. There had been no +love in it;--nothing apparently but assertions on the one side +that much was being given, and on the other acknowledgments that +much was to be received. She was aware that in this her father +had condemned her husband. She also had condemned him;--and +felt, alas, that she also had been condemned. But this little +letter took away that sting. She could read into her father's +note all the action of his mind. He had known that he was bound +to acquit her, and he had done so with one of the old long-valued +expressions of his love. + + + + +VOLUME III + + + +CHAPTER 41 + +THE VALUE OF A THICK SKIN. + +Sir Orlando Drought must have felt bitterly the quiescence with +which he sank into obscurity on the second bench on the opposite +side of the House. One great occasion he had on which it was his +privilege to explain to four or five hundred gentlemen the +insuperable reasons which caused him to break away from those +right honourable friends to act with whom had been his comfort +and his duty, his great joy and his unalloyed satisfaction. Then +he occupied the best part of an hour in abusing those friends and +all their measures. This no doubt had been a pleasure, as +practice had made the manipulation of words easy to him,--and he +was able to reveal in that absence of responsibility which must +be as a fresh perfumed bath to a minister just freed from the +trammels of office. But the pleasure was surely followed by much +suffering when Mr Monk,--Mr Monk was to assume his place as +Leader of the House,--only took five minutes to answer him, +saying that he and his colleagues regretted much the loss of the +Right Honourable Baronet's services, but that it would hardly be +necessary for him to defend the Ministry on all those points on +which it had been attacked, as, were he to do so, he would have +to repeat the arguments by which every measure brought forward by +the present Ministry had been supported. Then Mr Monk sat down, +and the business of the House went on just as if Sir Orlando had +not moved his seat at all. + +'What makes everybody and everything so dead?' said Sir Orlando +to his old friend Mr Boffin as they walked home together from the +House that night. They had in former days been staunch friends, +sitting night after night close together, united in opposition, +and sometimes a few halcyon months in the happier bonds of +office. But when Sir Orlando had joined the Coalition, and when +the sterner spirit of Mr Boffin had preferred principles to +place,--to use the language in which he was wont to speak to +himself and to his wife and family of his own abnegation,--there +had come a coolness between them. Mr Boffin, who was not a rich +man, nor by any means indifferent to the comforts of office, had +felt keenly the injury done to him when he was left hopelessly in +the cold by the desertion of his old friends. It had come to +pass that there had been no salt left in the opposition. Mr +Boffin in all his parliamentary experience had known nothing like +it. Mr Boffin had been sure that British honour was going to the +dogs and that British greatness was at an end. But the secession +of Sir Orlando gave a little fillip to his life. At any rate he +could walk home with his old friend and talk of the horrors of +the present day. + +'Well, Drought, if you ask me, you know, I can only speak as I +feel. Everything must be dead when men holding different +opinions on every subject under the sun come together in order +that they may carry on a government as they would a trade +business. The work may be done, but it must be done without +spirit.' + +'But it may be all important that the work should be done,' said +the Baronet, apologizing for his past misconduct. + +'No doubt,--and I am very far from judging those who make the +attempt. It has been made more than once before, and has, I +think, always failed. I don't believe in it myself, and I think +that the death-like torpor of which you speak is one of its worst +consequences.' After that Mr Boffin admitted Sir Orlando back +into his heart of hearts. + +Then the end of the Session came, very quietly and very early. +By the end of July there was nothing left to be done, and the +world of London was allowed to go down into the country almost a +fortnight before its usual time. + +With many men, both in and out of Parliament, it became a +question whether all this was for good or evil. The Boffinites +had of course much to say for themselves. Everything was torpid. +There was no interest in the newspapers,--except when Mr Slide +took the tomahawk into his hands. A member of Parliament this +Session had not been by half so much bigger than another man as +in times of hot political warfare. One of the most moving +sources of our national excitement seemed to have vanished from +life. We all know what happens to stagnant waters. So said the +Boffinites, and so also now said Sir Orlando. But the Government +was carried on and the country was prosperous. A few useful +measures had been passed by unambitious men, and the Duke of St +Bungay declared that he had never known a Session of Parliament +more thoroughly satisfactory to the ministers. + +But the old Duke in so saying had spoken as it were his public +opinion,--giving, truly enough, to a few of his colleagues, such +as Lord Drummond, Sir Gregory Grogram and others, the results of +his general experience, but in his own bosom and with a private +friend he was compelled to confess that there was a cloud in the +heavens. The Prime Minister had become so moody, so irritable, +and so unhappy, that the old Duke was forced to doubt whether +things could go on much longer as they were. He was wont to talk +of these things to his friend Lord Cantrip, who was not a member +of the Government, but who had been a colleague of both the +Dukes, and whom the old Duke regarded with peculiar confidence. +'I cannot explain it to you,' he said to Lord Cantrip. 'There is +nothing that ought to give him a moment's uneasiness. Since he +took office there hasn't once been a majority against him in +either House on any question that the Government has made on its +own. I don't remember such a state of things,--so easy for the +Prime Minister,--since the days of Lord Liverpool. He had one +thorn in his side, our friend who was at the Admiralty, and that +thorn like other thorns has worked itself out. Yet at this moment +it is impossible to get him to consent to the nomination of a +successor to Sir Orlando.' This was said a week before the +Session had closed. + +'I suppose it is his health,' said Lord Cantrip. + +'He's well enough as far as I can see;--though he will be ill +unless he can relieve himself from the strain of his nerves.' + +'Do you mean by resigning?' + +'Not necessarily. The fault is that he takes things too +seriously. If he could be got to believe that he might eat, and +sleep, and go to bed, and amuse himself like other men, he might +be a very good Prime Minister. He is over troubled by his +conscience. I have seen a good many Prime Ministers, Cantrip, +and I've taught myself to think that they are not very different +from other men. One wants in a Prime Minister a good many +things, but not very great things. He should be clever but need +not be a genius; he should be conscientious but by no means +strait-laced; he should be cautious but never timid, bold but +never venturesome; he should have a good digestion, genial +manners, and, above all, a thick skin. These are the gifts we +want, but we can't always get them, and have to do without them. +For my own part, I find that though Smith be a very good +Minister, the best perhaps to be had at the time, when he breaks +down Jones does nearly as well.' + +'There will be a Jones, then, if your Smith does break down?' + +'No doubt England wouldn't come to an end because the Duke of +Omnium shut himself up at Matching. But I love the man, and, +with some few exceptions, am contented with the party. We can't +do better, and it cuts me to the heart when I see him suffering, +knowing how much I did myself to make him undertake the work.' + +'Is he going to Gatherum Castle?' + +'No;--to Matching. There is some discomfort about that.' + +'I suppose,' said Lord Cantrip,--speaking almost in a whisper, +although they were closeted together,--'I suppose the Duchess is +a little troublesome.' + +'She's the dearest woman in the world,' said the Duke of St +Bungay. 'I love her almost as I do my own daughter. And she is +most zealous to serve him.' + +'I fancy she overdoes it.' + +'No doubt.' + +'And that he suffers from perceiving it,' said Lord Cantrip. + +'But a man hasn't a right to suppose that he shall have no +annoyances. The best horse in the world has some faults. He +pulls, or he shies, or is slow at his fences, or doesn't like +heavy ground. He has not right to expect that his wife shall know +everything and do everything without a mistake. And then he has +such faults of his own! His skin is so thin. Do you remember +dear old Brock? By heavens,--there was a covering, a hide +impervious to fire or steel! He wouldn't have gone into tantrums +because his wife asked too may people to the house. +Nevertheless, I won't give up all hope.' + +'A man's skin may be thickened, I suppose.' + +'No doubt;--as a blacksmith's arm.' + +But the Duke of St Bungay, though he declared that he wouldn't +give up hope, was very uneasy on the matter. 'Why don't you let +me go?' the other Duke had said to him. + +'What;--because such a man as Sir Orlando Drought throws up his +office?' + +But in truth the Duke of Omnium had not been instigated to ask +the question by the resignation of Sir Orlando. At that very +moment the "People's Banner" had been put out of sight at the +bottom of a heap of other newspapers behind the Prime Minister's +chair, and his present misery had been produced by Mr Quintus +Slide. To have a festering wound and to be able to show the wound +to no surgeon, is wretchedness indeed! 'It's not Sir Orlando, +but a sense of general failure,' said the Prime Minister. Then +his old friend had made use of that argument of the ever- +recurring majorities to prove that there had been no failure. +'There seems to have come a lethargy upon the country,' said the +poor victim. Then the Duke of St Bungay knew that his friend had +read that pernicious article in the "People's Banner", for the +Duke had also read it and remembered that phrase of a 'lethargy +on the country', and understood at once how the poison had +rankled. + +It was a week before he would consent to ask any man to fill the +vacancy made by Sir Orlando. He would not allow suggestions to +be made to him and yet would name no one himself. The old Duke, +indeed, did make a suggestion, and anything coming from him was +of course borne with patience. Barrington Erle, he thought, +would do for the Admiralty. But the Prime Minister shook his +head. 'In the first place he would refuse, and that would be a +great blow to me.' + +'I could sound him,' said the old Duke. But the Prime Minister +again shook his head and turned the subject. With all his +timidity he was becoming autocratic and peevishly imperious. +Then he went to Lord Cantrip, and when Lord Cantrip, with all the +kindness which he could throw into his words, stated the reasons +which induced him at present to decline office, he was again in +despair. At last he asked Phineas Finn to move to the Admiralty, +and, when our old friend somewhat reluctantly obeyed, of course +he had the same difficulty in filling the office Finn had held. +Other changes and other complications became necessary, and Mr +Quintus Slide, who hated Phineas Finn even worse than the poor +Duke, found ample scope for his patriotic indignation. + +This all took place in the closing week of the Session, filling +our poor Prime Minister with trouble and dismay, just when other +people were complaining that there was nothing to think of and +nothing to do. Men do not really like leaving London before the +grouse calls them,--the grouse or rather the fashion of the +grouse. And some ladies were very angry at being separated so +soon from their swains in the city. The tradesmen too were +displeased,--so that there were voices to re-echo the abuse of +the "People's Banner". The Duchess had done her best to prolong +the Session by another week, telling her husband of the evil +consequences above suggested, but he had thrown wide his arms and +asked her with affected dismay whether he was to keep Parliament +sitting in order that more ribbons might be sold! 'There is +nothing to be done,' said the Duke almost angrily. + +'Then you should make something to be done,' said the Duchess, +mimicking him. + + + +CHAPTER 42 + +RETRIBUTION. + +The Duchess had been at work with her husband for the last two +months in the hope of renewing her autumnal festivities, but had +been lamentably unsuccessful. The Duke had declared that there +should be no more rural crowds, no repetition of what he called +London turned loose on his own grounds. He could not forget the +necessity which had been imposed upon him of turning Major +Pountney out of his house, or the change that had been made in +his gardens, or his wife's attempt to conquer him at +Silverbridge. 'Do you mean,' she said, 'that we are to have +nobody?' He replied that he thought it would be best to go to +Matching. 'And live a Darby and Joan life?' said the Duchess. + +'I said nothing of Darby and Joan. Whatever may be my feelings I +hardly think that you are fitted for that kind of thing. +Matching is not so big as Gatherum, but it is not a cottage. Of +course you can ask your own friends.' + +'I don't know what you mean by my own friends. I endeavour +always to ask yours.' + +'I don't know that Major Pountney, and Captain Gunner, and Mr +Lopez were ever among the number of my friends.' + +'I suppose you mean Lady Rosina?' said the Duchess. 'I shall be +happy to have her at Matching, if you wish it.' + +'I should like to see Lady Rosina De Courcy at Matching very +much.' + +'And is there to be nobody else? I'm afraid I should find it +rather dull while you two were opening your hearts to each +other.' Here he looked at her angrily. 'Can you think of +anybody besides Lady Rosina?' + +'I suppose you will wish to have Mrs Finn.' + +'What an arrangement! Lady Rosina for you to flirt with, and Mrs +Finn for me to grumble to.' + +'That is an odious word,' said the Prime Minister. + +'What;--flirting? I don't see anything bad about the word. The +thing is dangerous. But you are quite at liberty if you don't go +beyond Lady Rosina. I should like to know whether you would wish +anybody else to come?' Of course he made no becoming answer to +this question, and of course no becoming answer was expected. He +knew that she was trying to provoke him because he would not let +her do this year as she had done last. The house, he had no +doubt, would be full to overflowing when he got there. He could +not help that. But as compared with Gatherum Castle the house at +Matching was small, and his domestic authority sufficed at any +rate for shutting up Gatherum for the time. + +I do not know whether at times her sufferings were not as acute +as his own. He, at any rate, was Prime Minister, and it seemed +to her that she was to be reduced to nothing. At the beginning +of it all he had, with unwonted tenderness asked her for her +sympathy in his undertaking, and, according to her power, she had +given it to him with her whole heart. She had thought that she +had seen a way by which she might assist him in his great +employment, and she had worked at it like a slave. Every day she +told herself that she did not, herself, love the Captain Gunners +and Major Pountneys, nor the Sir Orlandos, nor, indeed the Lady +Rosinas. She had not followed the bent of her own inclination +when she had descended to sheets and towels, and busied herself +to establish an archery-ground. She had not shot an arrow during +the whole season, nor had she cared who had won and who had lost. +It had not been for her own personal delight that she had kept +open house for forty persons throughout four months of the year, +in doing which he had never taken an ounce of labour off her +shoulders by any single word or deed! It had all been done for +his sake,--that his reign might be long and triumphant, that the +world might say that his hospitality was noble and full, that his +name might be in men's mouths, and that he might prosper as a +British Minister. Such, at least, were the assertions which she +made to herself, when she thought of her own grievances and her +own troubles. And how she was angry with her husband. It was +very well for him to ask for her sympathy, but he had none to +give her in return! He could not pity her failures,--even +though he had himself caused them! If he had a grain of +intelligence about him he must, she thought, understand well +enough how sore it must be for her to descend from her princely +entertainments to solitude at Matching, and thus to own before +all the world that she was beaten. Then when she asked him for +advice, when she was really anxious to know how far she might go +in filling her house without offending him, he told her to ask +Lady Rosina De Courcy! If he chose to be ridiculous he might. +She would ask Lady Rosina De Courcy. In her active anger she did +write to Lady Rosina De Courcy a formal letter, in which she said +that the Duke hoped to have the pleasure of her ladyship's +company at Matching Park on the 1st August. It was an absurd +letter, somewhat long, written very much in the Duke's name, with +overwhelming expressions of affection, instigated in the writer's +mind partly by the fun of supposition that such a man as her +husband should flirt with such a woman as Lady Rosina. There was +something too of anger in what she wrote, some touch of revenge. +She sent off this invitation, and she sent no other. Lady Rosina +took it all in good part, and replied saying that she should have +the greatest pleasure in going to Matching! She had declared to +herself that she would ask none but those he had named, and in +accordance with her resolution she sent out no other written +invitation. + +He had also told her to ask Mrs Finn. Now this had become almost +a matter of course. There had grown up from accidental +circumstances so strong a bond between these two women, that it +was taken for granted by both their husbands that they should be +nearly always within reach of one another. And the two husbands +were also on kindly, if not affectionate, terms with each other. +The nature of the Duke's character was such that, with a most +loving heart, he was hardly capable of that opening out of +himself to another which is necessary for positive friendship. +There was a stiff reserve about him, of which he was himself only +too conscious, which almost prohibited friendship. But he liked +Mr Finn both as a man and a member of his party, and was always +satisfied to have him as a guest. The Duchess, therefore, had +taken it for granted that Mrs Finn would come to her,--and that +Mr Finn would come also any time that he might be able to escape +from Ireland. But, when the invitation was verbally conveyed, Mr +Finn had gone to the Admiralty, and had already made arrangements +for going to sea, as a gallant sailor should. 'We are going away +in the "Black Watch" for a couple of months,' said Mrs Finn. Now +the "Black Watch" was an Admiralty yacht. + +'Heavens and earth!' ejaculated the Duchess. + +'It is always done. The First Lord would have his epaulets +stripped if he didn't go to sea in August.' + +'And must you go with him?' + +'I have promised.' + +'I think it very unkind,--very hard upon me. Of course you know +that I should want you.' + +'But if my husband wants me too?' + +'Bother your husband! I wish with all my heart I had never +helped make up the match.' + +'It would have been made up all the same, Lady Glen.' + +'You know that I cannot get on without you. And he ought to know +it too. There isn't another person in the world that I can +really say a thing to.' + +'Why don't you have Mrs Grey?' + +'She's going to Persia with her husband. And then she is not +wicked enough. She always lectured me, and she does it still. +What do you think is going to happen?' + +'Nothing terrible, I hope,' said Mrs Finn, mindful of her +husband's new honours at the Admiralty, and hoping that the Duke +might not have repeated his threat of resigning. + +'We are going to Matching.' + +'So I supposed.' + +'And whom do you think we are going to have?' + +'Not Major Pountney?' + +'No;--not at my asking.' + +'Not Mr Lopez?' + +'Nor yet Mr Lopez. Guess again.' + +'I suppose there will be a dozen to guess.' + +'No,' shrieked the Duchess. 'There will only be one. I have +asked one,--at his special desire,--and as you won't come I +shall ask nobody else. When I pressed him to name a second he +named you. I'll obey him to the letter. Now, my dear, who do +you think is the chosen one,--the one person who is to +solace the perturbed spirit of the Prime Minister for the three +months of the autumn.' + +'Mr Warburton, I should say.' + +'Oh, Mr Warburton! No doubt Mr Warburton will come as part of +his luggage and possibly half-a-dozen Treasury clerks. He +declares, however, that there is nothing to do, and therefore Mr +Warburton's strength alone may suffice to help him to do it. +There is to be one unnecessary guest,--unnecessary, that is, for +official purpose, though,--oh,--so much needed for his social +happiness. Guess one more.' + +'Knowing the spirit of mischief that is in you,--perhaps it is +Lady Rosina.' + +'Of course it is Lady Rosina,' said the Duchess, clapping her +hands together. 'And I should like to know what you mean by +spirit of mischief! I asked him, and he himself said that he +particularly wished to have Lady Rosina at Matching. Now, I'm +not a jealous woman,--am I?' + +'Not of Lady Rosina.' + +'I don't think they'll do any harm together, but it is +particular, you know. However, she is to come. And nobody else +is to come. I did count upon you.' Then Mrs Finn counselled her +very seriously as to the taste of such a joke, explaining to her +that the Duke had certainly not intended that invitations should +be confined to Lady Rosina. But it was not all joke with the +Duchess. She had been driven almost to despair, and was very +angry with her husband. He had brought the thing upon himself, +and must now make the best of it. She would ask nobody else. +She declared that there was nobody whom she could ask with +propriety. She was tired of asking. Let her ask whom she would, +he was dissatisfied. The only two people he cared to see were +Lady Rosina and the old Duke. She had asked Lady Rosina for his +sake. Let him ask his old friend himself if he pleased. + +The Duke and Duchess with all the family went down together, and +Mr Warburton went with them. The Duchess had said not a word +more to her husband about his guests, nor had he alluded to the +subject. But each was labouring under a conviction that the +other was misbehaving, and with that feeling it was impossible +that there should be confidence between them. He busied himself +with books and papers,--always turning over those piles of +newspapers to see what evil was said of himself,--and speaking +only now and again to his private secretary. She engaged herself +with the children or pretended to read a novel. Her heart was +sore within her. She had wished to punish him, but in truth she +was punishing herself. + +On the day of their arrival, the father and mother, with Lord +Silverbridge, the eldest son, who was from Eton, and the private +Secretary dined together. As the Duke sat at table, he began to +think how long it was since such a state of things had happened +before, and his heart softened towards her. Instead of being made +angry by the strangeness of the proceeding, he took delight in +it, and in the course of the evening spoke a word to signify his +satisfaction. 'I'm afraid it won't last long,' she said, 'for +Lady Rosina comes tomorrow.' + +'Oh, indeed.' + +'You bid me to ask her yourself.' + +Then he perceived it all;--how she had taken advantage of his +former answer to her and had acted upon it in a spirit of +contradictory petulance. But he resolved that he would forgive +it and endeavour to bring her back to him. 'I thought we were +both joking,' he said good-humouredly. + +'Oh no! I never suspected you of a joke. At any rate she is +coming.' + +'She will do neither of us any harm. And Mrs Finn?' + +'You have sent her to sea.' + +'She may be at sea,--and he too; but it is without my sending. +The First Lord, I believe, usually does go a cruise. Is there +nobody else?' + +'Nobody else,--unless you have asked anyone.' + +'Not a creature. Well;--so much the better. I dare say Lady +Rosina will get on very well.' + +'You will have to talk to her,' said the Duchess. + +'I will do my best.' + +Lady Rosina came and no doubt did think it odd. But she did not +say so, and it really did seem to the Duchess as though all her +vengeance had been blown away by the winds. And she too laughed +at the matter,--to herself and began to feel less cross and less +perverse. The world did not come to an end because she and her +husband with Lady Rosina and her boy and the private Secretary +sat down to dinner every day together. The parish clergyman with +the neighbouring squire and his wife and daughter did come one +day,--to the relief of M. Millepois, who had begun to feel that +the world had collapsed. And every day at a certain hour the +Duke and Lady Rosina walked together for an hour and a half in +the Park. The Duchess would have enjoyed it, instead of +suffering, could she only have had her friend, Mrs Finn, to hear +her jokes. 'Now, Plantagenet,' she said, 'do tell me one thing. +What does she talk about?' + +'The troubles of her family generally, I think.' + +'That can't last for ever.' + +'She wears cork soles to her boots and she thinks a good deal +about them.' + +'And you listen to her?' + +'Why not? I can talk about cork soles as well as anything else. +Anything that may do material good to the world at large, or even +to yourself privately, is a fit subject for conversation to +rational people.' + +'I suppose I never was one of them.' + +'But I can talk upon anything,' continued the Duke, 'as long as +the talker talks in good faith and does not say things that +should not be said, or deal with matters that are offensive. I +could talk for an hour about bankers' accounts, but I should not +expect a stranger to ask me the state of my own. She almost +persuaded me to send to Mr Sprout of Silverbridge and get some +cork soles of my own.' + +'Don't do anything of the kind,' said the Duchess with animation; +--as though she had secret knowledge that cork soles were +specially fatal to the family of the Pallisers. + +'Why not, my dear?' + +'He was a man who especially, above all others, threw me over at +Silverbridge.' Then again there came upon his brow that angry +frown which during the last few days had been dissipated by the +innocence of Lady Rosina's conversation. 'Of course I don't mean +to ask you to take any interest in the borough again. You have +said that you wouldn't, and you are always as good as your word.' + +'I hope so.' + +'But I certainly would not employ a tradesman just at your elbow +who has directly opposed what was generally understood in the +town to be your interests.' + +'What did Mr Sprout do? This is the first I have heard of it.' + +'He got Mr Du Boung to stand against Mr Lopez.' + +'I am very glad for the sake of the borough that Mr Lopez did not +get in.' + +'So am I. But that has nothing to do with it. Mr Sprout knew at +any rate what my wishes were, and went directly against them.' + +'You were not entitled to have wishes in the matter, Glencora.' + +'That's all very well;--but I had, and he knew it. As for the +future, of course the thing is over. But you have done +everything for the borough.' + +'You mean the borough has done much for me.' + +'I know what I mean very well;--and I shall take it very ill if +a shilling out of the Castle ever goes into Mr Sprout's pocket +again.' + +It is needless to trouble the reader at length with the sermon +which he preached her on the occasion,--showing the utter +corruption which must come from the mixing up of politics with +trade, or with the scorn which she threw into the few words with +which she interrupted him from time to time. 'Whether a man +makes good shoes, at a reasonable price, and charges for them +honestly,--that is what you have to consider,' said the Duke +impressively. + +'I'd rather pay double for bad shoes to a man who did not thwart +me.' + +'You should not condescend to be thwarted in such a matter. You +lower yourself by admitting such a feeling.' And yet he writhed +himself under the lashes of Mr Slide! + +'I know an enemy when I see him,' said the Duchess, 'and as long +as I live I'll treat an enemy as an enemy.' + +There was ever so much of it, in the course of which the Duke +declared his purpose of sending at once to Mr Sprout for ever so +many cork soles, and the Duchess,--most imprudently,--declared +her purpose of ruining Mr Sprout. There was something in this +threat which grated terribly against the Duke's sense of honour; +--that his wife should threaten to ruin a poor tradesman, that +she should do so in reference to the political affairs of the +borough which he all but owned, that she should do so in declared +opposition to him! Of course he ought to have known that her sin +consisted simply in her determination to vex him at the moment. +A more good-natured woman did not live;--or one less prone to +ruin anyone. But any reference to the Silverbridge election +brought back upon him the remembrance of the cruel attacks which +had been made upon him, and rendered him for the time moody, +morose, and wretched. So they again parted ill friends, and +hardly spoke when they met at dinner. + +The next morning there reached Matching a letter which greatly +added to his bitterness of spirit against the world in general +and against her in particular. The letter, though marked +'private', had been opened, as were all letters, by Mr Warburton, +but the private Secretary thought it necessary to show the letter +to the Prime Minister. He, when he had read it, told Warburton +that it did not signify, and maintained for half an hour an +attitude of quiescence. Then he walked forth, having the letter +hidden in his hand, and finding his wife alone, gave it her to +read. 'See what you have brought upon me,' he said, 'by your +interference and disobedience.' The letter was as follows: + +Manchester Square, August 3, 187- + + MY LORD DUKE, + I consider myself entitled to complain to your Grace of + the conduct with which I am treated at the last election + at Silverbridge, whereby I was led into very heavy + expenditure without the least chance of being returned + for the borough. I am aware that I had no direct + conversation with your Grace on the subject, and that + your Grace can plead that, as between man and man, I had + no authority from yourself for supposing that I should + receive your Grace's support. But I was distinctly asked + by the Duchess to stand, and was assured by her that if I + did so I should have all the assistance that your Grace's + influence could procure for me;--and it was also + explained to me that your Grace's official position made + it inexpedient that your Grace on this special occasion + should have any personal conference with your own + candidate. Under these circumstances I submit to your + Grace that I am entitled to complain of the hardship I + have suffered. + + I had not been long in the borough before I found that my + position was hopeless. Influential men in the town who + had been represented to me as being altogether devoted to + your Grace's interests started a third candidate,--a + Liberal as myself,--and the natural consequence was that + neither of us succeeded, though my return as your Grace's + candidate would have been certain had not this been done. + That all this was preconcerted there can be no doubt, + but, before the mine was sprung on me,--immediately, + indeed, on my arrival, if I remember rightly,--an + application was made to me for 500 pounds, so that the + money might be exacted before the truth was known to me. + Of course I should not have paid the 500 pounds had I + known that your Grace's usual agents in the town,--I may + name Mr Sprout especially,--were prepared to act against + me. But I did pay the money, and I think your Grace will + agree with me that a very opprobrious term might be + applied without injustice to the transaction. + + My Lord Duke, I am a poor man,--ambitious I will own, + whether that be a sin or a virtue,--and willing, perhaps + to incur expenditure which can hardly be justified in + pursuit of certain public objects. But I do not feel + inclined to sit down tamely under such a loss as this. I + should not have dreamed of interfering in the election at + Silverbridge had not the Duchess exhorted me to do so. I + would not even run the risk of a doubtful contest. But I + came forward at the suggestion of the Duchess, backed by + the personal assurance that the seat was certain as being + in your Grace's hands. It was no doubt understood that + your Grace would not yourself interfere, but it was + equally well understood that your Grace's influence was + for the time deputed to the Duchess. The Duchess herself + will, I am sure, confirm my statement that I had her + distinct authority for regarding myself as your Grace's + candidate. + + I can of course bring an action against Mr Wise, the + gentleman to whom I paid the money, but I feel that as a + gentleman I should not do so without reference to your + Grace, as circumstances might possibly be brought out in + evidence,--I will not say prejudicial to your Grace,- + but which would be unbecoming. I cannot, however, think + that your Grace will be willing that a poor man like + myself, in search for an entrance into public life, + should be mulcted to so heavy an extent in consequence of + an error on the part of the Duchess. Should your Grace + be able to assist me in my view of getting into + Parliament for any other seat I shall be willing to abide + by the loss I have incurred. I hardly, however, + dare to hope for such assistance. In this case I think + your grace ought to see that I am reimbursed. + +I have the honour to be, +My Lord Duke, +Your Grace's faithful Servant +FERDINAND LOPEZ + +The Duke stood over her in her own room upstairs, with his back +to the fireplace and his eyes fixed upon her while she was +reading this letter. He gave her ample time, and she did not +read it very quickly. Much of it indeed she perused twice, +turning very red in the face as she did so. She was thus +studious partly because the letter astounded even her, and partly +because she wanted time to consider how she would meet his wrath. +'Well,' said he, 'what do you say to that?' + +'The man is a blackguard,--of course.' + +'He is so;--though I do not know that I wish to hear him called +such a name by your lips. Let him be what he may he was your +friend.' + +'He was my acquaintance.' + +'He was the man whom you selected to be your candidate for the +borough in opposition to my wishes, and whom you continued to +support in direct disobedience to my orders.' + +'Surely, Plantagenet, we had all that about disobedience out +before.' + +'You cannot have such things "out",--as you call it. Evil-doing +will not bury itself out of the way and be done with. Do you +feel no shame at having your name mentioned a score of times with +reprobation as that man mentions it,--at being written about by +such a man as that?' + +'Do you want me to roll in the gutter because I mistook him for a +gentleman?' + +'That was not all,--nor half. In your eagerness to serve such a +miserable creature as this you forgot my entreaties, my commands, +my position! I explained to you why, I, of all men, and you, of +all women, as part of me, should not do this thing, and yet you +did it, mistaking such a cur for a man! What am I to do? How am +I to free myself from the impediments which you make for me? My +enemies I can overcome,--but I cannot escape the pitfalls which +are made for me by my own wife. I can only retire into private +life and hope to console myself with my children and my books.' + +There was a reality of tragedy about him which for the moment +overcame her. She had no joke ready, no sarcasm, no feminine +counter-grumble. Little as she agreed with him when he spoke of +the necessity of retiring into private life because a man had +written to him such a letter as this, incapable as she was of +understanding fully the nature of the irritation which tormented +him, still she knew that he was suffering, and acknowledged to +herself that she had been the cause of the agony. 'I am sorry,' +she ejaculated at last. 'What more can I say?' + +'What am I to do? What can be said to the man? Warburton read +the letter, and gave it me in silence. He could see the terrible +difficulty.' + +'Tear it in pieces, and then let there be an end of it.' + +'I do not feel sure but that he has right on his side. He is, as +you say, certainly a blackguard, or he would not make such a +claim. He is taking advantage of the mistake made by a good- +natured woman through her folly and her vanity;'--as he said +this the Duchess gave an absurd little pout, but luckily he did +not see it,--'and he knows very well that he is doing so. But +still he has a show of justice on his side. There was, I +suppose, no chance for him at Silverbridge after I had made +myself fully understood. The money was absolutely wasted. It +was your persuasion and your continued encouragement that led him +to spend the money.' + +'Pay it then. The loss will not hurt you.' + +'Ah;--if we could but get out of our difficulty by paying! +Suppose that I do pay it. I begin to think that I must pay it,-- +that after all I cannot allow such a plea to remain unanswered. +But when it is paid;--what then? Do you think such a payment +made by the Queen's Minister will not be known to all the +newspapers, and that I shall escape the charge of having bribed +the man to hold his tongue?' + +'It will be no bribe if you pay him because you think you ought.' + +'But how shall I excuse it? There are things done which are holy +as the heavens,--which are clear before God as the light of the +sun, which leave no stain on the conscience, and which yet the +malignity of man can invest with the very blackest of hell! I +shall know why I pay this 500 pounds. Because she who of all the +world is the nearest and dearest to me,'--she looked up into his +face with amazement, as he stood stretching his arms out in +energy,--'has in her impetuous folly committed a grievous +blunder, from which she would not allow her husband to save her, +this sum must be paid to the wretched craven. But I cannot tell +the world that. I cannot say abroad that this small sacrifice of +money was the justest means of retrieving the injury which you +have done.' + +'Say it abroad. Say it everywhere.' + +'No, Glencora.' + +'Do you think I would have you spare me if it was my fault? And +how would it hurt me? Will it be new to anyone that I have done +a foolish thing? Will the newspapers disturb my peace? I +sometimes think, Plantagenet, that I should have been the man, my +skin is so thick; and that you should have been the woman, your +is so tender.' + +'But it is not so.' + +'Take the advantage, nevertheless, of my toughness. Send him the +500 pounds without a word,--or make Warburton do so, or Mr +Moreton. Make no secret of it. Then if the papers talk about +it-' + +'A question might be asked about it in the House.' + +'Or if questioned in any way,--say what I did. Tell the exact +truth. You are always saying that nothing but truth ever serves. +Let the truth serve now. I shall not blench. Your saying it all +in the House of Lords won't wound me half so much as your looking +at me as you did now.' + +'Did I wound you? God knows I would not hurt you willingly.' + +'Never mind. Go on. I know you think I have brought it all on +myself by my own wickedness. Pay this man the money, and then if +anything is said about it, explain that it was my fault, and say +that you paid the money because I had done wrong.' + +When he came in she had been seated on a sofa, which she +constantly used herself, and he had stood over her, masterful, +imperious, and almost tyrannical. She had felt this tyranny, but +had resented it less than usual,--or rather had been less +determined in holding her own against him and asserting herself +as his equal,--because she confessed to herself that she had +injured him. She had, she thought, done but little, but that +which she had done had produced this injury. So she had sat and +endured the oppression of his standing posture. But now he sat +down by her, very close to her, and put his hand upon her +shoulder,--almost round her waist. + +'Cora,' he said, 'you do not quite understand it.' + +'I never understand anything, I think,' she answered. + +'Not in this case,--perhaps never,--what it is that a husband +feels about his wife. Do you think that I could say a word +against you, even to a friend?' + +'Why not?' + +'I never did. I never could. If my anger were at the hottest I +would not confess to a human being that you were not perfect,-- +except to yourself.' + +'Oh, thank you! If you were to scold me vicariously I should +feel it less.' + +'Do not joke with me now, for I am so much in earnest. And if I +could not consent that your conduct should be called in question +even by a friend, do you suppose it possible that I could +contrive an escape from a public censure by laying the blame +publicly on you?' + +'Stick to the truth;--that's what you always say.' + +'I certainly shall stick to the truth. A man and his wife are +one. For what she does he is responsible.' + +'They couldn't hang you, you know, because I committed a murder.' + +'I should be willing that they should do so. No;--if I pay this +money I shall take the consequences. I shall not do it in any +way under the rose. But I wish you would remember--' + +'Remember what? I know I shall never forget all this trouble +about that dirty little town, which I never will enter again as +long as I live.' + +'I wish you would think that in all that you do you are dealing +with my feelings, with my heartstrings, with my reputation. You +cannot divide yourself from me; nor, for the value of it all, +would I wish that such a division were possible. You say that I +am thin-skinned.' + +'Certainly you are. What people call a delicate organization,-- +whereas I am rough and thick and monstrously commonplace.' + +'Then should you too be thin-skinned for my sake.' + +'I wish I could make you thick-skinned for your own. It's the +only way to be decently comfortable in such a coarse, rough-and- +tumble world as this is.' + +'Let us both do our best,' he said, now putting his arm round her +and kissing her. 'I think I shall send the man his money at +once. It is the best of two evils. And now let there never be a +word more about it between us.' + +Then he left her and went back,--not to the study in which he +was wont, when at Matching, to work with his private secretary,-- +but to a small inner closet of his own, in which many a bitter +moment was spent while he thought over that abortive system of +decimal coinage by which he had once hoped to make himself one of +the great benefactors of his nation, revolving in his mind the +troubles which his wife brought upon him, and regretting the +golden inanity of the coronet which in the very prime of life had +expelled him from the House of Commons. Here he seated himself, +and for an hour neither stirred from his seat, nor touched a pen, +nor opened a book. He was trying to calculate in his mind what +might be the consequences of paying the money to Mr Lopez. But +when the calculation slipped from him,--as it did,--then he +demanded of himself whether strict high-minded justice did not +call upon him to pay the money let the consequences be what they +might. And here his mind was truer to him, and he was able to +fix himself to a purpose,--though the resolution to which he +came was not, perhaps, wise. + +When the hour was over he went to his desk, drew a cheque for 500 +pounds in favour of Ferdinand Lopez, and then caused his +Secretary to send it in the following note: + +Matching, August 4, 187- + + SIR, + The Duke of Omnium has read the letter you have addressed + to him, dated the 3rd instant. The Duke of Omnium, + feeling that you may have been induced to undertake the + late contest at Silverbridge by misrepresentations made + to you at Gatherum Castle, directs me to enclose a cheque + for 500 pounds, that being the sum stated by you to have + been expended in carrying on the contest at Silverbridge. +I am, sir, +Your obedient servant, +ARTHUR WARBURTON + Ferdinand Lopez, Esq. + + + +CHAPTER 43 + +KAURI GUM. + +The reader will no doubt think that Ferdinand Lopez must have +been very hardly driven indeed by circumstances before he would +have made such an appeal to the Duke as given in the last +chapter. But it was not the want of money only that had brought +it about. It may be remembered that the 500 pounds had already +been once repaid him by his father-in-law,--that special sum +having been given to him for that special purpose. And Lopez, +when he wrote to the Duke, assured himself that if, by any +miracle, his letter should produce pecuniary results in the shape +of a payment from the Duke, he would refund the money so obtained +to Mr Wharton. But when he wrote the letter he did not expect to +get the money,--nor, indeed, did he expect that aid towards +another seat, to which he alluded at the close of the letter. He +expected probably nothing but to vex the Duke, and to drive the +Duke into correspondence with him. + +Though this man had lived nearly all his life in England, he had +not quite acquired that knowledge of the way in which things are +done which is general among men of a certain class, and so rare +among those beneath them. He had not understood that the +Duchess's promise of her assistance at Silverbridge might be +taken by him for what it was worth, and that her aid might be +used as far as it went,--but, that in the event of its failing +him, he was bound in honour to take the result without +complaining, whatever that result might be. He felt that a +grievous injury,--even though it were against a woman. He just +knew that he could not very well write to the Duchess herself,-- +though there was sometimes present to his mind a plan for +attacking her in public, and telling her what evil she had done +him. He had half resolved that he would do so in her own garden +at The Horns;--but on that occasion the apparition of Arthur +Fletcher had disturbed him, and he had vented his anger in +another direction. But still his wrath against the Duke and +Duchess remained, and he was wont to indulge it with very violent +language as he sat upon one of the chairs in Sexty Parker's +office, talking somewhat loudly of his own position, of the +things that he would do, and of the injury done him. Sexty +Parker sympathized with him to the full,--especially as that +first 500 pounds, which he had received from Mr Wharton, had gone +into Sexty's coffers. At that time Lopez and Sexty were together +committed to large speculations in the guano trade, and Sexty's +mind was by no means easy in the early periods of the day. As he +went into town by his train he would think of his wife and family +and of the terrible things that might happen to them. But yet, +up to this period, money had always been forthcoming from Lopez +when absolutely wanted, and Sexty was quite alive to the fact +that he was living with a freedom of expenditure in his own +household that he had never known before, and that without +apparent damage. Whenever, therefore, at some critical moment, a +much-needed sum of money was produced Sexty would become light- +hearted, triumphant, and very sympathetic. 'Well;--I never +heard such a story,' he had said when Lopez was insisting on his +wrongs. 'That's what the Dukes and Duchesses call honour among +thieves! Well, Ferdy, my boy, if you stand that you'll stand +anything.' In these latter days Sexty had become very intimate +with his partner. + +'I don't mean to stand it,' Lopez had replied, and then on the +spot had written the letter which he had dated from Manchester +Square. He had certainly contrived to make that letter as +oppressive as possible. He had been clever enough to put into it +words which were sure to wound the poor Duke and to confound the +Duchess. And having written it he was very careful to keep the +first draft, so that if occasion came he might use it again and +push for vengeance farther. But he certainly had not expected +such a result as it produced. + +When he received the private Secretary's letter with the money he +was sitting opposite his father-in-law at breakfast, while his +wife was making the tea. Not many of his letters came to +Manchester Square. Sexty Parker's office or his club were more +convenient addresses, but in this case he had thought that +Manchester Square would have a better sound and appearance. When +he opened the letter the cheque of course appeared bearing the +Duke's own signature. He had seen that and the amount before he +had read the letter, and as he saw it his eye travelled quickly +across the table to his father-in-law's face. Mr Wharton might +certainly have seen the cheque and even the amount, probably also +the signature, without the slightest suspicion as to the nature +of the payment made. As it was, he was eating his toast, and had +thought nothing about the letter. Lopez, having concealed the +cheque, read the few words which the private Secretary had +written, and then put the document with its contents into his +pocket. 'So you think, sir, of going down to Hertfordshire on +the 15th,' he said in a very cheery voice. The cheery voice was +still pleasant to the old man, but the young wife had already +come to distrust it. She had learned, though she was hardly +conscious how the lesson had come to her, that a certain tone of +cheeriness indicated, if not deceit, at any rate concealment of +something. It grated against her spirit, and when this tone +reached her ears a frown or look of sorrow would come cross her +brow. And her husband also had perceived that it was so, and +knew at such times that he was rebuked. He was hardly aware what +doings, and especially what feelings, were imputed to him as +faults,--not understanding the lines which separate right from +wrong, but he knew that he was often condemned by his wife, and +he lived in fear that he should also be condemned by his wife's +father. Had it been his wife only he thought that he could soon +have quenched her condemnation. He would soon have made her +tired of showing her disapproval. But he had put himself into +the old man's house, where the old man could see not only him but +his treatment of his wife, and the old man's good-will and good +opinion were essential to him. Yet he could not restrain one +glance of anger at her when she saw that look upon her face. + +'I suppose I shall,' said the barrister, 'I must go somewhere. +My going need not disturb you.' + +'I think we have made up our mind,' said Lopez, 'to take a +cottage at Dovercourt. It is not a very lively place, nor yet +fashionable. But it is very healthy, and I can run up to town +easily. Unfortunately my business won't let me be altogether +away this autumn.' + +'I wish my business would keep me,' said the barrister. + +'I did not understand that you had made up your mind to go to +Dovercourt,' said Emily. He had spoken to Mr Wharton of their +joint action in the matter, and as the place had only once been +named by him to her, she resented what seemed to be a falsehood. +She knew that she was to be taken or left as it suited him. If +he had said boldly,--'We'll go to Dovercourt. That's what I've +settled on. That's what will suit me,' she would have been +contented. She quite understood that he meant to have his own +way in such things. But it seemed to her that he wanted to be a +tyrant without having the courage for tyranny. + +'I thought you seemed to like it,' he said. + +'I don't dislike it at all.' + +'Then, as it suits my business, we might as well consider it +settled.' So saying, he left the room and went off to the city. +The old man was still sipping his tea and lingering over his +breakfast in a way that was not usual with him. He was generally +anxious to get away to Lincoln's Inn, and on most mornings had +left the house before his son-in-law. Emily of course remained +with him, sitting silent in her place opposite to the teapot, +meditating perhaps on her prospects of happiness at Dovercourt,- +a place of which she had never heard even the name two days ago, +and in which it was hardly possible that she should find even an +acquaintance. In former years these autumn months, passed in +Hertfordshire, had been the delight of her life. + +Mr Wharton also had seen the cloud on his daughter's face, and +had understood the nature of the little dialogue about +Dovercourt. And he was aware,--that the young wife's manner and +tone to her husband was not that of perfect conjugal sympathy. +He had already said to himself more than once that she had made +her bed for herself, and must lie upon it. She was the man's +wife, and must take her husband as he was. If she suffered under +this man's mode and manner of life, he, as her father, could not +assist her,--could do nothing for her, unless the man should +become absolutely cruel. He had settled that within his own mind +already;--but yet his heart yearned towards her, and when he +thought that she was unhappy, he longed to comfort her and tell +her that she still had a father. But the time had not come as +yet in which he could comfort her by sympathizing with her +against her husband. There had never fallen from her lips a +syllable of complaint. When she had spoken to him a chance word +respecting her husband, it had always carried with it some tone +of affection. But still he longed to say to her something which +might tell her that his heart was soft towards her. 'Do you like +the idea of going to this place?' he said. + +'I don't at all know what it will be like. Ferdinand says it +will be cheap.' + +'Is that of such a vital consequence?' + +'Ah;--yes, I fear it.' + +This was very sad to him. Lopez had already had from him a +considerable sum of money, having not yet been married twelve +months, and was now living in London almost free of expense. +Before his marriage he had always spoken of himself, and had +contrived to be spoken of, as a wealthy man, and now he was +obliged to choose some small English seaside place to which to +retreat, because thus he might have a low rate! Had they been +married as poor people there would have been nothing to regret in +this;--there would be nothing that might be done with entire +satisfaction. But, as it was, it told a bad tale for the future! +'Do you understand his money matters, Emily?' + +'Not at all, papa.' + +'I do not in the least mean to make inquiry. Perhaps I should +have asked before,--but if I did make inquiry now it would be of +him. But I think a wife should know.' + +'I know nothing.' + +'What is his business?' + +'I have no idea. I used to think he was connected with Mr Mills +Happerton and with Messrs Hunky and Sons.' + +'Is he not connected with Hunky's business?' + +'I think not. He has a partner of the name of Parker, who is,-- +who is not, I think, quite--quite a gentleman. I never saw +him.' + +'What does he do with Mr Parker?' + +'I believe they buy guano.' + +'Ah;--that, I fancy, was only one affair.' + +'I'm afraid he lost money, papa, by that election at +Silverbridge.' + +'I paid that,' said Mr Wharton sternly. Surely he would have +told his wife that he had received that money from her family! + +'Did you? That was very kind. I am afraid, papa, we are a great +burden to you.' + +'I should not mind it, my dear, if there were confidence and +happiness. What matter would it be to me whether you had your +money now or hereafter, so that you might have it in the manner +that would be most beneficial to you? I wish he would be open +with me, and tell me everything.' + +'Shall I let him know that you say so?' + +He thought for a minute or two before he answered her. Perhaps +the man would be more impressed if the message came to him +through his wife. 'If you think that he will not be annoyed with +you, you may do so.' + +'I don't know why he should,--but if it be right, that must be +borne. I am not afraid to say anything to him.' + +'Then tell him so. Tell him that it will be better that he +should let me know the whole condition of his affairs. God bless +you, dear.' Then he stooped over her, and kissed her, and went +his way to Stone Buildings. + +It was not as he sat at the breakfast table that Ferdinand Lopez +made up his mind to pocket the Duke's money and to say nothing +about it to Mr Wharton. He had been careful to conceal the +cheque, but he had done so with the feeling that the matter was +one to be considered in his own mind before to took any step. As +he left the house, already considering it, he was inclined to +think the money must be surrendered. Mr Wharton had very +generously paid his electioneering expenses, but had not done so +simply with the view of making him a present of money. He wished +the Duke had taken him at his word. In handing this cheque over +to Mr Wharton, he would be forced to tell the story of his letter +to the Duke, and was sure that Mr Wharton would not approve of +his having written such a letter. How could anyone approve of +his having applied for a sum of money which had already been paid +to him? How could such a one as Mr Wharton,--an old-fashioned +English gentleman,--approve of such an application being made +under any circumstances? Mr Wharton would very probably insist +on having the cheque sent back to the Duke,--which would be a +sorry end to the triumph as at present achieved. And the more he +thought of it the more he sure he was that it would be imprudent +to mention to Mr Wharton his application to the Duke. The old +men of the present day were, he said to himself, such fools that +they understood nothing. And then the money was very convenient +to him. He was intent on obtaining Sexty Parker's consent to a +large speculation, and knew that he could not do so without a +show of funds. By the time, therefore, that he had reached the +city he had resolved that at any rate for the present he would +use the money and say nothing about it to Mr Wharton. Was it not +spoil got from the enemy by his own courage and cleverness? When +he was writing his acknowledgement for the money to Warburton he +had taught himself to look upon the sum extracted from the Duke +as a matter quite distinct from the payment made to him by his +father-in-law. + +It was evident on that day to Sexty Parker that his partner was a +man of great resources. Though things sometimes looked very bad, +yet money always 'turned up'. Some of their buyings and sellings +had answered pretty well. Some had been great failures. No +great stroke had been made as yet, but then the great stroke was +always being expected. Sexty's fears were greatly exaggerated by +the feeling that the coffee and guano were not always real coffee +and guano. His partner, indeed, was of the opinion that in such +a trade as this they were following there was no need at all of +real coffee or real guano, and explained his theory with +considerable eloquence. 'If I buy a ton of coffee and keep it +six weeks, why do I buy it and keep it, and why does the seller +sell it instead of keeping it? The seller sells it because he +thinks he can do best by parting with it now at a certain +price. I buy it because I think I can make money by keeping it. +It is just the same as though we were back to our opinions. He +backs the fall. I back the rise. You needn't have coffee and +you needn't have guano to do this. Indeed the possession of the +coffee or guano is only a very clumsy addition to the trouble of +your profession. I make it my study to watch the markets;--but +I needn't buy everything I see in order to make money by my +labour and intelligence.' Sexty Parker before his lunch always +thought that his partner was wrong, but after that ceremony he +almost daily became a convert to the great doctrine. Coffee and +guano still had to be bought because the world was dull and would +not learn the tricks of trade as taught by Ferdinand Lopez,-- +also possibly because somebody might want such articles,--but +our enterprising hero looked for a time in which no such dull +burden should be imposed on him. + +On this day, when the Duke's 500 pounds was turned into the +business, Sexty yielded in a large matter which his partner had +been pressing upon him for the last week. They bought a cargo +of Kauri gum, coming from New Zealand. Lopez had reasons for +thinking that Kauri gum must have a great rise. There was an +immense demand for amber, and Kauri gum might be used as a +substitute, and in six months' time would be double its present +value. This unfortunately was a real cargo. He could not find +an individual so enterprising as to venture to deal in a cargo of +Kauri gum after his fashion. But the next best thing was done. +The real cargo was bought, and his name and Sexty's name were on +the bills given for the goods. On that day he returned home in +high spirits for he did believe in his own intelligence and good +fortune. + + + +CHAPTER 44 + +MR WHARTON THINKS OF A NEW WILL. + +On that afternoon, immediately on the husband's return to the +house, his wife spoke to him as her father had desired. On that +evening Mr Wharton was dining at his club, and therefore there +was the whole evening before them; but the thing to be done was +disagreeable, and therefore she did it at once,--rushing into +the matter almost before he had seated himself in the arm-chair +which he had appropriated to his use in the drawing-room. 'Papa +was talking about our affairs after you left this morning, and he +thinks that it would be so much better if you would tell him +about them.' + +'What made him talk of that today?' he said, turning at her +almost angrily and thinking at once of the Duke's cheque. + +'I suppose it is natural that he should be anxious about us, +Ferdinand;--and the more natural as he has money to give if he +chooses to give it.' + +'I have asked him for nothing lately;--though, by George, I +intend to ask him and that very roundly. Three thousand pounds +isn't much of a sum of money for your father to have given you.' + +'And he paid the election bill;--didn't he?' + +'He has been complaining of that behind my back,--has he? I +didn't ask him for it, he offered it. I wasn't such a fool as to +refuse, but he needn't bring that up as a grievance to you.' + +'It wasn't brought up as a grievance. I was saying that your +standing had been a heavy expenditure--' + +'Why did you say so? What made you talk about it at all? Why +should you be discussing my affairs behind my back?' + +'To my own father! And that too when you are telling me every +day that I am to induce him to help you.' + +'Not by complaining that I am poor. But how did it all begin?' +She had to think for a moment before she could recollect how it +did begin. 'There has been something,' he said, 'which you are +ashamed to tell me.' + +'There is nothing I am ashamed to tell you. There never has been +and never will be anything.' And she stood up as she spoke, with +open eyes and extended nostrils. 'Whatever may come, however +wretched it may be, I shall not be ashamed of myself.' + +'But of me!' + +'Why do you say so? Why do you try to make unhappiness between +us?' + +'You have been talking of--my poverty.' + +'My father asked why you should go to Dovercourt,--and whether +it was because it would save expense.' + +'You want to go somewhere?' + +'Not at all. I am contented to stay in London. But I said that I +thought the expense had a good deal to do with it. Of course it +has.' + +'Where do you want to be taken? I suppose Dovercourt is not +fashionable.' + +'I want nothing.' + +'If you are thinking of travelling abroad, I can't spare the +time. It isn't an affair of money, and you had no business to +say so. I thought of the place because it is quiet and because I +can get up and down easily. I am sorry that I ever came to live +in this house.' + +'Why do you say that, Ferdinand?' + +'Because you and your father make cabals behind my back. If +there is anything I hate it is that kind of thing.' + +'You are very unjust,' she said to him sobbing. 'I have never +caballed. I have never done anything against you. Of course +papa ought to know.' + +'Why ought he to know? Why is your father to have the right of +inquiry into all my affairs?' + +'Because you want his assistance. It is only natural. You +always tell me to get him to assist you. He spoke to me kindly, +saying that he would like to know how things are.' + +'Then he won't know. As for wanting his assistance, of course I +want the fortune which he ought to give to you. He is a man of +the world enough to know that as I am in business capital must be +useful to me. I should have thought that you would understand as +much as that yourself.' + +'I do understand it, I suppose.' + +'Then why don't you act as my friend rather than his? Why don't +you take my part? It seems to me that you are much more his +daughter than my wife.' + +'That is most unfair.' + +'If you had any pluck you would make him understand that for your +sake he ought to say what he means to do, so that I might have +the advantage of the fortune which I suppose he means to give you +some day. If you had the slightest anxiety to help me you could +influence him. Instead of that you talk to him about my poverty. +I don't want him to think that I am a pauper. That's not the way +to get round a man like your father, who is rich himself and who +thinks it a disgrace in other men not to be rich too.' + +'I can't tell him in the same breath that you are rich and that +you want money.' + +'Money is the means by which men make money. If he was confident +of my business he'd sell out his cash quick enough! It is +because he has been taught to think that I am in a small way. +He'll find his mistake some day.' + +'You won't speak to him then?' + +'I don't say that at all. If I find that it will answer my own +purpose I shall speak to him. But it would be very much easier +to me if I could get you to be cordial in helping me.' + +Emily by this time quite knew what such cordiality meant. He had +been so free in his words to her that there could be no mistake. +He had instructed her to 'get round' her father. And now again +he spoke of her influence over her father. Although her +illusions were all melting away,--oh, so quickly vanishing,-- +still she knew that it was her duty to be true to her husband, +and to be his wife rather than her father's daughter. But what +could she say on his behalf, knowing nothing of his affairs? She +had no idea what was his business, what was his income, what +amount of money she ought to spend as his wife. As far as she +could see,--and her common sense in seeing such things was good, +--he had no regular income, and was justified in no expenditure. +On her own account she would ask for no information. She was too +proud to request that from him which should be given without any +request. But in her own defence she must tell him that she could +use no influence with her father as she knew none of the +circumstances by which her father would be guided. 'I cannot +tell you in the manner you mean,' she said, 'because I know +nothing myself.' + +'You know that you can trust me to do the best with your money if +I could get hold of it, I suppose?' She certainly did not know +this, and held her tongue. 'You could assure him of that?' + +'I could only tell him to judge for himself.' + +'What you mean is that you'd see me d-d before you would open +your mouth for me to the old man!' + +He had never sworn at her before, and now she burst out into a +flood of tears. It was to her a terrible outrage. I do not know +that a woman is very much the worse because her husband may +forget himself on an occasion to 'rap out an oath at her', as he +would call it when making the best of his own sin. Such an +offence is compatible with uniform kindness and most affectionate +consideration. I have known ladies who would think little or +nothing about it,--who would go no farther than the mildest +protest,--'Do remember where you are!' or 'My dear John!'--if +no stranger were present. But then a wife should be initiated +into it by degrees and there are different tones of bad language, +of which by far the most general is the good-humoured tone. We +all of us know men who never damn their servants or inferiors, or +strangers, or women,--who in fact keep it all for their bosom +friends, and if a little does sometimes flow over in the freedom +of domestic life, the wife is apt to remember that she is the +bosomer of her husband's friends, and so to pardon the +transgression. But here the word had been uttered with all its +foulest violence, with virulence and vulgarity. It seemed to the +victim to be the sign of a terrible crisis in her early married +life,--as though the man who had spoken to her could never again +love her, never again be kind to her, never again be sweetly +gentle and like a love. And as he spoke it he looked at her as +though he would like to tear her limbs asunder. She was +frightened as well as horrified and astounded. She had not a +word to say to him. She did not know in what language to make +her complaint of such treatment. She burst into tears, and +throwing herself on the sofa, hid her face in her hands. 'You +provoke me to be violent,' he said. But still she could not +speak to him. 'I come away from the city, tired with work and +troubled with a thousand things, and you have not had a kind word +to say to me.' Then there was a pause, during which she still +sobbed. 'If your father has anything to say to me, let him say +it. I shall not run away. But as to going to him of my own +accord with a story as long as my arm about my affairs, I don't +mean to do it.' Then he paused a moment again. 'Come, old girl, +cheer up! Don't pretend to be broken-hearted because I used a +hard word. There are worse things than that to be borne in the +world.' + +'I--I--I was so startled, Ferdinand.' + +'A man can't always remember that he isn't with another man. +Don't think anything more about it, but do bear this in mind,-- +that, situated as we are, your influence with your father may be +the making or marring of me.' And so he left the room. + +She had sat for the next ten minutes thinking of it all. The +words which he had spoken were so horrible that she could not get +them out of her mind,--could not bring herself to look upon them +as a trifle. The darkness of his countenance still dwelt with +her,--and that absence of all tenderness, that coarse, un- +marital and yet marital roughness, which should not at any rate +have come to him so soon. The whole man too was so different +from what she had thought him to be. Before their marriage no +word as to money had ever reached her ears from his lips. He had +talked to her of books,--and especially of poetry. Shakespeare +and Moliere, Dante and Goethe, had been or had seemed to be, dear +to him. And he had been full of fine ideas about women, and +about men in their intercourse with women. For his sake she had +separated herself from all her old friends. For his sake she had +hurried into a marriage altogether distasteful to her father. +For his sake she had closed her heart against the other lover. +Trusting altogether in him she had ventured to think that she had +known what was good for her better than all those who had been +her counsellors, and had given herself to him utterly. Now she +was awake, her dream was over, and the natural language of the man +was still ringing in her ears. + +They met together at dinner and passed the evening without a +further allusion to the scene which had been acted. He sat with +a magazine in his hand, every now and then making some remark +intended to be pleasant but which grated on her ears as being +fictitious. She would answer him,--because it was her duty to +do so, and because she would not condescend to sulk; but she +could not bring herself even to say to herself that all should be +with her as though that horrid word had not been spoken. She sat +over her work till ten, answering him when he spoke in a voice +which was also fictitious, and then took herself off to her bed +that she might weep alone. It would, she knew, be late before he +would come to her. + +On the next morning there came a message to him as he was +dressing. Mr Wharton wished to speak to him. Would he come down +before breakfast, or would he call on Mr Wharton in Stone +Buildings? He sent down word that he would do the latter at an +hour to be fixed, and then did not show himself in the breakfast- +room till Mr Wharton was gone. 'I've got to go to your father +to-day,' he said to his wife, 'and I thought it best not to begin +till we come to the regular business. I hope he does not mean to +be unreasonable.' To this she made no answer. 'Of course you +think the want of reason will be all on my side.' + +'I don't know why you should say so.' + +'Because I can read your mind. You do think so. You've been in +the same boat with your father all your life, and you can't get +out of that boat and get into mine. I was wrong to come and live +here. Of course it was not the way to withdraw you from his +influence.' She had nothing to say that would not anger him, and +was therefore silent. 'Well; I must do the best I can by myself, +I suppose. Good-bye,' and so he was off. + +'I want to know,' said Mr Wharton, on whom was thrown by +premeditation on the part of Lopez the task of beginning the +conversation,--'I want to know what is the nature of your +operation. I have never been quite able to understand it.' + +'I do not know that I quite understand it myself,' said Lopez +laughing. + +'No man alive,' continued the old barrister almost solemnly, 'has +a greater objection to thrust himself into another man's affairs +than I have. And I didn't ask the question before your marriage, +--as perhaps I ought to have done,--I should not do so now, were +it not that the disposition of some part of my earnings of my +life must depend on the condition of your affairs.' Lopez +immediately perceived that it behoved him to be very much on the +alert. It might be that if he showed himself to be very poor, +his father-in-law would see the necessity of assisting him at +once, or it might be, that unless he could show himself to be in +prosperous circumstances, his father-in-law would not assist him +at all. 'To tell you the plain truth, I am minded to make a new +will. I had of course made arrangements as to my property before +Emily's marriage. Those arrangements I think I shall now alter. +I am greatly distressed with Everett, and from what I see and +from a few words that have dropped from Emily, I am not, to tell +you the truth, quite happy as to your position. If I understand +rightly you are a general merchant, buying and selling goods in +the market?' + +'That's about it, sir.' + +'What capital have you in the business?' + +'What capital?' + +'Yes;--how much did you put into it at starting?' + +Lopez paused a moment. He had got his wife. The marriage could +not be undone. Mr Wharton had money enough for them all, and +certainly would not discard his daughter. Mr Wharton could place +him on a really equal footing, and might not improbably do so if +he could be made to feel some confidence in his son-in-law. At +this moment there was much doubt with the son-in-law whether he +had better not tell the simple truth. 'It has gone in by degrees,' +he said. 'Altogether I have about 8,000 pounds in it.' In truth +he had never been possessed of a shilling. + +'Does that include the 3,000 pounds you had from me?' + +'Yes; it does.' + +'Then you have married my girl and started into the world with a +business based on 5,000 pounds, and which had so far miscarried +that within a month of two after your marriage you were driven to +apply to me for funds!' + +'I wanted money for a certain purpose.' + +'Have you any partner, Mr Lopez?' This address was felt to be +very ominous. + +'Yes. I have a partner who is possessed of capital. His name is +Parker.' + +'Then his capital is your capital.' + +'Well;--I can't explain it, but it is not so.' + +'What is the name of your firm?' + +'We haven't a registered name.' + +'Have you a place of business?' + +'Parker has a place of business in Little Tankard Yard.' + +Mr Wharton turned to a directory and found out Parker's name. +'Mr Parker is a stockbroker. Are you also a stockbroker?' + +'No,--I am not.' + +'Then, sir, it seems to me that you are a commercial adventurer.' + +'I am not at all ashamed of the name, Mr Wharton. According to +your manner of reckoning half the business of the City of London +is done by commercial adventurers. I watch the markets and buy +goods,--and sell them at a profit. Mr Parker is a moneyed man, +who happens also to be a stockbroker. We can very easily call +ourselves merchants, and put up the names of Lopez and Parker +over the door.' + +'Do you sign bills together?' + +'Yes.' + +'As Lopez and Parker?' + +'No. I sign them and he signs them. I trade also by myself, and +so, I believe, does he.' + +'One other question, Mr Lopez. On what income have you paid +income-tax for the last three years?' + +'On 2,000 pounds a year,' said Lopez. This was a direct lie. + +'Can you make out any schedule showing your exact assets and +liabilities at the present time?' + +'Certainly I can.' + +'Then do so, and send it to me before I go into Hertfordshire. +My will as it stands at present would not be to your advantage. +But I cannot change it till I know more of your circumstances +than I do now.' And so the interview was over. + + + +CHAPTER 45 + +MRS SEXTY PARKER. + +Though Mr Wharton and Lopez met every day for the next week, +nothing more was said about the schedule. The old man was +thinking about it every day, and so was Lopez. But Mr Wharton +had made his demand, and, as he thought, nothing more was to be +said on the subject. He could not continue the subject as he +would have done with his son. But as day after day passed by he +became more and more convinced that his son-in-law's affairs were +not in a state which could bear to see the light. He had +declared his purpose of altering his will in the man's favour, if +the man would satisfy him. And yet nothing was done and nothing +was said. + +Lopez had come among them and robbed him of his daughter. Since +the man had become intimate in his house he had not known an +hour's happiness. The man had destroyed all the plans of his +life, broken through his castle, and violated his very hearth. +No doubt he himself had vacillated. He was aware of that. No +present mood was severe enough in judging himself. In his +desolation he had tried to take the man to his heart,--had been +kind to him, and had even opened his house to him. He had told +himself that as the man was the husband of his daughter he had +better make the best of it. He had endeavoured to make the best +of it, but between him and the man there were such differences +that they were poles asunder. And now it became clear to him +that the man was, as he had declared to the man's face, no better +than an adventurer! + +By his will as it at present stood he had left two-thirds of his +property to Everett, and one-third to his daughter, with +arrangements for settling her share on her children, should she +be married and have children at the time of his death. This will +had been made many years ago, and he had long since determined to +alter it, in order that he might divide his property equally +between his children;--but he had postponed the matter, +intending to give a large portion of Emily's share to her +directly on her marriage with Arthur Fletcher. She had not +married Arthur Fletcher;--but it was still necessary that a new +will should be made. + +When he left town for Hertfordshire he had not yet made up his +mind how this should be done. He had at one time thought that he +would give some considerable sum to Lopez at once, knowing that +to a man in business such assistance would be useful. And he had +not altogether abandoned that idea, even when he had asked for +the schedule. He did not relish the thought of giving his hard- +earned money to Lopez, but still the man's wife was his daughter, +and he must do the best that he could for her. Her taste in +marrying the man was inexplicable to him. But that was done;-- +and now how might he best arrange his affairs so as to serve her +interests? + +About the middle of August he went to Hertfordshire and she to +the seaside in Essex,--to the little place which Lopez had +selected. Before the end of the month the father-in-law wrote a +line to his son-in-law. + + DEAR LOPEZ, +(not without premeditation had he departed from the sternness of +that 'Mr Lopez', which in his anger he had used at the chambers.) + + When we were discussing your affairs I asked you for a + schedule of your assets and liabilities. I can make no + new arrangement of my property until I receive this. + Should I die leaving my present will as the instrument + under which my property would be conveyed to my heirs, + Emily's share would go into the hands of trustees for the + use of herself and her possible children. I tell you + this that you may understand that it is for your own + interest to comply with my requisition. +Yours, +A. WHARTON + +Of course questions were asked him as to how the newly married +couple were getting on. At Wharton these questions were mild and +easily put off. Sir Alured was contented with a slight shake of +his head, and Lady Wharton only remarked for the fifth or sixth +time that it 'was a pity'. But when they all went to Longbarns, +the difficulty became greater. Arthur was not there, and old Mrs +Fletcher was in full strength. 'So the Lopezes have come to live +with you in Manchester Square?' Mr Wharton acknowledged that it +was so with an affirmative grunt. 'I hope he's a pleasant +inmate.' There was a scorn in the old woman's voice as she said +this, which ought to have provoked any man. + +'More so than most men would be,' said Mr Wharton. + +'Oh, indeed!' + +'He is courteous and forbearing, and does not think that +everything around him should be suited to his own peculiar +fancies.' + +'I am glad you are contented with the marriage, Mr Wharton.' + +'Who said that I am contented with it? No one ought to +understand or to share my discontent so cordially as yourself, +Mrs Fletcher;--and no one ought to be more chary of speaking of +it. You and I hoped for other things, and old people do not like +to be disappointed. But I needn't paint the devil blacker than +he is.' + +'I'm afraid that, as usual, he is rather black.' + +'Mother,' said John Fletcher, 'the thing has been done and you +might as well let it be. We are all sorry that Emily has not +come nearer to us, but she has a right to choose for herself, and +I for one wish,--as does my brother also,--that she may be +happy in the lot she has chosen.' + +'His conduct to Arthur at Silverbridge was so nice!' said the +pertinacious old woman. + +'Never mind his conduct, mother. What is it to us?' + +'That's all very well, John, but according to that nobody is to +talk about anybody.' + +'I would much prefer, at any rate,' said Mr Wharton, 'that you +would not talk about Mr Lopez in my hearing.' + +'I don't like Lopez, you know,' Mr Wharton said to John Fletcher +afterwards. 'How should it be possible that I should like such a +man? But there can be no good got by complaints. It is not what +your mother suffers, or what evil I can suffer,--or, worse +again, what Arthur may suffer, that makes the sadness of all +this. What will be her life? That is the question. And it is +too near me, too important to me, for the endurance either of +scorn or pity. I was glad you asked your mother to be silent.' + +'I can understand it,' said John. 'I do not think that she will +trouble you again.' + +In the meantime Lopez received Mr Wharton's letter at Dovercourt, +and had to consider what answer he should give to it. No answer +could be satisfactory,--unless he could impose a false answer on +his father-in-law so as to make it credible. The more he thought +of it, the more he believed this would be impossible. The +cautious old lawyer would not accept unverified statements. A +certain sum of money,--by no means illiberal at present,--he +had already extracted from the old man. What he wanted was a +further and much larger grant. Though Mr Wharton was old he did +not want to have to wait for the death even of an old man. The +next two or three years,--probably the very next year,--might +be the turning-point of his life. He had married the girl, and +ought to have the girl's fortune,--down on the nail! As he +thought of this he cursed his ill luck. The husbands of other +girls had their fortunes conveyed to them immediately on their +marriage. What would not 20,000 pounds do for him, if he could +get it into his hand? And so he taught himself to regard the old +man as a robber and himself as a victim. Who among us is there +who does not teach himself the same lesson? And then too how +cruelly, how damnably he had been used by the Duchess of Omnium! +And how Sexty Parker, whose fortune he was making for him, whose +fortune he at any rate intended to make, was troubling him in +various ways. 'We're in a boat together,' Sexty had said. +'You've had the use of my money, and by heavens you have it +still. I don't see why you should be so stiff. Do you bring +your missus to Dovercourt, and I'll take mine, and let 'em know +each other.' There was a little argument on the subject, but +Sexty Parker had the best of it, and in this way the trip to +Dovercourt was arranged. + +Lopez was in a very good humour when he took his wife down, and +he walked her round the terraces and esplanades of that not +sufficiently well-known marine paradise, now bidding her admire +the sea and now laughing at the finery of the people, till she +became gradually filled with the idea that he was making himself +pleasant, she also ought to do the same. Of course she was not +happy. The gilding had so completely and so rapidly been washed +off her idol that she could not be very happy. But she also +could be good-humoured. 'And now,' said he, smiling, 'I have got +something for you to do for me,--something that you will find +very disagreeable.' + +'What is it? It won't be very bad, I'm sure.' + +'It will be very bad, I'm afraid. My excellent but horribly +vulgar partner, Sexty Parker, when he found that I was coming +here, insisted on bringing his wife and children also. I want +you to know them.' + +'Is that all? She must be very bad indeed if I can't put up with +that.' + +'In one sense she isn't bad at all. I believe her to be an +excellent woman, intent on spoiling her children and giving her +husband a good dinner every day. But I think you will find that +she is,--well,--not quite what you would call a lady.' + +'I shan't mind that in the least. I'll help her spoil the +children.' + +'You can get a lesson there, you know,' he said, looking into her +face. The little joke was one which a young wife might take with +pleasure from her husband, but her life had already been too much +embittered for any such delight. Yes; the time was coming when +that trouble also would be added to her. She dreaded she knew +not what, and had often told herself that it would be better that +she should be childless. + +'Do you like him?' she said. + +'Like him. No;--I can't say I like him. He is useful, and in +one sense honest.' + +'Is he not honest in all senses?' + +'That's a large order. To tell you the truth, I don't know any +man who is.' + +'Everett is honest.' + +'He loses money at play which he can't pay without assistance +from his father. If his father had refused, where would then +have been his honesty? Sexty is as honest as others, I dare say, +but I shouldn't like to trust him much farther than I could see +him. I shan't go up to town to-morrow, and we'll both look in on +them after luncheon.' + +In the afternoon the call was made. The Parkers, having +children, had dined early, and he was sitting out on a little +porch smoking his pipe, drinking whisky and water, and looking at +the sea. His eldest girl was standing between his legs, and his +wife, with the other three children round her, was sitting on the +door-step. 'I've brought my wife to see you,' said Lopez, +holding his hand to Mrs Parker, as she rose from the ground. + +'I told her that you'd be coming,' said Sexty, 'and she wanted me +to put off my pipe and little drop of drink; but I said that if +Mrs Lopez was the lady I took her to be she wouldn't begrudge a +hard-working fellow his pipe and glass on a holiday.' + +There was a soundness of sense in this which mollified any +feeling of disgust which Emily might have felt at the man's +vulgarity. 'I think you are quite right, Mr Parker. I should be +very sorry if,--if--' + +'If I was to put my pipe out. Well, I won't. You'll take a +glass of sherry, Lopez? Though I'm drinking spirits myself. I +brought down a hamper of sherry wine. Oh, nonsense;--you must +take something. That's right, Jane. Let us have the stuff and +the glasses, and then they can do as they like.' Lopez lit a +cigar, and allowed his host to pour out for him a glass of +'sherry wine', while Mrs Lopez went into the house with Mrs +Parker and the children. + +Mrs Parker opened herself out to her new friend immediately. She +hoped that they two might see 'a deal of each other,--that is, +if you don't think it's too pushing'. Sextus, she said, was so +much away, coming down to Dovercourt only every other day! And +then, within the half hour which was consumed by Lopez with his +cigar, the poor woman got upon the general troubles of her life. +Did Mrs Lopez think that 'all this speckelation was just the +right thing?' + +'I don't think I know anything about it, Mrs Parker.' + +'But you ought;--oughtn't you, now? Don't you think that a wife +ought to know what it is that her husband is after;--specially +if there's children? A good bit of money was mine, Mrs Lopez, +and though I don't begrudge it, not one bit, if any good is to +come out of it to him or them, a woman doesn't like what her +father has given her should be made ducks and drakes of.' + +'But are they making ducks and drakes?' + +'When he don't tell me I'm always afeard. And I'll tell you what +I know just as well as two and two. When he comes home a little +flustered, and then takes more than his regular allowance, he's +been at something as don't quite satisfy him. He's never that +way when he's done a good day's work at his regular business. He +takes to the children then, and has one glass after his dinner, +and tells me all about it,--down to the shillings and pence. +But it's very seldom he's that way now.' + +'You may think it very odd, Mrs Parker, but I don't in the least +know what my husband is--in business.' + +'And you never ask?' + +'I haven't been very long married, you know,--only about two +months.' + +'I'd had my fust by that time.' + +'Only nine months, I think, indeed.' + +'Well; I wasn't very long after that. But I took care to know +what it was he was a-doing of in the city long before that time. +And I did use to know everything, till--' She was going to say, +till Lopez had come upon the scene. But she did not wish, at any +rate as yet, to be harsh to her new friend. + +'I hope it is all right,' said Emily. + +'Sometimes he's as though the Bank of England was all his own. +And there's been more money come into the house;--that I must +say. And there isn't an open-handeder one than Sexty anywhere. +He'd like to see me in a silk gown every day of my life;--and as +for the children, there's nothing smart enough for them. Only +I'd sooner have a little and safe, than anything ever so fine, +and never be sure whether it wasn't going to come to an end.' + +'There I agree with you, quite.' + +'I don't suppose men feels it as we do; but, oh, Mrs Lopez, give +me a little safe, so that I may know that I shan't see my +children want. When I thinks what it would be to have them +darlings' little bellies empty, and nothing in the cupboard, I +get that low that I'm nigh fit for Bedlam.' + +In the meantime the two men outside the porch were discussing +their affairs in somewhat the same spirit. At last Lopez showed +the friend Wharton's letter, and told him of the expected +schedule. 'Schedule be d-d, you know,' said Lopez. 'How am I to +put down a rise of 12s.6d a ton on Kauri gum in a schedule? But +when you come to 2,000 tons it's 1,250 pounds.' + +'He's very old, isn't he?' + +'But as strong as a horse.' + +'He's got the money?' + +'Yes;--he has got it safe enough. There's no doubt about the +money.' + +'What he talks about is only a will. Now you want the money at +once.' + +'Of course I do;--and he talks to me as if I were some old fogy +with an estate of my own. I must concoct a letter and explain my +views; and the more I can make him understand how things really +are the better. I don't suppose he wants to see his daughter +come to grief.' + +'Then the sooner you write it the better,' said Mr Parker. + + + +CHAPTER 46 + +'HE WANTS TO GET RICH TOO QUICK.' + +As they strolled home Lopez told his wife that he had accepted an +invitation to dine the next day at the Parker's cottage. In +doing this his manner was not quite so gentle as when he had +asked her to call on them. He had been a little ruffled by what +had been said, and now exhibited his temper. 'I don't suppose it +will be very nice,' he said, 'but we may have to put up with +worse things than that.' + +'I have made no objection.' + +'But you don't seem to take it very cordially.' + +'I had thought I had got on very well with Mrs Parker. If you +can eat your dinner with them, I'm sure I can. You do not seem +to like him altogether, and I wish you had got a partner more to +your taste.' + +'Taste indeed! When you come to this kind of thing it isn't a +matter of taste. The fact is, that I am in the fellow's hands to +an extent I don't like to think of, and don't see my way out of +it unless your father will do as he ought to do. You altogether +refuse to help me with your father, and you must, therefore, put +up with Sexty Parker and his wife. It is quite on the cards that +worse things may come even than Sexty Parker.' To this she made +no immediate answer, but walked on, increasing her pace, not only +unhappy, but also very angry. It was becoming a matter of doubt +to her whether she could continue to bear the repeated attacks +about her father's money. 'I can see how it is,' he continued. +'You think that a husband should bear all the troubles of life, +and that a wife should never be made to hear of them.' + +'Ferdinand,' she said, 'I declare I did not think that any man +could be so unfair to a woman as you are to me.' + +'Of course! Because I haven't got thousands a year to spend on +you I am unfair.' + +'I am content to live in any way that you may direct. If you are +poor, I am satisfied to be poor. If you are even ruined, I am +content to be ruined.' + +'Who is talking about ruin?' + +'If you are in want of everything, I also will be in want and +will never complain. Whatever our joint lot may bring to us I +will endure and endeavour to endure with cheerfulness. But I +will not ask my father for money, either for you or for myself. +He knows what he ought to do. I trust him implicitly.' + +'And me not at all.' + +'He is, I know, in communication with you about what should be +done. I can only say,--tell him everything.' + +'My dear, that is a matter in which it may be possible that I +understand my own interest best.' + +'Very likely. I certainly understand nothing, for I do not even +know the nature of your business. How can I tell him that he +ought to give you money?' + +'You might have asked him for your own.' + +'I have got nothing. Did I ever tell you that I had?' + +'You ought to have known.' + +'Do you mean that when you asked me to marry you I should have +refused you because I did not know what money my papa would give +me? Why did you not ask papa?' + +'Had I known him then as well as I do now you may be quite sure +that I should have done so.' + +'Ferdinand, it will be better that we should not speak about my +father. I will in all things strive to do as you would have me, +but I cannot hear him abused. If you have anything to say, go to +Everett.' + +'Yes;--when he is such a gambler that your father won't even +speak to him. Your father will be found dead in bed some day, +and all his money will have been left to some cursed hospital.' +They were at their own door when this was said, and she, without +further answer, went up to her bedroom. + +All these bitter things had been said, not because Lopez had +thought that he could further his own views by saying them;--he +knew indeed that he was injuring himself by every display of ill- +temper;--but she was in his power, and Sexty Parker was +rebelling. He thought a good deal that day on the delight he +would have in 'kicking that ill-conditioned cur', if only he +could afford to kick him. But his wife was his own, and she +must be taught to endure his will, and must be made to know that +though she was not to be kicked, yet she was to be tormented and +ill-used. And it might be possible that he should cow her +spirits as to bring her to act as she should direct. Still, as +he walked alone along the sea-shore, he knew that it would be +better for him to control his temper. + +On that evening he did write to Mr Wharton,--as follows,--and +he dated the letter from Little Tankard Yard, so that Mr Wharton +might suppose that that was his own place of business, and that +he was there, at his work: + + MY DEAR SIR, + You have asked for a schedule of my affairs, and I have + found it quite impossible to give it. As it was with the + merchants whom Shakespeare and the other dramatists + described,--so it is with me. My caravels are out at + sea, and will not always come home in time. My property + at this moment consists of certain shares of cargoes of + jute, Kauri gum, guano, and sulphur, worth altogether at + the present moment something over 26,000 pounds, of which + Mr Parker possesses a half;--but then of this property + only a portion is paid for,--perhaps something more than + a half. For the other half our bills are in the market. + But in February next these articles will probably be sold + for considerably more than 30,000 pounds. If I had 5,000 + pounds placed to my credit now, I should be worth about + 15,000 pounds by the end of next February. I am engaged + in sundry other smaller ventures, all returning profits; + --but in such a condition of things it is impossible that + I should make a schedule. + + I am undoubtedly in the condition of a man trading beyond + his capital. I have been tempted by fair offers, and + what I think I may call something beyond an average + understanding of such matters, to go into ventures beyond + my means. I have stretched my arm out too far. In such a + position it is not perhaps unnatural that I should ask a + wealthy father-in-law to assist me. It is certainly not + unnatural that I should wish him to do so. + + I do not think I am a mercenary man. When I married your + daughter I raised no question of her fortune. Being + embarked in trade I no doubt thought that her means,-- + whatever they might be,--would be joined with my own. I + know that a sum of 20,000 pounds, with my expeditious use + of the money, would give us a noble income. But I would + not condescend to ask a question which might lead to a + supposition that I was marrying her for her money and not + because I loved her. + + You now know, I think, all that I can tell you. If there + be any other questions I would willingly answer them. It + is certainly the case that Emily's fortune, whatever you + may choose to give her, would be of infinitely greater + use to me now,--and consequently to her,--than at a + future date which I sincerely pray may be very long + deferred. + Believe me to be, your affectionate son-in-law + FERDINAND LOPEZ + A. Wharton, Esq. + +This letter he himself took up to town on the following day, and +there posted, addressing it to Wharton Hall. He did not expect +very great results from it. As he read it over, he was painfully +aware that all this trash about caravels and cargoes of sulphur +would not go very far with Mr Wharton. But it might go farther +than nothing. He was bound not to neglect Mr Wharton's letter to +him. When a man is in difficulty about money, even a lie,--even +a lie that is sure to be found out to be a lie,--will serve his +immediate turn better than silence. There is nothing that the +courts hate so much as contempt;--not even perjury. And Lopez +felt that Mr Wharton was the judge before whom he was bound to +plead. + +He returned to Dovercourt on that day, and he and his wife dined +with the Parkers. No woman of her age had known better what were +the manners of ladies and gentlemen than Emily Wharton. She had +thoroughly understood that when in Hertfordshire she was +surrounded by people of that class, and that when she was with +her aunt, Mrs Roby, she was not quite so happily placed. No +doubt she had been terribly deceived by her husband,--but the +deceit had come from the fact that his manners gave no indication +of his character. When she found herself in Mrs Parker's little +sitting-room, with Mr Parker making florid speeches to her, she +knew that she had fallen among people for whose society she had +not been intended. But this was a part, and only a very trifling +part, of the punishment which she felt that she deserved. If +that, and things like that, were all, she would bear them without +a murmur. + +'Now I call Dovercourt a dooced nice little place,' said Mrs +Parker, as he helped her to the 'bit fish', which he told her he +had brought down with him from London. + +'It is very healthy, I should think. + +'Just the thing for the children, ma'am. You've none of your +own, Mrs Lopez, but there's a good time coming. You were up to- +day, weren't you, Lopez. Any news?' + +'Things seemed to be very quiet in the city.' + +'Too quiet, I'm afraid. I hate having 'em quiet. You must come +and see me in Little Tankard Yard some of these days, Mrs Lopez. +We can give you a glass of champagne and the wing of a chicken;-- +can't we, Lopez?' + +'I don't know. It's more than you ever gave me,' said Lopez, +trying to look good-humoured. + +'But you ain't a lady.' + +'Or me,' said Mrs Parker. + +'You're only a wife. If Mrs Lopez will make a day of it we'll +treat her well in the city;--won't we, Ferdinand?' A black +cloud come across 'Ferdinand's' face, but he said nothing. Emily +of a sudden drew herself up unconsciously,--and then at once +relaxed her features and smiled. If her husband chose that it +should be so, she would make no objection. + +'Upon my honour, Sexty, you are very familiar,' said Mrs Parker. + +'It's a way we have in the city,' said Sexty. Sexty knew what he +was about. His partner called him Sexty, and why shouldn't he +call his partner Ferdinand? + +'He'll call you Emily before long,' said Lopez. + +'When you call my wife Jane, I shall,--and I've no objection in +life. I don't see why people ain't to call each other by their +Christian names. Take a glass of champagne, Mrs Lopez. I +brought down half-a-dozen to-day so that we might be jolly. Care +killed a cat. Whatever we call each other, I'm very glad to see +you here, Mrs Lopez, and I hope it's the first of a great many. +Here's to your health.' + +It was all his ordering, and if he bade her dine with a crossing- +sweeper she would do it. But she could not but remember that not +long since he had told her that his partner was not a person with +whom she could fitly associated; and she did not fail to perceive +that he must be going down in the world to admit such +associations for her after he had so spoken. And as she sipped +the mixture which Sexty called champagne, she thought of +Hertfordshire and the banks of the Wye, and--alas, alas,--she +thought of Arthur Fletcher. Nevertheless, come what might, she +would do her duty, even though it might call upon her to sit at +dinner with Mr Parker three days in the week. Lopez was her +husband, and would be the father of her child, and she would make +herself one with him. It mattered not what people might call +him,--or even her. She had acted on her own judgement in +marrying him, and had been a fool; and now she would bear the +punishment without complaint. + +When dinner was over Mrs Parker helped the servant to remove the +dinner things from the single sitting-room, and the two men went +out to smoke their cigars in the covered porch. Mrs Parker +herself took out the whisky and hot water, and sugar and lemons, +and then returned to have a little matronly discourse with her +guest. 'Does Mr Lopez ever take a drop too much?' + +'Never,' said Mrs Lopez. + +'Perhaps it don't affect him as it do Sexty. He ain't a drinker; +--certainly not. And he's one that works hard every day of his +life. But he's getting fond of it these last twelve months, and +though he don't take very much it hurries him and flurries him. +If I speaks at night he gets cross;--and in the morning when he +gets up, which he always do regular, though it's ever so bad with +him, then I haven't the heart to scold him. It's very hard +sometimes for a wife to know what to do, Mrs Lopez.' + +'Yes, indeed.' Emily could not but think how soon she herself +had learned that lesson. + +'Of course I'd anything for Sexty,--the father of my bairns, and +has always been a good husband to me. You don't know him, of +course, but I do. A right good man at bottom; but so weak!' + +'If he,--if he,--injures his health, shouldn't you talk to him +about it?' + +'It isn't the drink as is the evil, Mrs Lopez, but that which +makes him drink. He's not one as goes a mucker merely for the +pleasure. When things are going right he'll sit out in our arbour +at home, and smoke pipe after pipe, playing with the children, +and one glass of gin and water will see him to bed. Tobacco, +dry, do agree with him, I think. But when he comes to three or +four goes of hot toddy, I know it's not as it should be.' + +'You should restrain him, Mrs Parker.' + +'Of course I should;--but how? Am I to walk off with the bottle +and disgrace him before the servant girl? Or am I to let the +children know as their father takes too much? If I was as much +as to make one fight of it, it'd be all over Ponder's End that +he's a drunkard;--which he ain't. Restrain him;--oh yes! If I +could restrain that gambling instead of regular business. That's +what I would like to restrain.' + +'Does he gamble?' + +'What is it but gambling that he and Mr Lopez is a-doing +together? Or course, ma'am, I don't know you, and you are +different from me. I ain't foolish enough not to know all that. +My father stood in Smithfield and sold hay, and your father is a +gentleman as has been high up in the Courts all his life. But +it's your husband is a-doing this.' + +'Oh, Mrs Parker!' + +'He is then. I don't know about commerce, Mrs Lopez, because I'm +only a woman; but it can't be fair. They goes and buys things +that they haven't got the money to pay for, and then waits to see +if they'll turn up trumps. Isn't that gambling?' + +'I cannot say. I do not know.' She felt now that her husband +had been accused, and that part of that accusation had been +levelled at herself. There was something in her manner of saying +these few words which the poor complaining woman perceived, +feeling immediately that she had been inhospitable and perhaps +unjust. She put out her hand softly, touching the other woman's +arm, and looking up into her guest's face. 'If this is so, it's +terrible,' said Emily. + +'Perhaps I shouldn't speak so free.' + +'Oh, yes;--for your children, and yourself, and your husband.' + +'It's them,--and him. Of course it's not your doing, and Mr +Lopez, I'm sure, is a very fine gentleman. And if he gets wrong +one way, he'll get himself right in another.' Upon hearing this +Emily shook her head. 'Your papa is a rich man, and won't see +you and yours come to want. There's nothing more to come to me +or Sexty let it be ever so.' + +'Why does he do it?' + +'Why does who do it?' + +'Your husband. Why don't you speak to him as you do to me, and +tell him to mind only his proper business?' + +'Now you are angry with me.' + +'Angry! No;--indeed I am not angry. Every word that you say is +good and true, and just what you ought to say. I am not angry; +but I am terrified. I know nothing of my husband's business. I +cannot tell you that you should trust to it. He is very clever, +but-' + +'But what, ma'am?' + +'Perhaps I should say that he is ambitious.' + +'You mean he wants to get rich too quick, ma'am.' + +'I'm afraid so.' + +'Then it's just the same with Sexty. He's ambitious too. But +what's the good of being ambitious, Mrs Lopez, if you never know +whether you're on your head or your heels? And what's the good +of being ambitious if you're to get into the workhouse? I know +what that means. There's one or two of them sort of men gets +into Parliament, and has houses as big as the Queen's palace, +while hundreds of them has their wives and children in the +gutter. Who ever hears of them? Nobody. It don't become any +man to be ambitious who has got a wife and family. If he's a +bachelor, who, of course, he can go to the Colonies. There's +Mary Jane and the two little ones right down on the sea, with +their feet in the water. She we put on our hats, Mrs Lopez, and +go and look after them?' To this proposition Emily assented, and +the two ladies went out after the children. + +'Mix yourself another glass,' said Sexty to his partner. + +'I'd rather not. Don't ask me again. You know I never drink, +and I don't like being pressed.' + +'By George,--you're particular.' + +'What's the use of teasing a fellow to do a thing he doesn't +like?' + +'You won't mind me having another?' + +'Fifty if you please, so that I'm not forced to join you.' + +'Forced! It's liberty 'all here, and you can do as you please. +Only when a fellow will take a drop with me, he's better +company.' + +'Then I'm d-d bad company, and you'd better get somebody else to +be jolly with. To tell you the truth, Sexty, I suit you better +at business than at this sort of thing. I'm like Shylock, you +know.' + +'I don't know about Shylock, but I'm blessed if I think you suit +me very well at anything. I'm putting up with a deal of ill- +usage, and when I try to be happy with you, you won't drink, and +you tell me about Shylock. He was a Jew, wasn't he?' + +'That is the general idea.' + +'Then you ain't much very like him, for they're the sort of +people that always has money about them.' + +'How do you suppose he made his money to begin with? What an ass +you are!' + +'That's true, I am. Ever since I began putting my name on the +same bit of paper with yours, I've been an ass.' + +'You'll have to be one a bit longer yet;--unless you mean to +throw up everything. At this present moment you are six or seven +thousand pounds richer than you were before you first met me.' + +'I wish I could see the money.' + +'That's like you. What's the use of money you can see? How are +you to make money out of money by looking at it? I like to know +that my money is fructifying.' + +'I like to know that it's all there,--and I did know it before I +ever saw you. I'm blessed if I know it now. Go down and join +the ladies, will you? You ain't much of a companion up here.' + +Shortly after that Lopez told Mrs Parker that he had already bade +adieu to her husband, and then he took his wife to their own +lodgings. + + + +CHAPTER 47 + +AS FOR LOVE! + +The time spent by Mrs Lopez at Dovercourt was by no means one of +complete happiness. Her husband did not come down very +frequently, alleging that his business kept him in town, and that +the journey was too long. When he did come he annoyed her either +by moroseness or tyranny, or by an affectation of loving good- +humour, which was the more disagreeable alternative of the two. +She knew that he had not right to be good-humoured, and she was +quite able to appreciate the difference between fictitious love +and love that was real. He did not while she was at Dovercourt +speak to her again directly about her father's money,--but he +gave her to understand that he required from her very close +economy. Then again she referred to the brougham which she knew +was to be in readiness on her return to London, but he told her +that he was the best judge of that. The economy which he +demanded was that comfortless heartrending economy which nips the +practiser at every turn, but does not betray itself to the world +at large. He would have her save out of her washerwoman and +linendraper, and yet have a smart gown and go in a brougham. He +begrudged her postage stamps, and stopped the subscription at +Mudie's, though he insisted on a front seat in the Dovercourt +church, paying half a guinea more for it than he would for a +place at the side. And then before their sojourn at the place +had come to an end he left her for a while absolutely penniless, +so that when the butcher and baker called for their money she +could not pay them. That was a dreadful calamity to her, and of +which she was hardly able to measure the real worth. It had +never happened to her before to have to refuse an application for +money that was due. In her father's house such a thing, as far +as she knew, had never happened. She had sometimes heard that +Everett was impecunious, but that had simply indicated an +additional call upon her father. When the butcher came the +second time she wrote to her husband in an agony. Should she +write to her father for a supply? She was sure that her father +would not leave them in actual want. Then he sent her a cheque, +enclosed in an angry letter. Apply to her father! Had she not +learnt as yet that she was to lean upon her father any longer, +but simply on him? And was she such a fool as to suppose that a +tradesman could not wait a month for his money? + +During all this time she had no friend,--no person to whom she +could speak,--except Mrs Parker. Mrs Parker was very open and +very confidential about the business, really knowing very much +more about it than did Mrs Lopez. There was some sympathy and +confidence between her and her husband, though they had latterly +been much lessened by Sexty's conduct. Mrs Parker talked daily +about the business now that her mouth had been opened, and was +very clearly of the opinion that it was not a good business. +'Sexty don't think it good himself,' she said. + +'Then why does he go on with it?' + +'Business is a thing, Mrs Lopez, as people can't drop out of just +at a moment. A man gets himself entangled, and must free himself +as best he can. I know he's terribly afeard;--and sometimes he +does say such things of your husband!' Emily shrunk almost into +herself as she heard this. 'You mustn't be angry, for indeed +it's better you should know all.' + +'I'm not angry; only very unhappy. Surely, Mr Parker could +separate himself from Mr Lopez if he pleased?' + +'That's what I say to him. Give it up, though it be ever so much +as you've got to lose by him. Give it up, and begin again. +You've always got your experience, and if it's only a crust you +can earn, that's sure and safe. But then he declares that he +means to pull through, Mrs Lopez. There shouldn't be no need of +pulling through. It should all come just of its own accord,-- +little and little, but safe.' Then, when the days of their +marine holiday were coming to an end,--in the first week in +October,--the day before the return of the Parkers to Ponder's +End, she made a strong appeal to her new friend. 'You ain't +afraid of him, are you?' + +'Of my husband?' said Mrs Lopez. 'I hope not. Why should you +ask?' + +'Believe me, a woman should never be afraid of 'em. I never +would give in to be bullied and made little of by Sexty. I'd do +a'most anything to make him comfortable. I'm soft-hearted. And +why not, when he's the father of my children? But I'm not going +not to say a thing if I think it right, because I'm afeard.' + +'I think I could say anything if I thought it right.' + +'Then tell him of me and my babes,--as how I can never have a +quiet night while this is going on. It isn't that they two men +are fond of one another. Nothing of the sort. Now you;--I've +got to be downright fond of you, though, of course, you think me +common.' Mrs Lopez would not contradict her but stooped forward +and kissed her cheek. 'I'm downright fond of you, I am,' +continued Mrs Parker, snuffling and sobbing, 'but they two men +are only together because Mr Lopez wants to gamble, and Parker +has got a little money to gamble with.' This aspect of the thing +was so terrible to Mrs Lopez that she could only weep and hid her +face. 'Now, if you would tell him the truth! Tell him what I +say, and that I've been a-saying it! Tell him it's for my +children I'm a-speaking, who won't have bread in their very +mouths if their father's squeezed dry like a sponge! Sure, if +you'd tell him this, he wouldn't go on!' Then she paused a +moment, looking up into the other woman's face. 'He'd have some +bowels of compassion;--wouldn't he now?' + +'I'll try,' said Mrs Lopez. + +'I know you're good and kind-hearted, my dear. I saw it in your +eyes from the very first. But then men, when they get on at +money-making,--or money-losing, which makes 'em worse,--are +like tigers clawing one another. They don't care how many they +kills, so that they has at least bit for themselves. There ain't +no fear of God init, nor yet no mercy, nor ere a morsel of heart. +It ain't what I call manly,--not that longing after other folk's +money. When it's come by hard work, as I tell Sexty,--by the +very sweat of his brow,--oh,--it's sweet as sweet. When he'd +tell me that he'd made his three pound, or his five pound, or, +perhaps, his ten in a day, and'd calculate it up, how much it'd +come to if he did that every day, and where we could go to, and +what we could do for the children, I loved to hear him talk about +money. But now--! why, it's altered the looks of the man +altogether. It's just as though he was a-thirsting for blood.' + +Thirsting for blood! Yes, indeed. It was the very idea that had +occurred to Mrs Lopez herself when her husband bade her to 'get +round her father'. No;--it certainly was not manly. There +certainly was neither the fear of God in it, nor mercy. Yes;-- +she would try. But as for bowels of compassion in Ferdinand +Lopez--; she, the young wife, had already seen enough of her +husband to think that he was not to be moved by any prayers on +that side. Then the two women bade each other farewell. 'Parker +has been talking of my going to Manchester Square,' said Mrs +Parker, 'but I shan't. What'd I be in Manchester Square? And, +besides, there'd better be an end of it. Mr Lopez'd turn Sexty +and me out of the house at a moment's notice if it wasn't for the +money.' + +'It's papa's house,' said Mrs Lopez, not, however, meaning to +make an attack upon her husband. + +'I suppose so, but I shan't come to trouble no one, and we live +ever so far away, at Ponder's End,--out or your line altogether, +Mrs Lopez. But I've taken to you and will never think ill of you +in any way--and do as you said you would.' + +'I will try,' said Mrs Lopez. + +In the meantime Lopez received from Mr Wharton an answer to his +letter about the missing caravels, which did not please him. +Here is the letter: + + MY DEAR LOPEZ, + I cannot say that your statement is satisfactory, nor can + I reconcile it to your assurance to me that you have made + a trade income for some years past of 2,000 pounds a + year. I do not know much of business, but I cannot + imagine such a result from such a condition of things as + you describe. Have you any books; and if so, will you + allow them to be inspected by any accountant that I may + name? + + You say that a sum of 20,000 pounds would suit your + business better now than when I am dead. Very likely. + But with such an account of the business as that you have + given me, I do not know that I feel disposed to confide + my savings of my life to assist so very doubtful an + enterprise. Of course whatever I may do to your + advantage will be done for the sake of Emily and her + children, should she have any. As far I can see at + present, I shall best do my duty to her, by leaving what + I may have to leave to her, to trustees, for her benefit + and that of her children. + Yours truly, + A. WHARTON + +This, of course, did not tend to mollify the spirit of the man to +whom it was written, or to make him gracious towards his wife. +He received the letter three weeks before the lodgings at +Dovercourt were given up,--but during these three weeks he was +very little at the place, and when there did not mention the +letter. On these occasions he said nothing about business, but +satisfied himself with giving strict injunctions as to economy. +Then he took her back to town on the day after her promise to Mrs +Parker that she would 'try'. Mrs Parker had told her that no +woman ought to be afraid to speak to her husband, and, if +necessary, to speak roundly on such subjects. Mrs Parker was +certainly not a highly educated lady, but she had impressed Emily +with an admiration for her practical good sense and proper +feeling. The lady who was a lady had begun to feel that in the +troubles of her life she might find a much less satisfactory +companion than the lady who was not a lady. She would do as Mrs +Parker had told her. She would not be afraid. Of course it was +right that she should speak on such a matter. She knew herself +to be an obedient wife. She had borne all her unexpected sorrows +without a complaint, with a resolve that she would bear all for +his sake,--not because she loved him, but because she had made +herself his wife. Into whatever calamities he might fall, she +would share them. Though he should bring her utterly into the +dirt, she would remain in that dirt with him. It seemed probable +to her that it might be so;--that they might have to go into the +dirt;--and if it were so, she would still be true to him. She +had chosen to marry him, and she would be a true wife. But, as +such, she would not be afraid of him. Mrs Parker had told her +that 'a woman should never be afraid of 'em', and she believed in +Mrs Parker. In this case, too, it was clearly her duty to speak, +--for the injury being done was terrible, and might too probably +become tragical. How could she endure to think of that woman and +her children, should she come to know that the husband of the +woman and the father of the children had been ruined by her +husband? + +Yes;--she would speak to him. But she did fear. It is all very +well for a woman to tell herself that she will encounter some +anticipated difficulty without fear,--or for a man either. The +fear cannot be overcome by will. The thing, however, may be +done, whether it be leading a forlorn hope, or speaking to an +angry husband,--in spite of fear. She would do it; but when the +moment for doing it came, her very heart trembled within her. He +had been so masterful with her, so persistent in repudiating her +interference, so exacting in his demands for obedience, so +capable of making her miserable by his moroseness when she failed +to comply with his wishes, that she could not go to her task +without fear. But she did feel that she ought not to be afraid, +or that her fears, at any rate, should not be allowed to restrain +her. A wife, she knew, should be prepared to yield, but yet was +entitled to be her husband's counsellor. And it was now the case +that in this matter she was conversant with circumstances which +were unknown to her husband. It was to her that Mrs Parker's +appeal had been made, and with a direct request from the poor +woman that it should be repeated to her husband's partner. + +She found that she could not do it on the journey home from +Dovercourt, nor yet on that evening. Mrs Dick Roby, who had come +back from sojourn at Boulogne, was with them in the Square, and +brought her dear friend Mrs Leslie with her, and also Lady +Eustace. The reader may remember that Mr Wharton had met these +ladies at Mrs Dick's house some months before his daughter's +marriage, but he certainly had never asked them into his own. On +this occasion Emily had given them no invitation, but had been +told by her husband that her aunt would probably bring them with +her. 'Mrs Leslie and Lady Eustace!' she exclaimed with a little +shudder. 'I suppose your aunt may bring a couple of friends with +her to see you, though it is your father's house?' he had +replied. She had said no more, not daring to have a fight on +that subject at present, while the other matter was pressing on +her mind. The evening passed away pleasantly enough, she +thought, to all except herself. Mrs Leslie and Lady Eustace had +talked a great deal, and her husband had borne himself quite as +though he had been a wealthy man and the owner of the house in +Manchester Square. In the course of the evening Dick Roby came +in and Major Pountney, who since the late affairs at Silverbridge +had become intimate with Lopez. So that there was quite a party; +and Emily was astonished to hear her husband declare that he was +only watching the opportunity of another vacancy in order that he +might get into the House, and expose the miserable duplicity of +the Duke of Omnium. And yet this man, within the last month, had +taken away her subscription at Mudie's, and told her that she +shouldn't wear things that wanted washing! But he was able to +say so ever many pretty little things to Lady Eustace, and had +given a new fan to Mrs Dick, and talked of taking a box for Mrs +Leslie at The Gaiety. + +But on the next morning before breakfast she began. 'Ferdinand,' +she said, 'while I was at Dovercourt I saw a good deal of Mrs +Parker.' + +'I could not help that. Or rather you might have helped it if +you pleased. It was necessary that you should meet, but I didn't +tell you that you were to see a great deal of her.' + +'I liked her very much.' + +'Then I must say you've got a very odd taste. Did you like him?' + +'No. I did not see very much of him, and I think that the +manners of women are less objectionable than those of men. But I +want to tell you what passed between her and me.' + +'If it is about her husband's business she ought to have held her +tongue, and you had better hold yours now.' + +This was not a happy beginning, but still she was determined to +go on. 'It was I think more about your business than his.' + +'Then it was infernal impudence on her part, and you should not +have listened to her for a moment.' + +'You do not want to ruin her and her children?' + +'What have I to do with her and her children? I did not marry +her, and I am not their father. He has got to look to that.' + +'She thinks you are enticing him into risks which he cannot +afford.' + +'Am I doing anything for him that I ain't doing for myself! If +there is money made, will not he share it? If money has to be +lost, of course he must do the same.' Lopez stating his case +omitted to say that whatever capital was now being used belonged +to his partner. 'But women when they get together talk all +manner of nonsense. Is it likely that I shall alter my course of +action because you tell me that she tells you that he tells her +that he is losing money? He is a half-hearted fellow who quails +at every turn against him. And when he is crying drunk I dare +say he makes a poor mouth to her.' + +'I think, Ferdinand, it is more than that. She says that--' + +'To tell the truth, Emily, I don't give a d--what she says. Now +give me some tea.' + +The roughness of this absolutely quelled her. It was not now +that she was afraid of him, but that she was knocked down as +though by a blow. She had been altogether so unused to such +language that she could not get on with her matter in hand, +letting the bad word pass by her as an unmeaning expletive. She +wearily poured out the cup of tea and sat herself down silent. +The man was too strong for her, and would be so always. She told +herself at this moment that language such as that must always +absolutely silence her. Then, within a few minutes, he desired +her, quite cheerfully, to ask her uncle and aunt to dinner the +day but one following, and also to ask Lady Eustace and Mrs +Leslie. 'I will pick up a couple of men which will make us all +right,' he said. + +This was in every way horrible to her. Her father had been back +in town, had not been very well, and had been recommended to +return to the country. He had consequently removed himself,-- +not to Hertfordshire,--but to Brighton, and was now living at an +hotel, almost within an hour of London. Had he been at home he +certainly would not have invited Mrs Leslie and Lady Eustace to +his house. He had often expressed a feeling of dislike to the +former lady in the hearing of his son-in-law, and had ridiculed +his sister-in-law for allowing herself to be acquainted with Lady +Eustace, whose name had at one time been very common in the +mouths of people. Emily also felt that she was hardly entitled +to give a dinner party in his house in his absence. And, after +all that she had lately heard about her husband's poverty, she +could not understand how he should wish to incur the expense. +'You would not ask Mrs Leslie here!' she said. + +'Why should we not ask Mrs Leslie?' + +'Papa dislikes her.' + +'But "papa", as you call him, isn't going to meet her.' + +'He has said that he doesn't know what day he may be home. And +he does more than dislike her. He disapproves of her.' + +'Nonsense! She is your aunt's friend. Because your father once +heard some cock-and-bull story about her, and because he has +always taken it upon himself to criticize your aunt's friends, I +am not to be civil to a person I like.' + +'But, Ferdinand, I do not like her myself. She never was in this +house till that other night.' + +'Look here, my dear. Lady Eustace can be useful to me, and I +cannot ask Lady Eustace without asking her friend. You do as I +bid you,--or else I shall do it myself.' + +She paused for a moment, and then she positively refused. 'I +cannot bring myself to ask Mrs Leslie to dine in this house. If +she comes to dine with you, of course I shall sit at the table, +but she will be sure to see that she is not welcome.' + +'It seems to me that you are determined to go against me in +everything I propose.' + +'I don't think you would say that if you knew how miserable yo +made me.' + +'I tell you that that other woman can be very useful to me.' + +'In what way useful?' + +'Are you jealous, my dear?' + +'Certainly not of Lady Eustace,--nor of any woman. But it seems +so odd that such a person's services should be required.' + +'Will you do as I tell you, and ask them? You can go round and +tell your aunt about it. She knows that I mean to ask them. +Lady Eustace is a very rich woman, and is disposed to do a little +in commerce. Now do you understand?' + +'Not in the least,' said Emily. + +'Why shouldn't a woman who has money buy coffee as well as buy +shares?' + +'Does she buy shares?' + +'By George, Emily, I think you are a fool.' + +'I dare say I am, Ferdinand. I do not in the least know what it +all means. But I do know this, that you ought not, in papa's +absence, to ask people to dine here whom he particularly +dislikes, and whom he would not wish to have in the house.' + +'You think I am to be governed by you in such a matter as that?' + +'I don't want to govern you.' + +'You think that a wife should dictate to a husband as to the way +in which he is to do his work, and the partners he may be allowed +to have in his business, and the persons whom he may ask to +dinner! Because you have been dictating to me on all these +matters. Now, look here, my dear. As to my business, you had +better never speak to me about it any more. I have endeavoured +to take you into my confidence and to get you to act with me, but +you have declined that, and have preferred to stick to your +father. As to my partners, whether I may choose to have Sexty +Parker or Lady Eustace, I am a better judge thanyou. And as to +asking Mrs Leslie and Lady Eustace or any other persons to +dinner, as I am obliged to make even the recreation of life +subservient to work, I must claim permission to have my own way.' +She had listened, but when he paused she made no reply. 'Do you +mean to do as I bid and ask these ladies?' + +'I cannot do that. I know that it ought not to be done. This is +papa's house, and we are living here as his guests.' + +'D--your papa!' he said as he burst out of the room. After a +quarter of an hour he put his head into the room and saw her +sitting, like a statue, exactly where he had left her. 'I have +written the notes to Lady Eustace and to Mrs Leslie,' he said. +'You can't think it any sin at any rate to ask your aunt.' + +'I will see my aunt,' she said. + +'And remember I am not going to be your father's guest as you +call it. I mean to pay for the dinner myself, and to send in my +own wines. Your father shall have nothing to complain of on that +head.' + +'Could you not ask them to Richmond, or to some hotel?' she said. + +'What, in October! If you think I am going to live in a house in +which I can't invite a friend to dinner, you are mistaken.' And +with that he took his departure. + +The whole thing had now become so horrible to her that she felt +unable any longer to hold up her head. It seemed to her to be +sacrilege that these women should come and sit in her father's +room, but when she spoke of her father her husband had cursed him +with scorn! Lopez was going to send food and wine into the +house, which would be gall and wormwood to her father. At one +time she thought she would at once write to her father and tell +him of it all,--or perhaps telegraph to him; but she could not +do so without letting her husband know what she had done, and +then he would have justice on his side in calling her +disobedient. Were she to do that, then it would indeed be +necessary that she should take part against her husband. + +She had brought all this misery on herself and on her father +because she had been obstinate in thinking she could with +certainty read a lover's character. As for love,--that of +course had died away in her heart,--imperceptibly, though, alas, +so quickly! It was impossible that she could continue to love a +man who from day to day was teaching her mean lessons, and who +was ever doing mean things, the meanness of which was so little +apparent to himself that he did not scruple to divulge them to +her. How could she love a man who would make no sacrifice either +to her comfort or her pride, or her conscience? But still she +might obey him,--if she could feel sure that obedience to him +was a duty. Could it be a duty to sin against her father's +wishes, and to assist in profaning his house and abusing his +hospitality after this fashion? Then her mind again went back to +the troubles of Mrs Parker, and her absolute inefficiency in that +matter. It seemed to her that she had given herself over body +and soul and mind to some evil genius, and that there was no +escape. + +'Of course we'll come,' said Mrs Roby had said to her when she +went round the corner into Berkeley Street early in the day. +'Lopez spoke to me about it before.' + +'What will papa say about it, Aunt Harriet?' + +'I suppose he and Lopez understand each other.' + +'I do not think papa will understand this.' + +'I am sure Mr Wharton would not lend his house to his son-in-law +and then object to the man he had lent it to asking a friend to +dine with him. And I am sure that Mr Lopez would not consent to +occupy a house on those terms. If you don't like it, of course +we won't come.' + +'Pray do not say that. As these other women are to come, pray do +not desert me. But I cannot say I think it is right.' Mrs Dick, +however, only laughed at her scruples. + +In the course of the evening Emily got letters addressed to +herself, from Lady Eustace and Mrs Leslie, informing her that +they would have very much pleasure in dining with her on the day +named. And Lady Eustace went on to say, with much pleasantry, +that she always regarded little parties, got up without any +ceremony, as being the pleasantest, and that she should come on +this occasion without any ceremonial observance. Then Emily was +aware that her husband had not only written the notes in her +name, but had put into her mouth some studied apology as to the +shortness of the invitation. Well! She was the man's wife, and +she supposed that he was entitled to put any words that he please +into her mouth. + + + +CHAPTER 48 + +'HAS HE ILL-TREATED YOU?' + +Lopez relieved his wife from all care as to provision for his +guests. 'I've been to a shop in Wigmore Street,' he said, 'and +everything will be done. They'll send in a cook to make the +things hot, and your father won't have to pay even for a crust of +bread.' + +'Papa doesn't mind paying for anything,' she said in her +indignation. + +'It is all very pretty for you to say so, but my experience of +him goes just the other way. At any rate there will be nothing +to be paid for. Stewam and Sugarscraps will send in everything, +if you'll only tell the old fogies downstairs not to interfere.' +Then she made a little request. Might she ask Everett who was +now in town? 'I've already got Major Pountney and Captain +Gunner,' he said. She pleaded that one more would make no +difference. 'But that's just what one more always does. It +destroys everything, and turns a pretty little dinner into an +awkward feed. We won't have him this time. Pountney'll take +you, and I'll take her ladyship. Dick will take Mrs Leslie, and +Gunner will have Aunt Harriet. Dick will sit opposite to me, and +the four ladies will sit at the four corners. We shall be very +pleasant, but one more would spoil us.' + +She did speak to the 'old fogies' downstairs,--the housekeeper, +who had lived with her father since she was a child, and the +butler, who had been there still longer, and the cook, who, +having been in her place only three years, resigned impetuously +within half an hour after the advent of Mr Sugarscaps' head man. +The 'fogies' were indignant. The butler expressed his intention +of locking himself up in his own peculiar pantry, and the +housekeeper took it upon herself to tell her young mistress that +'Master wouldn't like it'. Since she had known Mr Wharton such a +thing as cooked food being sent into the house from a shop had +never been so much as heard of. Emily, who had hitherto been +regarded in the house as a rather strong-minded young woman, +could only break down and weep. Why, oh why, had she consented +to bring herself and her misery into her father's house? She +could at any rate have prevented that by explaining to her father +the unfitness of such an arrangement. + +The 'party' came. There was Major Pountney, very fine, rather +loud, very intimate with the host, whom on one occasion had +called 'Ferdy, my boy', and very full of abuse of the Duke and +Duchess of Omnium. 'And yet she was a good creature when I knew +her', said Lady Eustace. Pountney suggested that the Duchess had +not then taken up politics. 'I've got out of her way,' said Lady +Eustace, 'since she did that.' And there was Captain Gunner, who +defended the Duchess, but who acknowledged that the Duke was the +'most consumedly stuck up coxcomb' then existing. 'And the most +dishonest', said Lopez, who had told his new friends nothing +about the repayment of the election expenses. And Dick was +there. He liked these little parties, in which a good deal of +wine could be drunk, and at which ladies were not supposed to be +very stiff. The Major and the Captain, and Mrs Leslie and Lady +Eustace, were such people as he liked,--all within the pale, but +having a piquant relish of fastness and impropriety. Dick was +wont to declare that he hated the world in buckram. Aunt Harriet +was triumphant in a manner which disgusted Emily, and which she +thought to be most disrespectful to her father;--but in truth +Aunt Harriett did not now care very much for Mr Wharton, +preferring the friendship of Mr Wharton's son-in-law. Mrs Leslie +came in gorgeous clothes, which, as she was known to be very +poor, and to have attached herself lately with almost more than +feminine affection to Lady Eustace, were at any rate open to +suspicious cavil. In former days Mrs Leslie had taken upon +herself to say bitter things about Mr Lopez, which Emily could +now have repeated, to that lady's discomfiture, had such a mode +of revenge suited her disposition. With Mrs Leslie there was +Lady Eustace, pretty as ever, and sharp and witty, with the old +passion for some excitement, the old proneness to pretend to +trust everybody, and the old capacity for trusting nobody. +Ferdinand Lopez had lately been at her feet, and had fired her +imagination with stories of the grand things to be done in trade. +Ladies do it? Yes; why not women as well as men? Anyone might +do it who had money in his pocket and experience to tell him or +to tell her, what to buy and what to sell. And the experience, +luckily, might be vicarious. At the present moment half the +jewels worn in London were,--if Ferdinand Lopez knew anything +about it,--bought from the proceeds of such commerce. Of course +there were misfortunes. But these came from a want of that +experience which Ferdinand Lopez possessed, and which he was +quite willing to place at the service of one whom he admired so +thoroughly as he did Lady Eustace. Lady Eustace had been +charmed, had seen her way into a new and most delightful life,-- +but had not yet put any of her money into the hands of Ferdinand +Lopez. + +I cannot say that the dinner was good. It may be a doubt whether +such tradesmen as Messrs Stewam and Sugarscraps do ever produce +good food;--or whether, with all the will in the world to do so, +such a result is within their power. It is certain, I think, +that the humblest mutton chop is better eating than any 'Supreme +of chicken after martial manner',--as I have seen the dish named +in a French bill of fare, translated by a French pastrycook for +the benefit of his English customers,--when sent in from Messrs +Stewam and Sugarscraps even with their best exertions. Nor can +it be said that the wine was good, though Mr Sugarscraps, when he +contracted for the whole entertainment, was eager in his +assurance that he procured the very best that London could +produce. But the outside look of the things was handsome, and +there were many dishes, and enough servants to hand them, and the +wines, if not good, were various. Probably Pountney and Gunner +did not know good wines. Roby did, but was contented on this +occasion to drink them bad. And everything went pleasantly, with +perhaps a little too much noise;--everything except the hostess, +who was allowed by general consent to be sad and silent,--till +there came a loud double-rap at the door. + +'There's papa,' said Emily, jumping up from her seat. + +Mrs Dick looked at Lopez, and saw at a glance for a moment his +courage had failed him. But he recovered himself quickly. +'Hadn't you better keep your seat, my dear?' he said to his wife. +'The servants will attend to Mr Wharton, and I will go to him +presently.' + +'Oh, no,' said Emily, who by this time was almost at the door. + +'You didn't expect him,--did you?' asked Dick Roby. + +'Nobody knew when he was coming. I think he told Emily that he +might be here any day.' + +'He's the most uncertain man alive,' said Mrs Dick, who was a +good deal scared by the arrival, though determined to hold up her +head and exhibit no fear. + +'I suppose the old gentleman will come and have some dinner,' +whispered Captain Gunner to his neighbour Mrs Leslie. + +'Not if he knows I'm here,' replied Mrs Leslie, tittering. 'He +thinks that I am,--oh, something a great deal worse than I can +tell you.' + +'Is he given to be cross?' asked Lady Eustace, also affecting to +whisper. + +'Never saw him in my life,' answered the major, 'but I shouldn't +wonder if he was. Old gentlemen generally are cross. Gout, and +that kind of thing, you know.' + +For a minute or two the servants stopped in their ministrations, +and things were very uncomfortable; but Lopez, as soon as he had +recovered himself, directed Mr Sugarscraps' men to proceed with +the banquet. 'We can eat our dinner, I suppose, though my +father-in-law has come back,' he said. 'I wish my wife was not +so fussy, though that is the kind of thing, Lady Eustace, that +one must expect from young wives.' The banquet did go on, but +the feeling was general that a misfortune had come upon them, and +that something dreadful might possibly happen. + +Emily, when she rushed out, met her father in the hall, and ran +into his arms. 'Oh, papa!' she exclaimed. + +'What's all this about?' he asked, and as he spoke he passed on +through the hall to his own room at the back of the house. There +were of course many evidences on all sides of the party,--the +strange servants, the dishes going in and out, the clatter of +glasses, and the smell of viands. 'You've got a dinner party,' +he said. 'Had you not better go back to your friends?' + +'No, papa.' + +'What is the matter, Emily? You are unhappy.' + +'Oh, so unhappy?' + +'What is it all about? Who are they? Whose doing is it,--yours +or his? What makes you unhappy?' + +He was now seated in his arm-chair, and she threw herself on her +knees at his feet. 'He would have them. You mustn't be angry +with me. You won't be angry with me;--will you?' + +He put his hand upon her head, and stroked her hair. 'Why should +I be angry with you because your husband has asked friends to +dinner?' She was so unlike her usual self that he knew not what +to make of it. It had not been her nature to kneel and ask for +pardon, or to be timid and submissive. 'What is it, Emily, that +makes you like this?' + +'He shouldn't have had the people.' + +'Well;--granted. But it does not signify much. Is your Aunt +Harriet here?' + +'Yes.' + +'It can't be very bad, then.' + +'Mrs Leslie is here, and Lady Eustace,--and two men I don't +like.' + +'Is Everett here?' + +'No;--he wouldn't have Everett.' + +'Oughtn't you go to them?' + +'Don't make me go. I should only cry. I have been crying all +day, and the whole of yesterday.' Then she buried her face upon +his knees, and sobbed as though she would break her heart. + +He couldn't at all understand it. Though he distrusted his son- +in-law, and certainly did not love him, he had not as yet learned +to hold him in aversion. When the connection was once made he +had determined to make the best of it, and had declared to +himself that as far as manners went the man was well enough. He +had not as yet seen the inside of the man, as it had been the sad +fate of the poor wife to see him. It had never occurred to him +that his daughter's love had failed her, or that she could +already be repenting what she had done. And now, when she was +weeping at his feet and deploring the sin of the dinner party,-- +which, after all, was a trifling sin,--he could not comprehend +the feelings which were actuating her. 'I suppose your Aunt +Harriet made up the party,' he said. + +'He did it.' + +'Your husband?' + +'Yes;--he did it. He wrote to the women in my name when I +refused.' Then Mr Wharton began to perceive that there had been +a quarrel. 'I told him Mrs Leslie oughtn't to come here.' + +'I don't love Mrs Leslie,--nor, for the matter of that,--Lady +Eustace. But they won't hurt the house, my dear.' + +'And he has had the dinner sent in from a shop.' + +'Why couldn't he let Mrs Williams do it?' As he said this, the +tone of his voice for the first time became angry. + +'Cook has gone away. She wouldn't stand it. And Mrs Williams is +very angry. And Barker wouldn't wait at table.' + +'What's the meaning of it all?' + +'He would have it so. Oh, papa, you don't know what I've +undergone. I wish,--I wish we had not come here. It would have +been better anywhere else.' + +'What would have been better, dear?' + +'Everything. Whether we lived or died, it would have been +better. Why should I bring my misery to you? Oh, papa, you do +not know,--you can never know.' + +'But I must know. Is there more than this dinner to disturb +you?' + +Oh, yes;--more than that. Only I couldn't bear that it should +be done in your house.' + +'Has he--ill-treated you?' + +Then she got up, and stood before him. 'I do not mean to +complain. I should have said nothing only that you have found us +in this way. For myself I will bear it all, whatever it may be. +But, papa, I want you to tell him that we must leave this house.' + +'He has got no other home for you.' + +'He must find one. I will go anywhere. I don't care where it +is. But I won't stay here. I have done it myself, but I won't +bring it upon you. I could bear it all if I thought that you +would never see me again.' + +'Emily!' + +'Yes;--if you would never see me again. I know it all, and that +would be best.' She was now walking about the room. 'Why should +you see it all?' + +'See what, my love?' + +'See his ruin, and my unhappiness, and my baby. Oh--oh--oh!' + +'I think so very differently, Emily, that under no circumstances +will I have you taken to another home. I cannot understand much +of all this as yet, but I suppose that I shall come to see it. +If Lopez be, as you say, ruined, it is well that I have still +enough for us to live on. This is a bad time just now to talk +about your husband's affairs.' + +'I did not mean to talk about them, papa.' + +'What would you like best to do now,--now at once. Can you go +down again to your husband's friends?' + +'No;--no;--no.' + +'As for the dinner, never mind about that. I can't blame him for +making use of my house in my absence, as far as that goes,-- +though I wish he could have contented himself with such a dinner +as my servants could have prepared for him. I will have some tea +here.' + +'Let me stay with you, papa, and make it for you.' + +'Very well, dear. I do not mean to be ashamed to enter my own +dining-room. I shall, therefore, go in and make your apologies.' +Thereupon Mr Wharton walked slowly forth, and marched into the +dining-room. + +'Oh, Mr Wharton,' said Mrs Dick, 'we didn't expect you.' + +'Have you dined yet, sir?' asked Lopez. + +'I have dined early,' said Mr Wharton. 'I should not now have +come in to disturb you, but that I have found Mrs Lopez unwell, +and she has begged me to ask you to excuse her.' + +'I will go to her,' said Lopez, rising. + +'It is not necessary,' said Wharton. 'She is not ill, but hardly +able to take her place at table.' Then Mrs Dick proposed to go +to her dear niece, but Mr Wharton would not allow it, and left +the room, having succeeded in persuading them to go on with their +dinner. Lopez certainly was not happy during the evening, but he +was strong enough to hide his misgivings, and to do his duty as +host with seeming cheerfulness. + + + + +CHAPTER 49 + +WHERE IS GUATEMALA? + +Though his daughter's words to him had been very wild they did +almost more to convince Mr Wharton that he should not give his +money to his son-in-law than even the letters which had passed +between them. To Emily herself he spoke very little as to what +had occurred that evening. 'Papa,' she said, 'do not ask me +anything more about it. I was very miserable,--because of the +dinner.' Nor did he at that time ask her any questions, +contenting himself with assuring her that, at any rate at +present, and till after her baby should have been born, she must +remain at Manchester Square. 'He won't hurt me,' said Mr +Wharton, and than added with a smile, 'He won't want to have any +more dinner parties while I am here.' + +Nor did he make any complaint to Lopez as to what had been done, +or even allude to the dinner. But when he had been back about a +week he announced to his son-in-law his final determination as to +money. 'I had better tell you, Lopez, what I mean to do, so that +you may not be left in doubt. I shall not entrust any further +sum of money into your hands on behalf of Emily.' + +'You can do as you please, sir,--of course.' + +'Just so. You have had what to me is a very considerable sum,-- +though I fear that it did not go for much in your large concern.' + +'It was not very much, Mr Wharton.' + +'I dare say not. Opinions on such a matter differ, you know. At +any rate there will be no more. At present I wish Emily to live +here, and you, of course, are welcome here also. If things are +not going well with you, this will, at any rate, relieve you from +immediate expense. + +'Mine are more minute. The necessities of my life have caused me +to think of these little things. When I am dead there will be +provision for Emily made by my will;--the income going to +trustees for her benefit, and the capital to her children after +her death. I thought it only fair to you that this should be +explained.' + +'And you will do nothing for me?' + +'Nothing;--if that is nothing. I should have thought that your +present maintenance and the future support of your wife and +children would have been regarded as something.' + +'It is nothing;--nothing!' + +'Then let it be nothing. Good morning.' + +Two days after that Lopez recurred to the subject. 'You were +very explicit with me the other day, sir.' + +'I meant to be so.' + +'And I will be equally so to you now. Both I and your daughter +are absolutely ruined unless you reconsider your purpose.' + +'If you mean money by reconsideration;--present money to be +given to you,--I certainly shall not reconsider it. You may +take my solemn assurance that I will give you nothing that can be +of any service to you in trade.' + +Then, sir,--I must tell you my purpose, and give you my +assurance, which is equally solemn. Under those circumstances I +must leave England, and try my fortune in Central America. There +is an opening for me at Guatemala, though not a very hopeful +one.' + +'Guatemala!' + +'Yes;--friends of mine have a connection there. I have not +broken it to Emily yet, but under these circumstances she will +have to go.' + +'You will not take her to Guatemala!' + +'Not take my wife, sir? Indeed I shall. Do you suppose that I +would go away and leave my wife a pensioner on your bounty? Do +you think that she would wish to desert her husband? I don't +think you know your daughter.' + +'I wish you had never known her.' + +'That is neither here not there, sir. If I cannot succeed in +this country I must go elsewhere. As I have told you before +20,000 pounds at the present moment would enable me to surmount +all my difficulties, and make me a very wealthy man. But unless +I can command some such sum by Christmas everything here must be +sacrificed.' + +'Never in my life did I hear so base a proposition,' said Mr +Wharton. + +'Why is it base? I can only tell you the truth.' + +'So be it. You will find that I have meant what I said.' + +'So do I, Mr Wharton.' + +'As to my daughter, she must, of course, do as she thinks fit.' + +'She must do as I think fit, Mr Wharton.' + +'I will not argue with you. Alas, alas, poor girl.' + +'Poor girl indeed! She is likely to be a poor girl if she is +treated in this way by her father. As I understand that you +intend to use, or to try to use, authority over her, I shall take +steps for removing her at once from your house.' And so the +interview was ended. + +Lopez had thought the matter over, and had determined to 'brazen +it out', as he himself called it. Nothing further was, he +thought, to be got by civility and obedience. Now he must use +his power. His idea of going to Guatemala was not an invention +of the moment, nor was it devoid of a certain basis of truth. +Such a suggestion had been made to him some time since by Mr +Mills Happerton. There were mines in Guatemala which wanted, or +at some future date, might want, a resident director. The +proposition had been made to Lopez before his marriage, and Mr +Happerton probably had now forgotten all about it;--but the +thing was of service now. He broke the matter very suddenly to +his wife. 'Has your father been speaking to you of my plans?' + +'Not lately;--not that I remember.' + +'He could not speak of them without your remembering, I should +think. Has he told you that I am going to Guatemala?' + +'Guatemala! Where is Guatemala, Ferdinand?' + +'You can answer my question though your geography is deficient.' + +'He has said nothing about your going anywhere.' + +'You will have to go,--as soon after Christmas as you may be +fit.' + +'But where is Guatemala;--and for how long, Ferdinand?' + +'Guatemala is in Central America, and we shall probably settle +there for the rest of our lives. I have got nothing to live on +here.' + +During the next two months this plan of seeking a distant home +and a strange country was constantly spoken of in Manchester +Square, and did receive corroboration from Mr Happerton himself. +Lopez renewed his application and received a letter saying that +the thing might probably be arranged if he were in earnest. 'I +am quite earnest,' Lopez said as he showed the letter to Mr +Wharton. 'I suppose Emily will be able to start two months after +her confinement. They tell me babies do very well at sea.' + +During this time, in spite of his threat, he continued to live +with Mr Wharton in Manchester Square, and went every day into the +city,--whether to make arrangements and receive instructions as +to Guatemala, or to carry on his old business, neither Emily nor +her father knew. He never at this time spoke about his affairs +to either of them, but daily referred to her future expatriation +as a thing that was certain. At last there came up the actual +question,--whether she were to go or not. Her father told her +that though she was doubtless bound by law to obey her husband, in +such a matter as this she might defy the law. 'I do not think +that he can actually force you on board the ship,' her father +said. + +'But if he tells me I must go?' + +'Stay with me,' said the father. 'Stay here with your baby. +I'll fight it out for you. I'll so manage that you shall have +all the world on your side.' + +Emily at the moment came to no decision, but on the following day +she discussed the matter with Lopez himself. 'Of course you will +go with me,' he said, when she asked the question. + +'You mean that I must, whether I wish to go or not.' + +'Certainly you must. Good G-! Where is a wife's place? Am I to +go without my child, and without you, while you are enjoying all +the comforts of your father's wealth at home? That is not my +idea of life.' + +'Ferdinand, I have been thinking about it very much. I must beg +you to allow me to remain. I ask it of you as if I were asking +my life.' + +'Your father has put you up to this.' + +'No;--not to this.' + +'To what then.' + +'My father thinks I should refuse to go.' + +'He does, does he?' + +'But I shall not refuse. I shall go if you insist upon it. +There shall be no contest between us about that.' + +'Well, I should hope not.' + +'But I do implore you to spare me.' + +'That is very selfish, Emily.' + +'Yes,'--she said, 'yes, I cannot contradict that. But so is the +man selfish who prays the judge to spare his life.' + +'But you do not think of me. I must go.' + +'I shall not make you happier, Ferdinand.' + +'Do you think that it is a fine thing for a man to live in such a +country as that all alone?' + +'I think it would be better so than with a wife he does not-- +love.' + +'Who says I do not love you?' + +'Or with one who does--not--love him.' This she said very +slowly, very softly, but looking up into his eyes as she said it. + +'Do you tell me that to my face?' + +'Yes;--what good can I do now by lying? You have not been to me +as I thought you would be.' + +'And, because you have built some castle in the air that has +fallen to pieces, you tell your husband to his face that you do +not love him, and that you prefer not to live with him. Is that +your idea of duty?' + +'Why have you been so cruel?' + +'Cruel! What have I done? Tell me what cruelty. Have I beat +you? Have you been starved? Have I not asked and implored your +assistance,--only to be refused? The fact is that your father +and you have found out that I am not a rich man, and you want to +be rid of me. Is that true or false?' + +'It is not true that I want to be rid of you because you are +poor.' + +'I do not mean to be rid of you. You will have to settle down +and do your work as my wife in whatever place it may suit me to +live. Your father is a rich man, but you shall not have the +advantage of his wealth unless it comes to you, as it ought to +come, through my hands. If your father would give me the fortune +which ought to be yours there need be no going abroad. He cannot +bear to part with his money, and therefore we must go. Now you +know all about it.' She was then turning to leave him, when he +asked her a direct question. 'Am I to understand that you intend +to resist my right to take you with me?' + +'If you bid me go,--I shall go.' + +'It will be better, as you will save both trouble and expense.' + +Of course she told her father what had taken place; but he could +only shake his head, and groaning over his misery in his +chambers. He had explained to her what he was willing to do on +her behalf, but she declined his aid. He could not tell her that +she was wrong. She was the man's wife, and out of that terrible +destiny she could not now escape. The only question with him was +whether it would not be best to buy the man,--give him a some of +money to go, and to go alone. Could he have been quit of the man +even for 20,000 pounds, he would willingly have paid the money. +But the man would either not go, or would come back as soon as he +got the money. His own life, as he passed it now, with this man +in the house with him, was horrible to him. For Lopez, though he +had more than once threatened that he would carry his wife to +another home, had taken no steps towards getting that other house +ready for her. + +During all this time Mr Wharton had not seen his son. Everett +had gone abroad just as his father returned to London from +Brighton, and was still on the continent. He received his +allowance punctually, and that was the only intercourse which +took place between them. But Emily had written to him, not +telling him much of her troubles,--only saying that she believed +her husband would take her to Central America early in the +spring, and begging him to come home before she went. + +Just before Christmas her baby was born, but the poor child did +not live a couple of days. She herself at the time was so worn +with care, so thin and wan and wretched, that looking in the +glass she hardly knew her own face. 'Ferdinand,' she said to +him, 'I know he will not live. The Doctor says so.' + +'Noting thrives that I have to do with,' he answered gloomily. + +'Will you not look at him?' + +'Well; yes. I have looked at him, have I not? I wish to God +that where he is going I could go with him.' + +'I wish I was;--I wish I was going,' said the poor mother. Then +the father went out, and before he had returned to the house the +child was dead. 'Oh, Ferdinand, speak one kind word to me now,' +she said. + +'What kind word can I speak when you have told me that you do not +love me. Do you think that I can forget that because, because he +has gone?' + +'A woman's love may always be won back by kindness.' + +'Psha! How am I to kiss and make pretty speeches with my mind +harassed as it is now?' But he did touch her brow with his lips +before he went away. + +The infant was buried, and then there was not much show of +mourning in the house. The poor mother would sit gloomily alone +day after day, telling herself that it was perhaps better that +she should have been robbed of her treasure than have gone forth +with him into the wide, unknown, harsh world with such a father +as she had given him. Then she would look at all the +preparations she had made,--the happy work of her fingers when +her thoughts of their future use were her sweetest consolation,-- +and weep till she would herself feel that there never could be an +end to her tears. + +The second week in January had come and yet nothing further had +been settled as to the Guatemala project. Lopez talked about it +as though it was certain, and even told his wife as they would +move so soon it would not be now worth while for him to take +other lodgings for her. But when she asked as to her own +preparations,--the wardrobe necessary for the long voyage and +her general outfit,--he told her that three weeks or a fortnight +would be enough for all, and that he would give her sufficient +notice. 'Upon my word he is very kind to honour my poor house as +he does,' said Mr Wharton. + +'Papa, we will go at once if you wish it,' said his daughter. + +'Nay, Emily; do not turn upon me. I cannot but be sensible to +the insult of his daily presence, but even that is better than +losing you.' + +Then there occurred a ludicrous incident,--or the combination of +incidents,--which, in spite of their absurdity, drove Mr Wharton +almost frantic. First there came to him the bill from Messrs +Stewam and Sugarscraps for the dinner. At this time he kept +nothing back from his daughter. 'Look at that!' he said. The +bill was absolutely made out in his name. + +'It is a mistake, papa.' + +'Not at all. The dinner was given in my house, and I must pay +for it. I would sooner do so than he should pay it,--even if he +had the means.' So he paid Messrs Stewam and Sugarscraps 25 +pounds 9s 6d., begging them as he did so never to send another +dinner into his house, and observing that he was in the habit of +entertaining his friends at less than three guineas a head. 'But +Chateau Yquem and Cote d'Or!' said Mr Sugarscraps. 'Chateau +fiddlesticks!' said Mr Wharton, walking out of the house with his +receipt. + +Then came the bill for the brougham,--for the brougham from the +very day of their return to town after their wedding trip. This +he showed to Lopez. Indeed the bill had been made out to Lopez +and sent to Mr Wharton with an apologetic note. 'I didn't tell +him to send it,' said Lopez. + +'But will you pay it?' + +'I certainly shall not ask you to pay it.' But Mr Wharton at +last did pay it, and he also paid the rent of the rooms in the +Belgrave Mansions, and between 30 pounds and 40 pounds for +dresses which Emily had got at Lewes and Allenby's under her +husband's orders in the first days of their married life in +London. + +'Oh, papa, I wish I had not gone there,' she said. + +'My dear, anything that you may have had I do not grudge in the +least. And even for him, if he would let you remain here, I +would pay willingly. I would supply all he wants if he would +only--go away.' + + + +CHAPTER 50 + +MR SLIDE'S REVENGE. + +'Do you mean to say, my lady, that the Duke paid his +electioneering bill down at Silverbridge?' + +'I do mean to say so, Mr Slide,' Lady Eustace nodded her head, +and Mr Quintus Slide opened his mouth. + +'Goodness gracious!' said Mrs Leslie, who was sitting with them. +They were in Lady Eustace's drawing-room, and the patriotic +editor of the "People's Banner" was obtaining from a new ally +information which might be useful to the country. + +'But 'ow do you know, Lady Eustace? You'll pardon the +persistency of my inquiries, but when you come to public +information accuracy is everything. I never trust myself to mere +report, I always travel up to the very fountain 'ead of truth.' + +'I know it,' said Lizzy Eustace oracularly. + +'Um--m!' The Editor as he ejaculated the sound looked at her +ladyship with admiring eyes,--with eyes that were intended to +flatter. But Lizzie had been looked at so often in so many ways, +and was so well accustomed to admiration, that this had no effect +on her at all. 'He didn't tell you himself, did 'e now?' + +'Can you tell me the truth as to trusting him with my money?' + +'Yes, I can.' + +'Shall I be safe if I take the papers which he calls bills of +sale?' + +'One good turn deserves another, my lady.' + +'I don't want to make a secret of it, Mr Slide. Pountney found +it out. You know the Major?' + +'Yes, I know Major Pountney. He was at Gatherum 'imself, and got +a little bit of a cold shoulder,--didn't he?' + +'I dare say he did. What has that to do with it? You may be +sure that Lopez applied to the Duke for his expenses at +Silverbridge, and that the Duke sent him the money.' + +'There's no doubt about it, Mr Slide,' said Mrs Leslie. 'We got +it all from Major Pountney. There was some bet between him and +Pountney, and he had to show Pountney the cheque.' + +'Pountney saw the money,' said Lady Eustace. + +Mr Slide stroked his had over his mouth and chin as he sat +thinking of the tremendous national importance of this +communication. The man who had paid the money was the Prime +Minister of England,--and was, moreover, Mr Slide's enemy! +'When the right 'and of fellowship had been rejected, I never +forgive!' Mr Slide has been heard to say. Even Lady Eustace, +who was not particular as to the appearance of people, remarked +afterwards to her friend that Mr Slide looked like the devil as +he was stroking his face. 'It's very remarkable,' said Mr Slide; +'very remarkable.' + +'You won't tell the Major that we told you,' said her Ladyship. + +'Oh dear not. I only wanted to 'ear how it was. And as to +embarking your money, my lady, with Ferdinand Lopez,--I wouldn't +do it.' + +'Not if I get the bills of sale? It's for rum, and they say rum +will go up to any price.' + +'Don't Lady Eustace. I can't say any more,--but don't. I never +mention names. But don't.' + +Then Mr Slide went out in search of Major Pountney, and having +found the major at his club extracted from him all that he knew +about the Silverbridge payment. Pountney had really seen the +Duke's cheque for 500 pounds. 'There was some bet,--eh, Major?' +asked Mr Slide. + +'No, there wasn't. I know who had been telling you. That's +Lizzie Eustace, and just like her mischief. They way of it was +this,--Lopez, who was very angry, had boasted that he would +bring the Duke down on his marrow-bones. I was laughing at him +as we sat at dinner on day afterwards, and he took out the cheque +and showed it me. There was the Duke's own signature for 500 +pounds,--"Omnium", as plain as letters could make it.' Armed +with this full information, Mr Slide felt that he had done all +that the punctilious devotion to accuracy could demand of him, +and immediately shut himself up in his cage at the "People's +Banner" office and went to work. + +This occurred about the first week of January. The Duke was then +at Matching with his wife and a very small party. The singular +arrangement which had been effected by the Duchess in the early +autumn had passed off without any wonderful effects. It had been +done by her in pique, and the result had been apparently so +absurd that it had at first frightened her. But in the end it +answered very well. The Duke took great pleasure in Lady +Rosina's company, and enjoyed the apparent solitude which enabled +him to work all day without interruption. His wife protested +that it was just what she liked, though it must be feared that +she soon became weary of it. To Lady Rosina it was of course +Paradise on earth. In September, Phineas Finn and his wife came +to them, and in October there were other relaxations and other +business. The Prime Minister and his wife visited their +Sovereign, and he made some very useful speeches through the +country on his old favourite subject of decimal coinage. At +Christmas, for a fortnight, they went to Gatherum Castle and +entertained the neighbourhood,--the nobility and squirearchy +dining there on one day, and the tenants and other farmers on +another. All this went very smoothly, and the Duke did not +become outrageously unhappy because the "People's Banner" made +sundry severe remarks on the absence of Cabinet Councils through +the autumn. + +After Christmas they returned to Matching, and had some of their +old friends with them. There was the Duke of St Bungay and the +Duchess, and Phineas Finn and his wife, and Lord and Lady +Cantrip, Barrington Erle, and one or two others. But at this +period there came a great trouble. One morning as the Duke sat +in his own room after breakfast he read an article in the +"People's Banner", of which the following sentences are a part. +"We wish to know by whom were paid the expenses incurred by Mr +Ferdinand Lopez during the late contest at Silverbridge. It may +be that they were paid by that gentleman himself,--in which case +we shall have nothing further to say, not caring at the present +moment to inquire whether those expenses were or were not +excessive. It may be that they were paid by subscription among +his political friends,--and if so, again we shall be satisfied. +Or it is possible that funds were supplied by a new political +club of which we have lately heard much, and with the action of +such body we of course have nothing to do. If an assurance can +be given to us by Mr Lopez or his friends that such was the case +we shall be satisfied. + +"But a report has reached us, and we may say more than a report, +which makes it our duty to ask this question. Were those +expenses paid out of the private pocket of the present Prime +Minister? If so, we maintain that we have discovered a blot in +that nobleman's character which it is our duty to the public to +expose. We will go farther and say that if it be so,--if these +expenses were paid out of the private pocket of the Duke of +Omnium, it is not fit that that nobleman should any longer hold +the high office which he now fills. + +"We know that a peer should not interfere in elections for the +House of Commons. We certainly know that a Minister of the Crown +should not attempt to purchase parliamentary support. We happen +to know also the almost more than public manner,--are we not +justified in saying the ostentation?--with which at the last +election the Duke repudiated all that influence with the borough +which his predecessors, and we believe he himself, had so long +exercised. He came forward telling us that he, at least, meant +to have clean hands,--that he would not do as his forefathers +had done,--that he would not even do as he himself had done in +former years. What are we to think of the Duke of Omnium as a +Minister of this country, if, after such assurances, he has out +of is own pocket paid the electioneering expenses of a candidate +at Silverbridge?" There was much more in the article, but the +passages quoted will suffice to give the reader a sufficient idea +of the accusation made, and which the Duke read in the retirement +of his own chamber. + +He read it twice before he allowed himself to think of the +matter. The statement made was at any rate true to the letter. +He had paid the man's electioneering expenses. That he had done +so from the purest motives he knew and the reader knows,--but he +could even explain those motives without exposing his wife. +Since the cheque was sent he had never spoken of the occurrence +to any human being,--but he had thought of it very often. At +the time his private Secretary, with much hesitation, almost with +trepidation, had counselled him not to send the money. The Duke +was a man with whom it was very easy to work, whose courtesy to +all dependent on him was almost exaggerated, who never found +fault, and was anxious as far as possible to do everything for +himself. The comfort of those around him was always a matter of +interest to him. Everything he held, he held as it were in trust +for the enjoyment of others. But he was a man whom it was +difficult to advise. He did not like advice. He was so thin- +skinned that any counsel offered him took the form of criticism. +When cautioned what shoes he should wear,--as had been done by +Lady Rosina, or what wine or what horses he should buy, as was +done by his butler and coachman, he was thankful, taking no pride +to himself for knowledge as to shoes, wine, or horses. But as to +his own conduct, private or public, as to any question of +politics, as to his opinions and resolutions, he was jealous of +interference. Mr Warburton therefore had almost trembled when +asking the Duke whether he was quite sure about sending the money +to Lopez. 'Quite sure,' the Duke had answered, having at that +time made up his mind. Mr Warburton had not dared to express a +further doubt, and the money had been sent. But from the moment +of sending it doubts had repeated themselves in the Prime +Minister's mind. + +Now he sat with the newspaper in his hand thinking of it. Of +course it was open to him to take no notice of the matter,--to +go on as though he had never seen the article, and to let the +thing die if it would die. But he knew Mr Quintus Slide and his +paper well enough to be sure that it would not die. The charge +would be repeated in the "People's Banner" till it was copied +into other papers, and then the further question would be asked, +--why had the Prime Minister allowed such an accusation to remain +unanswered? But if he did notice it, what notice should he take +of it? It was true. And surely he disobeyed no law. He had +bribed no one. He had spent his money with no corrupt purpose. +His sense of honour had taught him to think the man had received +injury through his wife's imprudence, and that he therefore was +responsible as far as the pecuniary loss was concerned. He was +not ashamed that it should be discussed in public. + +Why had he allowed himself to be put into a position in which he +was subject to such grievous annoyance? Since he had held his +office he had not had a happy day, nor,--or so he told himself,-- +had he received from it any slightest gratification, nor could he +buoy himself up with the idea that he was doing good service for +his country. After a while he walked into the next room and +showed the paper to Mr Warburton. 'Perhaps you were right,' he +said, 'when you told me not to send the money.' + +'It will matter nothing,' said the private Secretary when he had +read it,--thinking, however, that it might matter much, but +wishing to spare the Duke. + +'I was obliged to repay the man as the Duchess had,--had +encouraged him. The Duchess had not quite,--quite understood my +wishes.' Mr Warburton knew the whole history, having discussed +it all with the Duchess more than once. + +'I think your Grace should take no notice of the article.' + +No notice was taken of it, but three days afterwards there +appeared a short paragraph in large type,--beginning with a +question. "Does the Duke of Omnium intend to answer the question +asked by us last Friday? Is it true that paid the expenses of Mr +Lopez when that gentleman stood for Silverbridge? The Duke may +be assured that the question will be repeated till it is +answered." This the Duke also saw and took to his private +Secretary. + +'I would do nothing at any rate till it be noticed in some other +paper,' said the private Secretary. 'The "People's Banner" is +known to be scandalous.' + +'Of course, it is scandalous. And, moreover, I know the motives +and the malice of the wretched man who is the editor. But the +paper is read, and the foul charge if repeated will become known, +and the allegation made is true. I did pay the man's election +expenses,--and moreover to tell the truth openly as I do not +scruple to do to you, I am not prepared to state publicly the +reason why I did so. And nothing but that reason could justify +me.' + +'Then I think your Grace should state it.' + +'I cannot do so.' + +'The Duke of St Bungay is here. Would it not be well to tell the +whole affair to him?' + +'I will think of it. I do not know why I should have troubled +you.' + +'Oh, my lord!' + +'Except that there is always some comfort in speaking even of +one's trouble. I will think about it. In the meantime you need +perhaps not mention it again.' + +'Who? I? Oh, certainly not.' + +'I did not mean to others,--but to myself. I will turn it in my +mind and speak of it when I have decided anything.' And he did +think about it, thinking of it so much that he could hardly get +the matter out of mind day or night. To his wife he did not +allude to it at all. Why trouble her with it? She had caused +the evil, and he had cautioned her as to the future. She could +not help him out of the difficulty she had created. He continued +to turn the matter over in his thoughts till he so magnified it, +and built it up into such proportions, that he again began to +think that he must resign. It was, he thought, true that a man +should not remain in office as Prime Minister who in such a +matter could not clear his own conduct. + +Then there was a third attack in the "People's Banner", and after +that the matter was noticed in the "Evening Pulpit". This notice +the Duke of St Bungay saw and mentioned it to Mr Warburton. 'Has +the Duke spoken to you of some allegations made in the press as +to the expenses of the late election at Silverbridge?' The old +Duke was at this time, and had been for some months, in a state +of nervous anxiety about his friend. He had almost admitted to +himself that he had been wrong in recommending a politician so +weakly organized to take the office of Prime Minister. He had +expected the man to be more manly,--had perhaps expected him to +be less conscientiously scrupulous. But now, as the thing had +been done, it must be maintained. Who else was there to take the +office? Mr Gresham would not. To keep Mr Daubney out was the +very essence of the Duke of St Bungay's life,--the turning-point +of his political creed, the one grand duty the idea of which was +always present to him. And he had, moreover, a most true and +affectionate regard for the man whom he now supported, +appreciating the sweetness of his character,--believing still in +the Minister's patriotism, intelligence, devotion, and honesty; +though he was forced to own to himself that the strength of a +man's heart was wanting. + +'Yes,' said Warburton, 'he did mention it.' + +'Does it trouble him?' + +'Perhaps you had better speak to him about it.' Both the old +Duke and the private Secretary were as fearful and nervous about +the Prime Minister as a mother is for a weakly child. They could +hardly tell their opinions to each other, but they understood one +another, and between them they coddled the Prime Minister. They +were specially nervous as to what might be done by the Prime +Minister's wife, nervous as to what was done by everyone who came +in contact with him. It had been once suggested by the private +Secretary that Lady Rosina should be sent for, as she had a +soothing effect upon the Prime Minister's spirit. + +'Has it irritated him?' asked the Duke. + +'Well;--yes, it has,--a little, you know. I think your Grace +had better speak to him;--and not perhaps mention my name.' The +Duke of St Bungay nodded his head, and said he would speak to the +great man and would not mention anyone's name. + +And he did speak. 'Has anyone said anything to you about it?' +asked the Prime Minister. + +'I saw it in the "Evening Pulpit" myself. I have not heard it +mentioned anywhere.' + +'I did pay the man's expenses.' + +'You did!' + +'Yes,--when the election was over, and, as far as I can +remember, some time after it was over. He wrote to me saying +that he had incurred such and such expenses, and asking me to +repay him. I sent him a cheque for the amount. + +'But why?' + +'I was bound in honour to do it.' + +'But why?' + +There was a short pause before this second question was answered. +'The man had been induced to stand by representations made to him +from my house. He had been, I fear, promised certain support +which certainly was not given him when the time came.' + +'You had not promised it?' + +'No;--not I.' + +'Was it the Duchess?' + +'Upon the whole, my friend, I think I would rather not discuss it +further, even with you. It is right that you should know that I +did pay the money,--and also why I paid it. It may also be +necessary that we should consider whether there may be any +further probable result from my doing so. But the money has been +paid, by me myself,--and was paid for the reason I have stated.' + +'A question might be asked in the House.' + +'If so, it must be answered as I have answered you. I certainly +shall not shirk any responsibility that may be attached to me.' + +'You would not like Warburton to write a line to the newspaper?' + +'What;--to the "People's Banner"!' + +'It began there, did it? No, not to the "People's Banner", but +to the "Evening Pulpit". He could say, you know, that the money +was paid by you, and the payment had been made because your +agents had misapprehended your instructions.' + +'It would not be true,' said the Prime Minister, slowly. + +'As far as I can understand that was what occurred,' said the +other Duke. + +'My instructions were not misapprehended. They were disobeyed. +I think that perhaps we had better say no more about it.' + +'Do not think I wish to press you,' said the old man tenderly, +'but I fear that something ought to be done;--I mean for your +own comfort.' + +'My comfort!' said the Prime Minister. 'That has vanished long +ago;--and my peace of mind, and my happiness.' + +'There has been nothing done which cannot be explained with +perfect truth. There has been no impropriety.' + +'I do not know.' + +'The money was paid simply from an over-nice sense of honour.' + +'It cannot be explained. I cannot explain it even to you; and +how then can I do it to all the gaping fools of the country who +are ready to trample upon a man simply because he is some way +conspicuous among them?' + +After that the old Duke again spoke to Mr Warburton, but Mr +Warburton was very loyal to his chief. 'Could one do anything by +speaking to the Duchess?' said the old Duke. + +'I think not.' + +'I suppose it was her Grace who did it all?' + +'I cannot say. My own impression is that he had better wait till +the Houses meet, and then, if any question is asked, let it be +answered. He himself would do it in the House of Lords, or Mr +Finn or Barrington Erle, in our House. It would be surely enough +to explain that his Grace had been made to believe that the man +had received encouragement at Silverbridge from his own agents, +which he himself had not intended should be given, and that +therefore he had thought it right to pay the money. After such +an explanation what more could anyone say?' + +'You might do it yourself.' + +'I never speak.' + +'But in such a case as that you might do so; and then there would +be no necessity for him to talk to another person on the matter.' + +So the affair was left for the present, though the allusions to +it in the "People's Banner" were still continued. Nor did any +other of the Prime Minister's colleagues dare to speak to him on +the subject. Barrington Erle and Phineas Finn talked of it among +themselves, but they did not mention it even to the Duchess. She +would have gone to her husband at once, and they were too careful +of him to risk such a proceeding. It certainly was the case that +among them they coddled the Prime Minister. + + + +CHAPTER 51 + +CODDLING THE PRIME MINISTER. + +Parliament was to meet on the 12th of February, and it was of +course necessary that there should be a Cabinet Council before +that time. The Prime Minister, about the end of the third week +in January, was prepared to name a day for this, and did so, most +unwillingly. But he was then ill, and talked both to his friend +the old Duke, and his private Secretary of having the meeting +held without him. 'Impossible,' said the old Duke. + +'If I could not go it would have to be possible.' + +'We could all come here if it were necessary.' + +'Bring fourteen or fifteen ministers out to town because a poor +creature such as I am is ill!' But in truth the Duke of St +Bungay hardly believed in this illness. The Prime Minister was +unhappy rather than ill. + +By this time everyone in the House,--and almost everybody in the +country who read the newspapers,--had heard of Mr Lopez and his +election expenses,--except the Duchess. No one had yet dared to +tell her. She saw the newspapers daily, but probably did not +read them very attentively. Nevertheless she knew that something +was wrong. Mr Warburton hovered about the Prime Minister more +tenderly than usual; the Duke of St Bungay was more concerned; +the world around her was more mysterious, and her husband more +wretched. 'What is it that's going on?' she said one day to +Phineas Finn. + +'Everything,--in the same dull way as usual.' + +'If you don't tell me, I'll never speak to you again. I know +there is something wrong.' + +'The Duke, I'm afraid, is not quite well.' + +'What makes him ill? I know well when he's ill, and when he's +well. He's troubled by something.' + +'I think he is, Duchess. But as he has not spoken to me I am +loath to make guesses. If there be anything I can only guess at +it.' + +Then she questioned Mrs Finn, and got an answer, which, if not +satisfactory, was at any rate explanatory. 'I think he is uneasy +about that Silverbridge affair.' + +'What Silverbridge affair?' + +'You know that he paid the expenses which that man Lopez says +that he incurred.' + +'Yes;--I know that.' + +'And you know that that other man Slide has found it out, and +published it all in the "People's Banner".' + +'No!' + +'Yes, indeed. And a whole army of accusations has been brought +against him. I have never liked to tell you, and yet I do not +think that you should be left in the dark.' + +'Everybody deceives me,' said the Duchess angrily. + +'Nay;--there has been no deceit.' + +'Everybody keeps things from me. I think you will kill me among +you. It was my doing. Why do they attack him? I will write to +the papers. I encouraged the man after Plantagenet had +determined that he should not be assisted,--and, because I had +done so, he paid the man his beggarly money. What is there to +hurt him in that? Let me bear it. My back is broad enough.' + +'The Duke is very sensitive.' + +'I hate people to be sensitive. It makes them cowards. A man +when he is afraid of being blamed, dares not at last even show +himself, and has to be wrapped in lamb's wool.' + +'Of course men are differently organized.' + +'Yes;--but the worst of it is, that when they suffer from this +weakness, which you call sensitiveness, they think that they are +made of finer material than other people. Men shouldn't be made +of Sevres china, but of good stone earthenware. However, I don't +want to abuse him, poor fellow.' + +'I don't think you ought.' + +'I know what that means. You do not want to abuse me. So +they've been bullying him about the money he paid to that man +Lopez. How did anybody know anything about it?' + +'Lopez must have told of it,' said Mrs Finn. + +'The worst, my dear, of trying to know a great many people is, +that you are sure to get hold of some that are very bad. Now +that man is very bad. Yet they say he has married a nice wife.' + +'That's often the case, Duchess.' + +'And the contrary;--isn't it, my dear? But I shall have it out +with Plantagenet. I have to write letters to all the newspapers +myself, I'll put it right.' She certainly coddled her husband +less than the others, and, indeed in her hearts of hearts +disapproved altogether of the coddling system. But she was wont +at this particular time to be somewhat tender to him because she +was aware that she herself had been imprudent. Since he had +discovered her interference at Silverbridge, and had made her +understand its pernicious results, she had been,--not, perhaps, +shamefaced, for that word describes a condition to which hardly +any series of misfortunes could have reduced the Duchess of +Omnium,--but inclined to quiescence by feelings of penitence. +She was less disposed than heretofore to attack him with what the +world of yesterday calls 'chaff', or with what the world of to- +day calls 'cheek'. She would not admit to herself that she was +cowed;--but the greatness of the game and the high interest +attached to her husband's position did in some degree dismay her. +Nevertheless she executed her purpose of 'having it out with +Plantagenet,' 'I have just heard,' she said, having knocked at +the door of his own room, and having found him alone,--'I have +just hear, for the first time, that there is a row about the +money you paid to Mr Lopez.' + +'Who told you?' + +'Nobody told me,--in the usual sense of the word. I presumed +that something was the matter, and then I got it from Marie. Why +had you not told me?' + +'Why should I tell you?' + +'But why not? If anything troubled me, I should tell you. That +is, if it troubled me much.' + +'You take it for granted that this does trouble me much.' He was +smiling as he said this, but the smile passed very quickly from +his face. 'I will not, however, deceive you. It does trouble +me.' + +'I knew very well that something was wrong.' + +'I have not complained.' + +'One can see as much as that without words. What is it that you +fear? What can the man do to you? What matter is it to you if +such a one as that pours out his malice on you? Let it run off +like the rain from the housetops. You are too big even to be +stung by such a reptile as that.' He looked into her face, +admiring the energy with which she spoke to him. 'As for +answering him,' she continued to say, 'that may or may not be +proper. If it should be done, there are people to do it. But I +am speaking of your own inner self. You have a shield against +your equals, and a sword to attack them with if necessary. Have +you no armour of proof against such a creature as that? Have you +nothing inside you to make you feel that he is too contemptible +to be regarded?' + +'Nothing.' + +'Oh, Plantagenet!' + +'Cora, there a different natures which have each their own +excellencies, and their own defects. I will not admit that I am +a coward, believing as I do that I could dare to face necessary +danger. But I cannot endure to have my character impugned,-- +even by Mr Lopez.' + +'What matter,--if you are in the right? Why blench if your +conscience accuses you of no fault? I would not blench if it +did. What,--is a man to be put in the front of everything, and +then to be judged as though he could give all his time to the +picking of his steps?' + +'Just so! And he must pick them more warily than another.' + +'I do not believe it. You see all this with jaundiced eyes. I +read somewhere the other day that the great ships have always +little worms attached to them, but that the great ships swim on +and know nothing of the worms.' + +'The worms conquer at last.' + +'They shouldn't conquer me! After all, what is it that they say +about the money? That you ought not to have had it?' + +'I begin to think I was wrong to pay it.' + +'You certainly were not wrong. I had led the man on. I had been +mistaken. I had thought he was a gentleman. Having led him on +at first, before you had spoken to me, I did not like to go back +from my word. I did go to the man at Silverbridge who sells the +pots, and no doubt the man, when thus encouraged, told it all to +Lopez. When Lopez went to the town he did suppose that he would +have what the people call the Castle interest.' + +'And I had done so much to prevent it.' + +'What's the use of going back on that now, unless you want me to +put my neck down to be trodden on? I am confessing my own sins +as fast as I can.' + +'God knows I would not have trodden on you.' + +'I am willing,--if it be necessary. Then came the question;-- +as I had done this evil, how was it to be rectified? Any man +with a particle of spirit would have taken his rubs and said +nothing about it. But as this man asked for the money, it was +right that he should have it. If it is all made public he won't +get very well out of it.' + +'What does that matter to me?' + +'Nor shall I;--only luckily I do not mind it.' + +'But I mind it for you.' + +'You must throw me to the whale. Let somebody say in so many +words that the Duchess did so and so. It was very wicked no +doubt; but they can't kill me,--nor yet dismiss me. And I won't +resign. In point of fact I shan't be a penny the worse for it.' + +'But I should resign.' + +'If all the Ministers of England were to give up as soon as their +wives do foolish things, that question about Queen's Government +would become very difficult.' + +'They may do foolish things, dear; and yet--' + +'And yet what?' + +'And yet not interfere in politics.' + +'That's all you know about it, Plantagenet. Doesn't everybody +know that Mrs Daubney got Dr MacFuzlem made a bishop, and that +Mrs Gresham got her husband to make that hazy speech about +women's rights, so that nobody should know which way he meant to +go? There are others just as bad as me, only I don't think they +got blown up so much. You do now as I ask you.' + +'I couldn't do it, Cora. Though the stain were but a little +spot, and the thing to be avoided political destruction, I could +not ride out of the punishment by fixing that stain upon my wife. +I will not have your name mentioned. A man's wife should be +talked about by no one.' + +'That's highfaluting, Plantagenet.' + +'Glencora, in these matters you must allow me to judge for +myself, and I will judge. I will never say that I didn't do it; +--but that it was my wife who did.' + +'Adam said so,--because he chose to tell the truth.' + +'And Adam has been despised ever since,--not because he ate the +apple, but because he imputed the eating of it to a woman. I +will not do it. We have had enough of this now.' Then she +turned to go away;--but he called her back. 'Kiss me, dear,' he +said. Then she stooped over him and kissed him. 'Do not think I +am angry with you because the thing vexes me. I am dreaming +always of some day when we may go away together with the +children, and rest in some pretty spot, and live as other people +live.' + +'It would be very stupid,' she muttered to herself as she left +the room. + +He did to up to town for the Cabinet meeting. Whatever may have +been done at that august assembly there was certainly no +resignation, or the world would have heard it. It is probable, +too, that nothing was said about these newspaper articles. +Things if left to themselves will generally die at last. The old +Duke and Phineas Finn and Barrington Erle were all of the opinion +that the best plan for the present was to do nothing. 'Has +anything been settled?' The Duchess asked Phineas when he came +back. + +'Oh yes;--the Queen's Speech. But there isn't very much in it.' + +'But about the payment of this money?' + +'I haven't heard a word about it,' said Phineas. + +'You're just as bad as all the rest, Mr Finn, with your pretended +secrecy. A girl with her sweetheart isn't half so fussy as a +young Cabinet Minister.' + +'The Cabinet Ministers get used to it sooner, I think,' said +Phineas Finn. + +Parliament had already met before Mr Slide had quite determined +in what way he would carry on the war. He could indeed go on +writing pernicious articles about the Prime Minister ad +infinitum,--from year's end to year's end. It was an occupation +in which he took delight, and for which he imagined himself to be +peculiarly well suited. But readers will become tired even of +abuse if it be not varied. And the very continuance of such +attacks would seem to imply that they were not much heeded. +Other papers had indeed taken the matter up,--but they had taken +it up only to drop it. The subject had not been their own. The +little discovery had been due not to their acumen, and did not +therefore bear with them the highest interest. It had almost +seemed as though nothing would come of it,--for Mr Slide in his +wildest ambition could have hardly imagined the vexation and +hesitation, the nervousness and serious discussion which his +words had occasioned among the great people at Matching. But +certainly the thing must not be allowed to pass away as a matter +of no moment. Mr Slide had almost worked his mind up to real +horror as he thought of it. What! A prime minister, a peer, a +great duke,--put a man forward as a candidate for a borough, +and, when the man was beaten, pay his expenses! Was this to be +done,--to be done, and found out and nothing come of it in these +days of purity, when a private member of Parliament, some mere +nobody loses his seat because he has given away a few bushels of +coals or a score or two of rabbits! Mr Slide's energetic love of +public virtue was scandalized as he thought of the probability of +such a catastrophe. To his thinking public virtue consisted in +carping at men high placed, in abusing ministers and judges and +bishops,--and especially in finding out something for which they +might be abused. His own public virtue was in this matter very +great, for it was he who had ferreted out the secret. For his +intelligence and energy in that matter the country owed him much. +But the country would pay him nothing, would give him none of the +credit he desired, would rob him of this special opportunity of +declaring a dozen times that the "People's Banner" was the surest +guardian of the people's liberty,--unless he could succeed in +forcing the matter further into public notice. 'How terrible is +the apathy of the people at large,' said Mr Slide to himself, +'when they cannot be awakened by such a revelation as this!' + +Mr Slide knew very well what ought to be the next step. Proper +notice should be given and a question should be asked in +Parliament. Some gentleman should declare that he had noticed +such and such statements in the public press, and that he thought +it right to ask whether such and such payments had been made by +the Prime Minister. In his meditations Mr Slide went to so far as +to arrange the very words which the indignant gentleman should +utter, among which words was a graceful allusion to a certain +public-spirited newspaper. He did even go so far as to arrange a +compliment to the editor,--but in doing so he knew that he was +thinking only of that which ought to be, and not of that which +would be. The time had not come as yet in which the editor of a +newspaper in this country received a tithe of the honour due to +him. But the question in any form, with or without a compliment +to the "People's Banner", would be the thing that was now +desirable. + +Who was to ask the question? If public spirit were really strong +in the country there would be not difficulty on that point. The +crime committed had been so horrible that all the great +politicians of the country ought to compete for the honour of +asking it. What greater service can be trusted to the hands of a +great man than that of exposing the sins of the rulers of the +nation? So thought Mr Slide. But he knew that he was in advance +of the people, and that the matter would not be seen in the +proper light by those who ought to see it. There might be a +difficulty in getting any peer to ask the question on the House +in which the Prime Minister himself sat, and even in the other +House there was now but little of that acrid, indignant +opposition upon which, in Mr Slide's opinion, the safety of the +nation altogether depends. + +When the statement was first made in the "People's Banner", Lopez +had come to Mr Slide at once and had demanded his authority for +making it. Lopez had found the statement to be most injurious to +himself. He had been paid his election expenses twice over, +making a clear profit of 500 pounds by the transaction, and, +thought the matter had at once time troubled his conscience, he +had already taught himself to regard it as one of those bygones +to which a wise man seldom refers. But now Mr Wharton would know +that he had been cheated, should the statement reach him. 'Who +gave you authority to publish all this?' asked Lopez, who at this +time had become intimate with Mr Slide. + +'Is it true, Lopez?' asked the editor. + +'Whatever was done was done in private,--between me and the +Duke.' + +'Dukes, my dear fellow, can't be private, and certainly not when +they are Prime Ministers.' + +'But you've no right to publish these things about me.' + +'Is it true? If it's true, I have got every right to publish it. +If it's not true, I've got the right to ask the question. If you +will 'ave to do with Prime Ministers you can't 'ide yourself +under a bushel. Tell me this;--is it true? You might as well +go 'and in 'and with me in the matter. You can't hurt yourself. +And if you oppose me,--why I shall oppose you.' + +'You can't say anything of me.' + +'Well;--I don't know about that. I can generally 'it pretty +'ard if I feel inclined. But I don't want to 'it you. As +regards you I can tell the story one way,--or the other, just as +you please.' Lopez, seeing it in a manner not inimical to +himself. The present project of his life was to leave his +troubles in England,--Sexty Parker being the worst of them,-- +and get away to Guatemala. In arranging this the good word of Mr +Slide might not benefit him, but his ill word might injure him. +And then let him do what he would, the matter must be made +public. Should Mr Wharton hear of it,--as of course he would,-- +it must be brazened out. He could not keep it from Mr Wharton's +ears by quarrelling with Quintus Slide. + +'It was true,' said Lopez. + +'I knew it before just as well as though I had seen it. I ain't +often very wrong in these things. You asked him for the money,-- +and threatened him.' + +'I don't know about threatening him.' + +''E wouldn't have sent it else.' + +'I told him that I had been deceived by his people in the +borough, and that I had been put to expense through the +misrepresentations of the Duchess. I don't think I did ask for +the money. But he sent a cheque, and of course I took it.' + +Of course;--of course. You couldn't give me a copy of the +letter?' + +'Never kept a copy.' He had a copy in his breast coat-pocket at +that moment and Slide did not for a moment believe the statement +made. But in such discussions one man hardly expects truth from +another. Mr Slide certainly never expected truth from any man. +'He sent the cheque almost without a word,' said Lopez. + +'He did write a note, I suppose?' + +'Just a few words.' + +'Could you let me 'ave that note?' + +'I destroyed it at once.' This also was in his breast pocket at +the time. + +'Did 'e write it 'imself?' + +'I think it was his private Secretary, Mr Warburton.' + +'You must be sure, you know. Which was it?' + +'It was Mr Warburton.' + +'Was it civil?' + +'Yes, it was. If it had been uncivil I should have sent it back. +I'm not the man to take impudence even from a duke.' + +'If you'll give me those two letters, Lopez, I'll stick to you +through thick and thin. By heavens I will! Think what the +"People's Banner" is. You may come to want that kind of thing +some of these days.' Lopez remained silent, looking into the +other man's eager face. 'I shouldn't publish them, you know; but +it would be so much to me to have the evidence in my hands. You +might do worse, you know, than make a friend of me.' + +'You won't publish them?' + +'Certainly not. I shall only refer to them.' + +Then Lopez pulled a bundle of papers out of his pocket. 'There +they are,' he said. + +'Well,' said Slide, when he had read them, 'it is one of the +rummiest transactions I ever 'eard of. Why did 'e send the +money? That's what I want to know. As far as the claim goes, +you 'adn't a leg to stand on.' + +'Not legally.' + +'You 'adn't a leg to stand on any way. But that doesn't much +matter. He sent the money, and the sending of the money was +corrupt. Who shall I get to ask the question. I suppose young +Arthur Fletcher wouldn't do it.' + +'They're birds of a feather,' said Lopez. + +'Birds of a feather do fall out sometimes. Or Sir Orlando +Drought? I wonder whether Sir Orlando Drought would do it. If +any man 'ated another, Sir Orlando Drought must 'ate the Duke of +Omnium.' + +'I don't think he would let himself down to that kind of thing.' + +'Let 'imself down! I don't see any letting down in it. But +those men who have been in cabinets do stick to one another even +when they are enemies. They think themselves so mighty that they +oughtn't to be 'andled like other men. But I'll let them know +that I'll 'andle them. A Cabinet Minister or a cowboy is the +same to Quintus Slide when he has got his pen in 'is hand.' + +On the next morning there came out another article in the +"People's Banner", in which the writer declared that he had in +his own possession the damnatory correspondence between the Prime +Minister and the late candidate at Silverbridge. 'The Prime +Minister may deny the fact,' said the article. 'We do not think +it probable, but it is possible. We wish to be fair and +aboveboard in everything. And therefore we at once inform the +noble Duke that the entire correspondence is in our hands.' In +saying this Mr Quintus Slide thought that he had quite kept the +promise which he made when said that he would only refer to the +letters. + + + +CHAPTER 52 + +'I CAN SLEEP HERE TO-NIGHT, I SUPPOSE?' + +That scheme of going to Guatemala had been in the first instance +propounded by Lopez with the object of frightening Mr Wharton +into terms. There had, indeed, been some previous thoughts on +the subject,--some plan projected before his marriage, but it +had been resuscitated mainly in the hope that it might be +efficacious to extract money. When by degrees the son-in-law +began to feel that even this would not be operative on his +father-in-law's purse,--when under this threat neither Wharton +nor Emily gave way,--and when, with the view of strengthening +his threat, he renewed his inquires as to Guatemala and found +that there might still an opening for him in that direction,-- +the threat took the shape of a true purpose, and he began to +think that he would in real earnest try his fortunes in a new +world. From day to day things did not go well with him, and from +day to day Sexty Parker became more unendurable. It was +impossible for him to keep from his partner this plan of +emigration,--but he endeavoured to make Parker believe that the +thing, if done at all, was not to be done till all his affairs +were settled,--or in other words all his embarrassments cleared +by downright money payments, and that Mr Wharton was to make +these payments on the condition that he thus expatriated himself. +But Mr Wharton had made no such promise. Though the threatened +day came nearer and nearer he could not bring himself to purchase +a short respite for his daughter by paying money to a scoundrel, +--which payment he felt sure would be of no permanent service. +During all this time Mr Wharton was very wretched. If he could +have freed his daughter from her marriage by half his fortune he +would have done it without a second thought. If he could have +assuredly purchased the permanent absence of her husband, he +would have done it at a large price. But let him pay what he +would, he could see his way to no security. From day to day he +became more strongly convinced of the rascality of this man who +was his son-in-law, and who was still an inmate in his own house. +Of course he had accusations enough to make within his own breast +against his daughter, who, when the choice was open to her, would +not take the altogether fitting husband provided for her, but had +declared herself to be broken-hearted for ever since she were +allowed to throw herself away upon this wretched creature. But +he blamed himself as much as he did her. Why had he allowed +himself to be so enervated by her prayers at last as to surrender +everything,--as he had done? How could he presume to think that +he should be allowed to escape, when he had done so little to +prevent the misery? + +He spoke to Emily about it,--not often, indeed, but with great +earnestness. 'I have done it myself,' she said, 'and I will bear +it.' + +'Tell him you cannot go till you know to what home you are +going.' + +'That is for him to consider. I have begged him to let me +remain, and I can say no more. If he chooses to take me, I shall +go.' + +Then he spoke to her about money. 'Of course I have money,' he +said. 'Of course I have enough both for you and Everett. If I +could do any good by giving it to him, he should have it.' + +'Papa,' she answered, 'I will never again ask you to give him a +single penny. That must be altogether between you and him. He +is what they call a speculator. Money is not safe with him.' + +'I shall have to send it to you when you are in want.' + +'When I am--dead there will be no more to be sent. Do not look +like that, papa. I know what I have done, and I must bear it. I +have thrown away my life, it is just that. If baby had lived it +would have been different.' This was about the end of January, +and then Mr Wharton heard of the great attack made by Mr Quintus +Slide against the Prime Minister, and heard, of course, of the +payment alleged to have been made to Ferdinand Lopez by the Duke +on the score of the election at Silverbridge. Some persons spoke +to him on the subject. One or two friends at the club asked him +what he supposed to be the truth in the matter, and Mrs Roby +inquired of him on the subject. 'I have asked Lopez,' she said, +'and I am sure from his manner that he did get the money.' + +'I don't know anything about it,' said Mr Wharton. + +'If he did get it I think he was very clever.' It was well known +at this time to Mrs Roby that the Lopez marriage had been a +failure, that Lopez was not a rich man, and that Emily, as well +as her father, was discontented and unhappy. She had latterly +heard of the Guatemala scheme, and had of course expressed her +horror. But she sympathized with Lopez rather than with his +wife, thinking that if Mr Wharton would only open his pockets +wide enough things might still be right. 'It was all the +Duchess's fault, you know,' she said to the old man. + +'I know nothing about it, and when I want to know I certainly +shall not come to you. The misery that he has brought upon me is +so great that it makes me wish I had never seen anyone who knew +him.' + +'It was Everett who introduced him to your house.' + +It was you who introduced him to Everett.' + +'There you are wrong,--as you often are, Mr Wharton. Everett +met him first at the club.' + +'What's the use of arguing about it? It was at your house that +Emily met him. It was you that did it. I wonder you can have +the face to mention his name to me.' + +'And the man living all the time in your house!' + +Up to this time Mr Wharton had not mentioned to a single person +the fact that he had paid his son-in-law's election expenses at +Silverbridge. He had given him the cheque without much +consideration, with the feeling that by doing so he would in some +degree benefit his daughter, and had since regretted the act, +finding that no such payment from him could be of any service to +Emily. But the thing had been done,--and there had been, so +far, an end of it. In no subsequent discussion would Mr Wharton +have alluded to it, had not circumstances now as it were driven +it back upon his mind. And since the day on which he had paid +the money he had been, as he declared to himself, swindled over +and over again by his son-in-law. There was the dinner at +Manchester Square, and after that the brougham, and the rent, and +a score of bills, some of which he had paid and some declined to +pay! And yet he had said but little to the man himself of all +these injuries. Of what use was it to say anything? Lopez would +simply reply that he had asked him to pay nothing. 'What is it +all,' Lopez had once said, 'to the fortune I had a right to +expect with your daughter?' 'You had no right to expect a +shilling,' Wharton had said. Then Lopez had shrugged his +shoulders, and there had been an end of it. + +But now, if this rumour were true, there had been a positive +dishonesty. From whichever source the man might have got the +money first, if the money had been twice got, the second payment +had been fraudulently obtained. Surely if the accusation had +been untrue Lopez would have come to him and declared it to be +false, knowing what must otherwise be his thoughts. Lately, in +the daily worry of his life, he had avoided all conversation with +the man. He would not allow his mind to contemplate clearly what +was coming. He entertained some irrational, undefined hope that +something would at last save his daughter from the threatened +banishment. It might be, if he held his own hand tight enough, +that there would not be money enough even to pay for her passage +out. As for her outfit, Lopez would of course order what he +wanted and have the bills sent to Manchester Square. Whether or +not this was being done neither he nor Emily knew. And thus +matters went on without much speech between the two men. But now +the old barrister thought that he was bound to speak. He +therefore waited on a certain morning till Lopez had come down, +having previously desired his daughter to leave the room. +'Lopez,' he asked, 'what is this that the newspapers are saying +about your expenses at Silverbridge?' + +Lopez had expected the attack and had endeavoured to prepare +himself for it. 'I should have thought, sir, that you would not +have paid much attention to such statements in a newspaper.' + +'When they concern myself, I do. I paid your electioneering +expenses. + +'You certainly subscribed 500 pounds towards them, Mr Wharton.' + +'I subscribed nothing, sir. There was no question of a +subscription,--by which you intend to imply contribution from +other sources. You told me that the contest cost you 500 pounds +and that sum I handed to you, with the full understanding on your +part, as well as on mine, that I was paying for the whole. Was +that so?' + +'Have it your own way, sir.' + +'If you are not more precise, I shall think that you have +defrauded me.' + +'Defrauded you?' + +'Yes, sir;--defrauded me to the Duke of Omnium. The money is +gone, and it matters little which. But if that be so I shall +know that either from him or from me you have raised money under +false pretences.' + +'Of course, Mr Wharton, from you I must bear whatever you may +choose to say.' + +'Is it true that you have applied to the Duke of Omnium for money +on account of your expenses at Silverbridge, and is it true that +he has paid you on that score?' + +'Mr Wharton, as I have said just now, I am bound to hear and to +bear from anything you may choose to say. Your connection with +my wife and your age alike restrain my resentment. But I am not +bound to answer your questions when they are accompanied by such +language as you have chosen to use, and I refuse to answer +further questions on this subject.' + +'Of course I know that you have taken the money from the Duke.' + +'Then why do you ask me?' + +'And of course I know you are well aware as I am of the nature of +the transaction. That you can brazen it out without a blush only +proves to me that you have got beyond the reach of shame.' + +'Very well, sir.' + +'And you have no further explanation to make?' + +'What do you expect me to say? Without knowing any of the facts +of the case,--except the one, that you contributed 500 pounds to +my election expenses, you take upon yourself to tell me that I am +a shameless, fraudulent swindler. And then you ask for a further +explanation! In such a position is it likely that I shall +explain anything;--that I can be in a humour to be explanatory? +Just turn it all over in your own mind, and ask yourself the +question.' + +'I have turned it over in my mind, and I have asked myself the +question, and I do not think it probable that you should wish to +explain anything. I shall take steps to let the Duke know that I +as your father-in-law had paid the full sum which you had stated +that you had spent at Silverbridge.' + +'Much the Duke will care about that.' + +'And after what has passed I am obliged to say that the sooner +you leave this house the better I shall be pleased.' + +'Very well, sir. Of course I shall take my wife with me.' + +'That must be as she pleases.' + +'No, Mr Wharton. That must be as I please. She belongs to me,-- +not to you or to herself. Under your influence she has forgotten +much of what belongs to the duty of a wife, but I do not think +that she will so far have forgotten herself as to give me more +trouble than to bid her come with me when I desire it.' + +'Let that be as it may. I must request that you, sir, will +absent yourself. I will not entertain as my guest a man who has +acted as you have done in this matter,--even though he be my +son-in-law.' + +'I can sleep here tonight, I suppose?' + +'Or to-morrow if it suits you. As for Emily, she can remain +here, if you will allow her to do so.' + +'That will not suit me,' said Lopez. + +'In that case, as far as I am concerned, I shall do whatever she +may ask me to do. Good morning.' + +Mr Wharton left the room, but did not leave the house. Before he +did so he would see his daughter, and, thinking it probable that +Lopez would also choose to see his wife, he prepared to wait in +his own room. But, in about ten minutes, Lopez started from the +hall door in a cab, and did so without going upstairs. Mr +Wharton had reason to believe that his son-in-law was almost +destitute of money for immediate purposes. Whatever he might +have would at any rate be serviceable for him before he started. +Any home for Emily must be expensive; and no home in their +present circumstances could be so reputable for her as one under +her father's roof. He therefore almost hoped that she might +still be left with him till that horrid day should come,--if it +ever did come,--in which she would be taken away from him for +ever. 'Of course, papa, I shall go if he bids me,' she said, +when he told her all that he thought it right to tell her of that +morning's interview. + +'I hardly know how to advise you,' said the father, meaning in +truth to bring himself round to the giving of some advice adverse +to her husband's will. + +'I want no advice, papa.' + +'Want no advice! I never knew a woman who wanted it more.' + +'No, papa. I am bound to do as he tells me. I know what I have +done. When some poor wretch has got himself into perpetual +prison by his misdeeds, no advice can serve him. So it is with +me.' + +'You can at any rate escape from your prison.' + +'No;--no. I have a feeling of pride which tells me that as I +chose to become the wife of my husband,--so I insisted on it in +opposition to all my friends,--as I would judge for myself,--I +am bound to put up with my choice. If this had come upon me +through the authority of others, if I had been constrained to +marry him, I think I could have reconciled myself to deserting +him. But I did it myself, and I will abide by it. When he bids +me to go, I shall go.' Poor Mr Wharton went to his chambers, and +sat there the whole day without taking a book or a paper into his +hands. Could there be no rescue, no protection, no relief? He +turned over in his head various plans, but in a vague and useless +manner. What if the Duke were to prosecute Lopez for the fraud! +What if he could implore Lopez to abandon his wife,--pledging +himself by some deed not to return to her,--for, say, twenty or +even thirty thousand pounds! What if he himself were carry his +daughter away to the continent, half forcing and half persuading +her to make the journey! Surely there might be some means found +by which the man might be frightened into compliance. But there +he sat,--and did nothing. And in the evening he ate a solitary +mutton chop at The Jolly Blackbird, because he could not bear to +face even his club, and then returned to his chambers,--to the +great disgust of the old woman who had them in charge at nights. +And at about midnight he crept away to his own house, a wretched +old man. + +Lopez when he left Manchester Square he did not go in search of a +new home for himself and his wife, nor during the whole of the +day did he trouble himself on that subject. He spent most of the +day at the rooms in Coleman Street of the San Juan Mining +Association, of which Mr Mills Happerton had once been Chairman. +There was now another Chairman and other Directors; but Mr Mills +Happerton's influence had so far remained with the Company as to +enable Lopez to become well-known in the Company's offices, and +acknowledged as a claimant for the office of resident Manager at +San Juan in Guatemala. Now the present project was this,--that +Lopez was to start on behalf of the Company early in May, that +the Company was to pay his own personal expenses out to +Guatemala, and that they should allow him while there a salary of +1,000 pounds a year for managing the affairs of the mine. As far +as this offer went, the thing was true enough. It was true that +Lopez had absolutely secured the place. But he done so subject +to the burden of one very serious stipulation. He was to become +the proprietor of fifty shares in the mine, and to pay up 100 +pounds each on those shares. It was considered that the man who +was to get 1,000 pounds a year in Guatemala for managing the +affair, should at any rate assist the affair, and show his +confidence in the affair, to an extent as great as that. Of +course the holder of these fifty shares would be fully entitled +as any other shareholder to that twenty per cent which those +shares who promoted the mine promised as the immediate result of +the speculation. + +At first Lopez had hoped that he might be enabled to defer the +actual payment of the 5,000 pounds till after he had sailed. +When once out in Guatemala as manager, as manager he would +doubtless remain. But by degrees he found that the payment must +actually be made in advance. Now there was nobody to whom he +could apply but Mr Wharton. He was, indeed, forced to declare at +the office that the money was to come from Mr Wharton, and had +given some excellent but fictitious reason why Mr Wharton could +not pay the money till February. + +And in spite of all that had come and gone he still did hope that +if the need to go were actually there he might even get the money +from Mr Wharton. Surely Mr Wharton would sooner pay such a sum +than be troubled at home with such a son-in-law. Should the +worst come to the worst, of course he could raise the money by +consenting to leave his wife at home. But this was not part of +his plan, if he could avoid it. 5,000 pounds would be a very low +price at which to sell his wife, and all that he might get from +his connection with her. As long as he kept her with him he was +in possession at any rate of all that Mr Wharton would do for +her. He had not therefore as yet made up his final application +to his father-in-law for the money, having found it possible to +postpone they payment till the middle of February. His quarrel +with Mr Wharton this morning he regarded as having little or no +effect upon his circumstances. Mr Wharton would not give him the +money because he loved him, nor yet from personal respect, nor +from any sense of duty as to what he might owe a son-in-law. It +would simply be given as the price by which his absence might be +purchased, and his absence would not be the less desirable +because of this morning's quarrel. + +But, even yet, he was not quite resolved as to going to +Guatemala. Sexty Parker had been sucked nearly dry, and was in +truth at this moment so violent with indignation and fear and +remorse that Lopez did not dare to show himself in Little Tankard +Yard; but still there were, even yet, certain hopes in that +direction from which greater results might come. If a certain +new spirit which had just been concocted from the bark of trees +in Central Africa, and which was called Bios, could only be made +to go up in the market, everything might be satisfactorily +arranged. The hoardings of London were already telling the +public if it wished to get drunk without any of the usual +troubles of intoxication it must drink Bios. The public no +doubt does read the literature of the hoardings, but then it +reads so slowly! This Bios had hardly been twelve months on the +boards as yet! But they were now increasing the size of the +letters in the advertisements and the jocundity of the pictures, +--and the thing might be done. There was, too, another hope,-- +another hope of instant moneys by which Guatemala might be staved +off, as to which further explanation shall be given in a further +chapter. + +'I suppose I shall find Dixon a decent sort of fellow?' said +Lopez to the Secretary of the Association in Coleman Street. + +'Rough, you know,' + +'But honest?' + +'Oh yes,--he's all that.' + +'If he's honest, and what I call loyal, I don't care a straw for +anything else. One doesn't expect West-end manners in Guatemala. +But I shall have a deal to do with him,--and I hate a fellow +that you can't depend on.' + +'Mr Happerton used to think a great deal of Dixon.' + +'That's all right,' said Lopez. Mr Dixon was the underground +manager out at the San Juan mine, and was perhaps as anxious for +a loyal and honest colleague as was Mr Lopez. If so, Mr Dixon +was very much in the way to be disappointed. + +Lopez stayed at the office all the day studying the affairs of +the San Juan mine, and then went to the Progress for dinner. +Hitherto he had taken no steps whatever as to getting lodgings +for himself or his wife. + + + +CHAPTER 53 + +MR HARTLEPOD. + +When the time came at which Lopez should have left Manchester +Square he was still there. Mr Wharton, in discussing the matter +with his daughter,--when wishing to persuade her that she might +remain in his house even in opposition to her husband,--had not +told her that he had actually desired Lopez to leave it. He had +then felt sure that the man would go and take his wife with him, +but he did not even yet know the obduracy and cleverness and the +impregnability of his son-in-law. When the time came, when he +saw his daughter in the morning after the notice had been given, +he could not bring himself even then to say to her that he had +issued an order for his banishment. Days went by and Lopez was +still there, and the old barrister had no further word on the +subject. The two men never met;--or met simply in the hall or +passages. Wharton himself studiously avoided such meetings, thus +denying himself the commonest uses of his own house. At last +Emily told him that her husband had fixed the day for her +departure. The next Indian mail-packet by which they would leave +England would start from Southampton on the 2nd of April, and she +was to be ready to go on that day. 'How is it to be till then?' +the father asked in a low, uncertain voice. + +'I suppose I may remain with you.' + +'And your husband?' + +'He will be here, too,--I suppose.' + +'Such a misery,--such a destruction of everything no man ever +heard of before!' said Mr Wharton. To this she made no reply, +but continued working at some necessary preparation for her +final departure. 'Emily,' he said. 'I will make any sacrifice +to prevent it. What can be done? Short of injuring Everett's +interests, I will do anything.' + +'I do not know,' she said. + +'You must understand something of his affairs.' + +'Nothing whatever. He has told me nothing of them. In earlier +days,--soon after our marriage,--he bade me get money from +you.' + +'When you wrote to me for money from Italy?' + +'And after that. I have refused to do anything,--to say a word. +I told him that it must be between you and him. What else could +I say? And now he tells me nothing.' + +'I cannot think that he wants you to go with him.' Then there +was again a pause. 'Is it because he loves you?' + +'Not that, papa.' + +'Why then should he burden himself with a companion? His money, +whatever he has, would go further without such impediment.' + +'Perhaps he thinks, papa, that while I am with him he has a hold +upon you.' + +'He shall have a stronger hold by leaving you. What is he to +gain? If I could only know his price.' + +'Ask him, papa.' + +'I do not know how I am to speak to him again.' + +Then again there was a pause. 'Papa,' she said after a while, 'I +have done it myself. Let me go. You will still have Everett. +And it may be that after a time I shall come back to you. He +will not kill me, and it may be that I shall not die.' + +'By God!' said Mr Wharton, rising from his chair suddenly, 'if +there was money to be made by it, I believe he would murder you +without a scruple.' Thus it was that within eighteen months of +her marriage the father spoke to his daughter of her husband. + +'What am I to take with me?' she said to her husband a few days +later. + +'You had better ask your father.' + +'Why should I ask him, Ferdinand? How should he know?' + +'And how should I?' + +'I should have thought you would interest yourself about it.' + +'Upon my word I have enough to interest me just at present, +without thinking of your finery. I suppose you mean what clothes +you should have?' + +'I was not thinking of myself only.' + +'You need think of nothing else. Ask him what he pleases to +allow you to spend, and then I will tell you what to get.' + +'I will never ask him for anything, Ferdinand.' + +'Then you may go without anything. You might as well do it at +once, for you will have to do it sooner or later. Or, if you +please, go to his tradesmen and say nothing to him about it. +They will give you credit. You see how it is, my dear. He has +cheated me in a most rascally manner. He has allowed me to marry +his daughter, and because I did not make a bargain with him as +another man would have done, he denies me the fortune I had a +right to expect with you. You know that the Israelites despoiled +the Egyptians, and it was taken as merit on their part. Your +father is a Egyptian to me, and I will despoil him. You can tell +him that I say so if you please.' + +And so the days went on till the first week of February had +passed, and Parliament had met. Both Lopez and his wife were +still living in Manchester Square. Not another word had been +said as to that notice to quit, nor an allusion made to it. It +was supposed to be a settled thing that Lopez was to start with +his wife for Guatemala in the first week of April. Mr Wharton +had himself felt that difficulty as to his daughter's outfit, and +had told her that she might get whatever it pleased her on his +credit. 'For yourself, my dear.' + +'Papa, I will get nothing till he bids me.' + +'But you can't go across the world without anything. What are +you to do in such a place as that unless you have the things you +want?' + +'What do poor people do who have to go? What should I do if you +had cast me off because of my disobedience?' + +'But I have not cast you off.' + +'Tell him that you will give him so much, and then, if he bids +me, I will spend it.' + +'Let it be so. I will tell him.' + +Upon that Mr Wharton did speak to his son-in-law;--coming upon +him suddenly one morning in the dining-room. 'Emily will want an +outfit if she is to go to this place.' + +'Like other people she wants many things that she cannot get.' + +'I will tell my tradesmen to furnish her with what she wants, up +to,--well,--suppose I say 200 pounds. I have spoken to her and +she wants your sanction.' + +'My sanction for spending money? She can have that very +quickly.' + +'You can tell her so;--or I will do so.' + +Upon that Mr Wharton was going, but Lopez stopped him. It was +now essential that the money for the shares in the San Juan mine +should be paid up, and his father-in-law's pocket was still the +source from which the enterprising son-in-law had hoped to +procure it. Lopez had fully made up his mind to demand it, +and thought that the time had now come. And he was resolved that +he would not ask it as a favour on bended knee. He was beginning +to feel his own power, and trusted that he might prevail by other +means than begging. 'Mr Wharton,' he said, 'you and I have not +been very good friends lately.' + +'No, indeed.' + +'There was a time,--a very short time,--during which I thought +that we might hit it off together, and I did my best. You do +not, I fancy, like men of my class.' + +'Well;--well! You had better go on if there be +anything to say.' + +'I have much to say, and I will go on. You are a rich man, and I +am your son-in-law.' Mr Wharton put his left hand up to his +forehead, brushing the few hairs back from his head, but he said +nothing. 'Had I received from you during the last most vital +year that assistance which I think I had a right to expect, I +also might have been a rich man now. It is no good going back to +that.' Then he paused, but still Mr Wharton said nothing. 'Now +you know what has come to me and to your daughter. We are to be +expatriated.' + +'Is that my fault?' + +'I think it is, but I mean to say nothing further of that. This +Company which is sending me out, and which probably will +be the most thriving thing of the kind which has come up within +these twenty years, is to pay me a salary of 1,000 pounds a year +as resident manager of San Juan.' + +'So I understand.' + +'The salary alone would be a beggarly thing. Guatemala, I take +it, is not the cheapest country in the world in which a man can +live. But I am to go out there as the owner of fifty shares on +which 100 pounds each must be paid up, and I am entitled to draw +another 1,000 pounds a year as dividend on the profit of those +shares.' + +'That will be twenty per cent.' + +'Exactly.' + +'And will double you salary.' + +'Just so. But there is one little ceremony to be perfected +before I can be allowed to enter upon so halcyon a state of +existence. The 100 pounds a share must be paid up.' Mr Wharton +simply stared at him. 'I must have the 5,000 pounds to invest in +the undertaking before I can start.' + +'Well!' + +'Now I have not got 5,000 pounds myself, nor any part of it. You +do not wish, I suppose, to see either me or your daughter starve. +And as for me, I hardly flatter myself when I say that you are +very anxious to be rid of me, 5,000 pounds is not very much for +me to ask of you, as I regard it.' + +'Such consummate impudence I never met in my life before!' + +'Nor perhaps so much unprevaricating downright truth. At any +rate such is the condition of my affairs. If I am to go the +money must be paid this week. I have, perhaps foolishly, put off +mentioning the matter till I was sure that I could not raise the +sum elsewhere. Though I feel my claim on you to be good, Mr +Wharton, it is not pleasant to me to make it.' + +'You are asking me for 5,000 pounds down!' + +'Certainly I am.' + +'What security am I to have?' + +'Security?' + +'Yes;--that if I pay it I shall not be troubled again by the +meanest scoundrel that it has ever been my misfortune to meet. +How am I to know that you will not come back to-morrow? How am I +to know that you will go at all? Do you think it will be +probable that I will give you 5,000 pounds on your own simple +word?' + +'Then the scoundrel will stay in England,--and will generally +find it convenient to live in Manchester Square.' + +'I'll be d-d if he does. Look here, sire. Between you and me +there can be a bargain, and nothing but a bargain. I will pay +the 5,000 pounds,--on certain conditions.' + +'I didn't doubt at all that you would pay it.' + +'I will go with you to the office of this Company, and will pay +for the shares if I can receive assurance there that the matter +is as you say, and that the shares will not be placed in your +power before you have reached Guatemala.' + +'You can come to-day, sire, and receive all that assurance.' + +'And I must have a written undertaking from you,--a document +which my daughter can show if it be necessary,--that you will +never claim her society again or trouble her with any +application.' + +'You mistake me, Mr Wharton. My wife goes with me to Guatemala.' + +'Then I will not pay one penny. Why should I? What is your +presence or absence to me except as it concerns her? Do you +think that I care for your threats of remaining here. The police +will set that right.' + +'Wherever I go, my wife goes.' + +'We'll see to that too. If you want the money, you must leave +her. Good morning.' + +Mr Wharton as he went to his chambers thought the matter over. +He was certainly willing to risk the 5,000 pounds demanded if he +could rid himself and his daughter of this terrible incubus, even +if it were only for a time. If Lopez would but once go to +Guatemala, leaving his wife behind him, it would be comparatively +easy to keep them apart should he ever return. The difficulty +now was not in him, but in her. The man's conduct had been so +outrageous, so barefaced, so cruel, that the lawyer did not doubt +but that he could turn her husband out of his house, and keep the +wife, even now, were it not that she was determined to obey the +man whom she, in opposition to all her friends, had taken as her +master. 'I have done it myself, and I will bear it,' was all the +answer she would make when her father strove to persuade her to +separate herself from her husband. 'You have got Everett,' she +would say. 'When a girl is married she is divided from her +family;--and I am divided.' But she would willingly stay if +Lopez would bid her stay. It now seemed that he could not go +without the 5,000 pounds; and, when the pressure came upon him, +surely he would go and leave his wife. + +In the course of that day Mr Wharton went to the offices of the +San Juan mine and asked to see the Director. He was shown up +into a half-furnished room, two storeys high, in Coleman Street, +where he found two clerks sitting upon stools;--and when he +asked for the Director was shown into the back room in which sat +the Secretary. The Secretary was a dark, plump little man with a +greasy face, who had the gift of assuming an air of great +importance as he twisted his chair round to face visitors who +came to inquire about the San Juan Mining Company. His name was +Hartlepod; and if the San Juan mine 'turned out trumps', as he +intended that it should, Mr Hartlepod meant to be a great man in +the city. To Mr Hartlepod Mr Wharton with considerable +embarrassment, explained as much of the joint history of himself +and Lopez as he found to be absolutely necessary. 'He has only +left the office about half an hour,' said Mr Hartlepod. + +'Of course you understand he is my son-in-law.' + +'He has mentioned your name to us, Mr Wharton, before now.' + +'And he is going to Guatemala?' + +'Oh yes;--he's going out. Has he not told you as much himself?' + +'Certainly, sir. And he has told me that he is desirous of +buying certain shares in the Company before he starts.' + +'Probably, Mr Wharton.' + +'Indeed, I believe he cannot go unless he buys them.' + +'That may be so, Mr Wharton. No doubt he has told you all that +himself.' + +'The fact is, Mr Hartlepod, I am willing, under certain +stipulations, to advance him the money.' Mr Hartlepod bowed. 'I +need not trouble you with my private affairs between myself and +my son-in-law.' Again the Secretary bowed. 'But it seems to be +for his interest that he should go.' + +'A very great opening indeed, Mr Wharton. I don't see how a man +is to have a better opening. A fine salary! His expenses are +paid! One of the very best things that has come up for many +years! And as for the capital he is to embark in the affair, he +is as safe to get twenty per cent in it,--as safe,--as safe as +the Bank of England.' + +'He'll have the shares?' + +'Oh yes;--the scrip will be handed to him at once.' + +'And,--and--' + +'If you mean about the mine, Mr Wharton, you may take my word +that it's all real. It's not one of those sham things that melt +away like snow and leave the shareholders nowhere. There's the +prospectus, Mr Wharton. Perhaps you have not seen that before. +Take it away and cast your eyes over it at your leisure.' Mr +Wharton put the somewhat lengthy pamphlet into his pocket. 'Look +at the list of Directors. We've three members of Parliament, a +baronet, and one or two City names that are as good,--as good as +the Bank of England. If that prospectus won't make a man +confident I don't know what will. Why, Mr Wharton, you don't +think that your son-in-law would get those fifty shares at par +unless he was going out as our general manager. You'll see if +you look. About a quarter of a million paid up. But it's all in +a box as one may say. It's among ourselves. The shares ain't in +the market. Of course it's not for me to say what should be done +between you and your son-in-law. Lopez is a friend of mine, and +a man I esteem, and all that. Nevertheless I shouldn't think of +advising you to do this or that,--or not to do it. But when you +talk of safety, Mr Wharton,--why, Mr Wharton, I don't scruple to +tell you as a man who knows what these things are, that this is +an opportunity that doesn't come a man's way perhaps twice in his +life.' + +Mr Wharton found he had nothing more to say, and went back to +Lincoln's Inn. He knew very well that Mr Hartlepod's assurances +were not worth much. Mr Hartlepod himself and his belongings, +the clerks in his office, the look of the rooms, and the very +nature of the praises which he had sung, all them inspired +anything but confidence. Mr Wharton was a man of the world; and, +though he knew nothing of City ways, was quite aware that no man +in his senses would lay out 5,000 pounds on the mere word of Mr +Hartlepod. But still he was inclined to make the payment. If +only he could secure the absence of Lopez,--and if could be sure +that Lopez would in truth go to Guatemala, and also if he could +induce the man to go without his wife, he would risk the money. +The money would, of course, be thrown away,--but he would throw +it away. Lopez no doubt declared that he would not go without +his wife, even though the money were paid for him. But the money +was an alluring sum! As the pressure upon the man became +greater, Mr Wharton thought he would probably consent to leave +his wife behind him. + +In his emergency the barrister went to his attorney and told him +everything. The two lawyers were closeted together for an hour, +and Mr Wharton's last words to his old friend were as follows:-- +'I will risk the money, Walker, or rather I will consent +absolutely to throw it away,--as it will be thrown away,--if it +can be managed that he shall in truth go to this place without +his wife.' + + + +CHAPTER 54 + +LIZZIE. + +It cannot be supposed that Ferdinand Lopez at this time was a +very happy man. He had, at any rate, once loved his wife, and +would have loved her still could he have trained her to think as +he thought, to share his wishes, and 'to put herself into the +same boat with him',--as he was wont to describe the unison and +sympathy which he required from her. To give him his due, he did +not know that he was a villain. When he was exhorting her to +'get round her father' he was not aware that he was giving her +lessons which must shock a well-conditioned girl. He did not +understand that everything that she had discovered of his moral +disposition since her marriage was of a nature to disgust her. +And, not understanding all this, he conceived that he was +grievously wronged by her, in that she adhered to her father +rather than to him. This made him unhappy, and doubly +disappointed him. He had neither got the wife that he had +expected nor the fortune. But he still thought that the fortune +may come if he would only hold on to the wife which he had got. + +And then everything had gone badly with him since his marriage. +He was apt, when thinking over his affairs, to attribute all this +to the fears and hesitation and parsimony of Sexty Parker. None +of his late ventures with Sexty Parker had been successful. And +now Sexty was in a bad condition, very violent, drinking hard, +declaring himself to be a ruined man, and swearing that if this +and that were not done he would have bitter revenge. Sexty still +believed in the wealth of his partner's father-in-law, and still +had some hope of salvation from that source. Lopez would declare +to him, and up to this very time persevered in protesting, that +salvation would be found in Bios. If Sexty would only risk two +or three thousand pounds more upon Bios,--or his credit to that +amount failing the immediate money,--things might still be +right. 'Bios be d-d,' said Sexty, uttering a string of heavy +imprecations. On that morning, he had been trusting to native +produce rather than to the new African spirit. But now, as the +Guatemala scheme really took form and loomed on Lopez's eyesight +as a thing that might be real, he endeavoured to keep out of +Sexty's way. But in vain, Sexty too had heard of Guatemala, and +in his misery hunted Lopez about the city. 'By G-, I believe +you're afraid to come to Little Tankard Yard,' he said one day, +having caught his victim under the equestrian statue in front of +the Exchange. + +'What is the good of my coming when you will do nothing when I am +there?' + +'I'll tell what it is, Lopez,--you're not going out of the +country about this mining business, if I know it.' + +'Who said I was?' + +'I'll put a spoke in your wheel there, my man. I'll give a +written account of the dealings between us to the Directors. By +G-, they shall know their man.' + +'You're an ass, Sexty, and always were. Look here. If I can +carry on as though I were going to this place, I can draw 5,000 +pounds from old Wharton. He has already offered it. He has +treated me with a stinginess that I never knew equalled. Had he +done what I had a right to expect, you and I would have been rich +men now. But at last I have got a hold upon him to 5,000 pounds. +As you and I stand, pretty nearly the whole of that will go to +you. But don't you spoil it all by making an ass of yourself.' + +Sexty, who was three parts drunk, looked up into his face for a +few seconds, and then made his reply. 'I'm d-d if I believe a +word of it.' Upon that Lopez affected to laugh, and then made +his escape. + +All this, as I have said, did not tend to make his life happy. +Though he had impudence enough, and callousness of conscience +enough to get his bills paid by Mr Wharton as often as he could, +he was not quite easy in his mind while he was doing so. His +ambition had never been high, but it had soared higher than that. +He had had great hopes. He had lived with some high people. He +had dined with lords and ladies. He had been the guest of a +Duchess. He had married the daughter of a gentleman. He had +nearly been a member of Parliament. He still belonged to what he +considered to be a first-rate club. From a great altitude he +looked down upon Sexty Parker and men of Sexty's class, because +of his social successes, and because he knew how to talk and to +look like a gentleman. It was unpleasant to him, therefore, to +be driven to the life he was now living. And the idea of going +to Guatemala and burying himself in a mine in Central America was +not to him a happy idea. In spite of all that he had done he had +still some hope that he might avoid the banishment. He had +spoken the truth to Sexty Parker in saying that he intended to +get the 5,000 pounds from Mr Wharton without that terrible +personal sacrifice, though he had hardly spoken the truth when he +assured his friend that the greater portion of that money would +go to him. There were many schemes fluctuating through his +brain, and all accompanied by many doubts. If he could get Mr +Wharton's money by giving up his wife, should he consent to give +her up? In either case should he stay or should he go? Should +he run one further great chance with Bios,--and if so, by whose +assistance? And if he should at least decide that he would do so +by the aid of a certain friend that was yet left to him, should +he throw himself at that friend's feet, the friend being a lady, +and propose to desert his wife and begin the world again with +her? For the lady in question was a lady in possession, as he +believed, of very large means. Or should he cut his throat and +have done with all his troubles, acknowledging to himself that +his career had been a failure, and that, therefore, it might be +brought with advantage to an end? 'After all,' said he to +himself, 'that may be the best way of winding up a bankrupt +concern.' + +Our old friend Lady Eustace, in these days, lived in a very small +house in a very small street bordering upon Mayfair; but the +street, though very small, and having disagreeable relations with +a mews, still had an air of fashion about it. And with her lived +the widow, Mrs Leslie, who had introduced Mrs Dick Roby, and +through Mrs Roby, to Ferdinand Lopez. Lady Eustace was in the +enjoyment of a handsome income, as I hope that some of my readers +may remember,--and this income, during the last year or two, she +had learned to foster, if not with much discretion, at any rate +with great zeal. During her short life she had had many +aspirations. Love, poetry, sport, religion, fashion, Bohemianism +had all been tried; but in each crisis there had been a certain +care for wealth which had saved her from the folly of squandering +what she had won by her early energies in the pursuit of her then +prevailing passion. She had given her money to no lover, had not +lost it on race-courses, or in building churches,--nor even had +she materially damaged her resources by servants and equipages. +At the present time she was still young, and still pretty,-- +though her hair and complexion took rather more time than in the +days when she won Sir Florian Eustace. She still liked a lover, +--or perhaps two,--though she had thoroughly convinced herself +that a lover may be bought too dear. She could still ride a +horse, though hunting regularly was too expensive for her. She +could talk of religion if she could find herself close to a well- +got-up clergyman,--being quite indifferent as to the +denomination of the religion. But perhaps a wild dash for a time +into fast vulgarity was what in her heart of hearts she liked +best,--only that it was so difficult to enjoy the pleasures +without risk of losing everything. And then, together with these +passions, and perhaps above them all, there had lately sprung up +in the heart of Lady Eustace a desire to multiply her means by +successful speculation. This was the friend with whom Ferdinand +Lopez had lately become intimate, and by whose aid he hoped to +extricate himself from some of his difficulties. + +Poor as he was he had contrived to bribe Mrs Leslie by handsome +presents out of Bond Street;--for, as he still lived in +Manchester Square, and was the undoubted son-in-law of Mr +Wharton, his credit was not altogether gone. In the giving of +these gifts no purport was, of course, named, but Mrs Leslie was +probably aware that her good word with her friend was expected. +'I only know what I used to hear from Mrs Roby,' Mrs Leslie had +said to her friend. 'He was mixed up with Hunky's people, who +roll in money. Old Wharton wouldn't have given him his daughter +if he had not been doing well.' + +'It's very hard to be sure,' said Lizzie Eustace. + +'He looks like a man who'd know how to feather his own nest,' +said Mrs Leslie. 'Don't you think he's very handsome?' + +'I don't know that he's likely to do the better for that.' + +'Well; no; but there are men of whom you are sure, when you look +at them, that they'll be successful. I don't suppose he was +anything to begin with, but see where he is now!' + +'I believe you are in love with him, my dear,' said Lizzie +Eustace. + +'Not exactly. I don't know that he has given me any provocation. +But I don't see why a woman shouldn't be in love with him if she +likes. He is deal nicer than those fair-headed men who haven't +got a word to say to you, and yet look as though you ought to +jump down their mouths:--like that fellow you were trying to +talk to last night,--that Mr Fletcher. He could just jerk out +three words at a time, and yet he was proud as Lucifer. I like a +man who if he likes me is neither ashamed nor afraid to say so.' + +'There's a romance there, you know. Mr Fletcher was in love with +Emily Wharton, and she threw him over for Ferdinand Lopez. They +say he has not held his head up since.' + +'She was quite right,' said Mrs Leslie. 'But she is one of those +stiff-necked creatures who are set up with pride though they have +nothing to be proud of. I suppose she had a lot of money. Lopez +would never have taken her without.' + +When, therefore, Lopez called one day at the little house in the +little street he was not an unwelcome visitor. Mrs Leslie was in +the drawing-room, but soon left it after his arrival. He had of +late been often there, and when he at once introduced the subject +on which he was himself intent it was not unexpected. 'Seven +thousand five hundred pounds!' said Lizzie, after listening to +the proposition which he had come to make. 'That is a very large +sum of money!' + +'Yes;--it's a large sum of money. It's a large affair. I'm in +it to rather more than that, I believe.' + +'How are you going to get people to drink it?' she asked after a +pause. + +'By telling them that they ought to drink it. Advertise it. It +has become a certainty now that if you will only advertise +sufficiently you may make a fortune by selling anything. Only +the interest on the money expended increases in so large a ratio +in accordance with the magnitude of the operation! If you spend +a few hundreds in advertising you throw them away. A hundred +thousand pounds well laid out makes a certainty of anything.' + +'What am I to get to show for my money;--I mean immediately, you +know?' + +'Registered shares in the Company.' + +'The Bios Company?' + +'No;--we did propose to call ourselves Parker and Co., limited. +I think we shall change the name. They will probably use my +name. Lopez and Co., limited.' + +'But it's all for Bios?' + +'Oh yes;--all for Bios.' + +'And it's to come from Central Africa?' + +'It will be rectified in London, you know. Some English spirit +will perhaps be mixed. But I must not tell you the secrets of +the trade till you join us. That Bios is distilled from the +bark of the Duffer-tree is a certainty.' + +'Have you drank any?' + +'I've tasted it.' + +'Is it nice?' + +'Very nice;--rather sweet, you know, and will be the better for +mixing.' + +'Gin?' suggested her ladyship. + +'Perhaps so,--or whisky. I think I may say that you can't do +very much better with your money. You know I would not say this +to you were it not true. In such a matter I treat you as if,-- +as if you were my sister.' + +'I know how good you are,--but seven thousand five hundred! I +couldn't raise so much as that just at present.' + +'There are to be six shares,' said Lopez, 'making 45,000 pounds +capital. Would you consent to take a share jointly with me? +That would be three thousand seven hundred and fifty.' + +'But you have a share already,' said Lizzie suspiciously. + +'I should then divide that with Mr Parker. We intend to register +at any rate as many as nine partners. Would you object to hold +it with me?' Lopez, as he asked this question, looked at her as +though he were offering her half his heart. + +'No,' said Lizzie slowly, 'I don't suppose I should object to +that.' + +'I should be doubly eager about the affair if I were in +partnership with you.' + +'It's such a venture.' + +'Nothing venture nothing have.' + +'But I've got something as it is, Mr Lopez, and I don't want to +lose it all.' + +'There's no chance of that if you join us.' + +'You think Bios is so sure?' + +'Quite safe,' said Lopez. + +'You must give me a little more time to think about it,' said +Lady Eustace at last, panting with anxiety, struggling with +herself, anxious for the excitement which would come to her from +dealing in Bios, but still fearing to risk the money. + +This had taken place immediately after Mr Wharton's offer of the +5,000 pounds in making which he had stipulated that Emily should +be left at home. Then a few days went by, and Lopez was pressed +for his money, at the office of the San Juan mine. Did he or did +he not mean to take up the mining shares allotted to him? If he +did mean to do so, he must do it at once. He swore by all his +gods that of course he meant to take them up. Had not Mr Wharton +himself been at the office, saying that he intended to pay for +them? Was not that a sufficient guarantee? They knew well +enough that Mr Wharton was a man to whom the raising of 5,000 +pounds could be a matter of no difficulty. But they did not +know, never could know, how impossible it was to get anything +done by Mr Wharton. But Mr Wharton had promised to pay for the +shares, and when money was concerned his word would surely +suffice. Mr Hartlepod, backed by two of the Directors, said if +the thing was to go on at all, the money must really be paid at +once. But the conference was ended by allowing the new local +manager another fortnight in which to complete the arrangement. + +Lopez allowed four days to pass by, during each of which he was +closeted for a time with Lady Eustace, and then made an attempt +to get at Mr Wharton through his wife. 'Your father has said +that he will pay the money for me,' said Lopez. + +'If he has said it he certainly will do it.' + +'But he has promised it on the condition that you should remain +at home. Do you wish to desert your husband?' To this she made +no immediate answer. 'Are you already anxious to be rid of me?' + +'I should prefer to remain at home,' she said in a very low +voice. + +'Then you do wish to desert your husband?' + +'What is the use of all this, Ferdinand? You do not love me. +You did not marry me because I loved you.' + +'By heaven I did;--for that and that only.' + +'And how have you treated me?' + +'What have I done to you?' + +'But I do not mean to make accusations, Ferdinand. I should only +add to our miseries by that. We should be happier apart.' + +'Not I. Nor is that my idea of marriage. Tell your father that +you wish to go with me, and then he will let us have the money.' + +'I will tell him no lie, Ferdinand. If you bid me go, I will go. +Where you find a home I must find one too if it be your pleasure +to take me. But I will not ask my father to give you money +because it is my pleasure to go. Were I to say so he would not +believe me.' + +'It is you who have told him to give it me only on the condition +of your staying.' + +'I have told him nothing. He knows that I do not wish to go. He +cannot but know that. But he knows that I mean to go if you +require it.' + +'And you will do nothing for me?' + +'Nothing;--in regard to my father.' He raised his fist with the +thought of striking her, and she saw the motion. But his arm +fell again to his side. He had not quite come to that yet. +'Surely you will have the charity to tell me whether I am to go, +if it be fixed,' she said. + +'Have I not told you twenty times?' + +'Then it is fixed.' + +Yes;--it is fixed. Your father will tell you about your things. +He has promised some beggarly sum,--about as much as a tallow- +chandler would give his daughter.' + +'Whatever he does for me will be sufficient for me. I am not +afraid of my father, Ferdinand.' + +'You shall be afraid of me before I have done with you,' said he, +leaving the room. + +Then as he sat at his club, dining there alone, there came across +his mind what the world would be like to him if he could leave +his wife at home and take Lizzie Eustace with him to Guatemala. +Guatemala was very distant, and it would matter little there +whether the woman he brought with him was his wife or no. It was +clear enough to him that his wife desired no more of his company. +What were the conventions of the world to him? This other woman +had money at her own command. He could not make it his own +because he could not marry her, but he fancied that it might be +possible to bring her so far under his control as to make the +money almost as good as his own. Mr Wharton's money was very +hard to reach, and would be as hard to reach,--perhaps harder,-- +when Mr Wharton was dead, as now, during his life. He had said a +good deal to the lady since the interview of which a report has +been given. She had declared herself to be afraid of Bios. She +did not in the least doubt that great things might be ultimately +done with Bios, but she did not quite see the way with her small +capital,--thus humbly did she speak of her wealth,--to be one +of those who should take the initiative in the matter. Bios +evidently required a great deal of advertisement, and Lizzie +Eustace had a short-sighted objection to expend what money she +had saved on the hoardings of London. Then he opened to her the +glories of Guatemala, not contenting himself with describing the +certainty of twenty per cent, but enlarging on the luxurious +happiness of life in a country so golden, so green, so gorgeous, +and so grand. It had been the very apple of the eye of the old +Spaniards. In Guatemala, he said, Cortez and Pizzaro had met and +embraced. They might have done so for anything as far as Lizzie +Eustace knew to the contrary. And here our hero took advantage +of his name. Don Diego di Lopez had been the first to raise the +banner of freedom in Guatemala when the kings of Spain became +tyrants to their American subjects. All is fair in love and war, +and Lizzie amidst the hard business of her life still loved a +dash of romance. Yet, he was about to change the scene and try +his fortune in that golden, green, and gorgeous country. 'You +will take your wife of course,' Lady Eustace had said. Then +Lopez had smiled, and shrugging his shoulders had left the room. + +It was certainly the fact that she could not eat him. Other men +before Lopez have had to pick up what courage they could in their +attacks upon women by remembering that fact. She had flirted +with him in a very pleasant way, mixing up her prettiness and her +percentages in a manner that was peculiar to herself. He did not +know her, and he knew that he did not know her;--but still there +was the chance. She had thrown his wife more than once in his +face, after the fashion women do when they are wooed by married +men since the days of Cleopatra downwards. But he had taken that +simply as encouragement. He had already let her know that his +wife was a vixen who troubled his life. Lizzie had given him her +sympathy, and had almost given him a tear. 'But I am not a man +to be broken-hearted because I have made a mistake,' said Lopez. +'Marriage vows are very well, but they shall never bind me to +misery.' 'Marriage vows are not very well. They may be very +ill,' Lizzie had replied, remembering certain passages in her own +life. + +There was no doubt about her money, and certainly she could not +eat him. The fortnight allowed him by the San Juan Company had +nearly gone by when he called at the little house in the little +street, resolved to push his fortune in that direction without +fear and without hesitation. Mrs Leslie again took her +departure, leaving them together, and Lizzie allowed her friend +to go, although the last words that Lopez had spoken had been, as +he thought, a fair prelude to the words he intended to speak to- +day. 'And what do you think of it?' he said, taking both her +hands in his. + +'Think of what?' + +'Of our Spanish venture.' + +'Have you given up Bios, my friend?' + +'No; certainly not,' said Lopez, seating himself beside her. 'I +have not taken the other half share, but I have kept my old +venture in the scheme. I believe in Bios, you know.' + +'Ah;--it is nice to believe.' + +'But I believe more firmly in the country to which I am going.' + +'You are going then?' + +'Yes; my friend;--I am going. The allurements are too strong to +be resisted. Think of that climate and of this.' He probably +had not heard of the mosquitoes of Central America when he so +spoke. 'Remember that an income that gives you comfort here will +there produce every luxury which wealth can purchase. It is to +be a king there, or to be but very common among commoners here.' + +'And yet England is a dear old country.' + +'Have you found it so? Think of the wrongs which you have +endured;--of the injuries you have suffered.' + +'Yes indeed.' For Lizzie Eustace had gone through hard days in +her time. + +'I certainly will fly from such a country to those golden shores +on which man may be free and unshackled.' + +'And your wife?' + +'Oh, Lizzie!' It was the first time he had called her Lizzie, +and she was apparently neither shocked nor abashed. Perhaps he +thought too much of this, not knowing how many men had called her +Lizzie in her time. 'Do not you at least understand that a man +or a woman may undergo a tie, and yet be justified in +disregarding it altogether?' + +'Oh yes;--if there has been bigamy, or divorce, or anything of +that kind.' Now Lizzie had convicted her second husband of +bigamy, and had freed herself after that fashion. + +'To h--- with their prurient laws,' said Lopez, rising suddenly +from his chair. 'I will neither appeal to them nor will I obey +them. And I expect from you as little subservience as I myself +am prepared to pay. Lizzy Eustace, will you go with me to that +land of the sun, + + Where the rage of the vulture, the love of the turtle + Now melt into sorrow, now madden to crime? + +Will you dare to escape with me from the cold conventionalities, +from the miserable thraldom of this country bound in swaddling +cloths? Lizzie Eustace, if you will say the word, I will take +you to that land of glorious happiness.' + +But Lizzie Eustace had 4,000 pounds a year and a balance at her +banker's. 'Mr Lopez,' she said. + +'What answer have you to make me?' + +'Mr Lopez, I think you must be a fool.' + +He did at last succeed in getting himself into the street, and at +any rate she had not eaten him. + + + +CHAPTER 55 + +MRS PARKER'S SORROWS. + +The end of February had come, and as far as Mrs Lopez knew she +was to start for Guatemala in a month's time. And yet there was +so much indecision in her husband's manner, and apparently so +little done by him in regard to personal preparation, that she +could hardly bring herself to feel certain that she would have to +make the journey. From day to day her father would ask her +whether she had made her intended purchases, and she would tell +him that she had still postponed the work. Then he would say no +more, for he himself was hesitating, doubtful what he would do, +and still thinking that when at last the time should come, he +would buy his daughter's release at any price that might be +demanded. He had seen Lopez more than once, and had also seen Mr +Hartlepod. Mr Hartlepod had simply told him that he would be +very happy to register the shares on behalf of Lopez as soon as +the money was paid. Lopez had been almost insolent in his +bearing. 'Did Mr Wharton think,' he asked, 'that he was going to +sell his wife for 5,000 pounds?' 'I think you will have to raise +your offer,' Mr Walker had said to Mr Wharton. That was all very +well. Mr Wharton was willing enough to raise the offer. He +would have doubled the offer could he thereby have secured the +annihilation of Lopez. 'I will raise it if he will go without +his wife, and give her a written assurance that he would never +trouble her again.' But the arrangement was one which Mr Walker +found it very difficult to carry out. So things went on till the +end of February had come. + +And during all this time Lopez was still a resident in Mr +Wharton's house. 'Papa,' she said to him one day, 'this is the +cruellest thing of all. Why don't you tell him he must go?' + +'Because he would take you with him.' + +'It would be better so. I could come and see you.' + +'I did tell him to go--in my passion. I repented of it +instantly, because I should have lost you. But what did my +telling matter to him? He was very indignant, and yet he is +still here.' + +'You told him to go?' + +'Yes;--but I am glad that he did not obey me. There must be an +end of it soon, I suppose.' + +'I do not know, papa.' + +'Do you think he will not go?' + +'I feel that I know nothing, papa. You must not let him stay +always, you know.' + +'And what will become of you when he goes?' + +'I must go with him. Why should you be sacrificed also? I will +tell him that he must leave the house. I am not afraid of him, +papa.' + +'Not yet, my dear;--not yet. We will see.' + +At this time Lopez declared his purpose one day of dining at the +Progress, and Mr Wharton took advantage of the occasion to remain +at home with his daughter. Everett was now expected, and there +was a probability that he might come on this evening. Mr Wharton +therefore returned from his chambers early; but when he reached +the house he was told that there was a woman in the dining-room +with Mrs Lopez. The servant did not know what woman. She had +asked to see Mrs Lopez, and Mrs Lopez had gone down to her. + +The woman in the dining-room was Mrs Parker. She had called at +the house about half-past five, and Emily had at once come down +when summoned by tidings that a "lady" wanted to see her. +Servants have a way of announcing a woman a lady, which clearly +expresses their own opinion that the person in question was not a +lady. So it had been on the present occasion, but Mrs Lopez had +at once gone to her visitor. 'Oh, Mrs Parker, I am so glad to +see you. I hope you are well.' + +'Indeed then, Mrs Lopez, I am very far from well. No poor woman, +who is the mother of five children, was ever farther from being +well than I am.' + +'Is anything wrong?' + +'Wrong, ma'am. Everything is wrong. When is Mr Lopez going to +pay my husband all the money he has took from him?' + +'Has he taken money?' + +'Taken! he has taken everything. He has shorn my husband as +bare as a board. We're ruined, Mrs Lopez, and it's your husband +has done it. When we were at Dovercourt, I told you how it was +going to be. His business has left him, and now there is +nothing. What are we to do?' The woman was seated on a chair, +leaning forward with her two hands on her knees. The day was +wet, the streets were half mud and half snow, and the poor woman, +who had made her way through the slush, was soiled and wet. 'I +look to you to tell me what me and my children is to do. He's +your husband, Mrs Lopez.' + +'Yes, Mrs Parker, he is my husband.' + +'Why couldn't he let Sexty alone? Why should the like of him be +taking the bread out of my children's mouths? What had we ever +done to him? You're rich.' + +'Indeed I am not, Mrs Parker.' + +'Yes, you are. You're living here in a grand house, and your +father's made of money. You'll know nothing of want, let the +worst come to the worst. What are we to do, Mrs Lopez? I'm the +wife of that poor creature, and you're the wife of the man that +has ruined him. What are we to do, Mrs Lopez?' + +'I do not understand my husband's business, Mrs Parker.' + +'You're one with him, ain't you? If anybody has ever come to me +and said my husband had robbed him, I'd never have stopped till I +knew the truth of it. If any woman had ever said to me that +Parker had taken the bread out of her children's mouths, do you +think that I'd sit as you are sitting? I tell that Lopez has +robbed us,--has robbed us, and taken everything.' + +'What can I say, Mrs Parker;--what can I do?' + +'Where is he?' + +'He is not here. He is dining at his club.' + +'Where is that? I will go there and shame him before them all. +Don't you feel no shame? Because you've got things comfortable +here, I suppose it's all nothing to you. You don't care, though +my children were starving in the gutter,--as they will do.' + +'If you knew me, Mrs Parker, you wouldn't speak to me like that.' + +'Know you! Of course I know you. You're a lady, and your +father's a rich man, and your husband thinks no end of himself. +And we're poor people, so it don't matter whether we're robbed +and ruined or not. That's about it.' + +'If I had anything, I'd give you all that I had.' + +'And he's taken to drinking that hard that he's never rightly +sober from morning to night.' As she told this story of her +husband's disgrace, the poor woman burst into tears. 'Who's to +trust him with business now? He's that broken-hearted that he +don't know which way to turn,--only to the bottle. And Lopez +has done it all,--done it all! I haven't got a father, ma'am, +who has got a house over his head for me and my babies. Only +think if you was turned out into the street with your baby, as I +am like to be.' + +'I have no baby,' said the wretched woman through her tears and +sobs. + +'Haven't you, Mrs Lopez? Oh dear!' exclaimed the soft-hearted +woman, reduced at once to pity. 'How was it then?' + +'He died, Mrs Parker,--just a few days after he was born.' + +'Did he now? Well, well. We all have our troubles, I suppose.' + +'I have mine, I know,' said Emily, 'and very, very heavy they +are. I cannot tell you what I have had to suffer.' + +'Isn't he good to you?' + +'I cannot talk about it, Mrs Parker. What you tell me about +yourself has added greatly to my sorrows. My husband is talking +of going away--to live out of England.' + +'Yes, at a place they call,--I forgot what they call it, but I +heard it.' + +'Guatemala,--in America.' + +'I know. Sexty told me. He has no business to go anywhere, +while he owes Sexty such a lot of money. He has taken +everything, and now he is going to Kattymaly!' At this moment Mr +Wharton knocked at the door and entered the room. As he did so +Mrs Parker got up and curtsied. + +'This is my father, Mrs Parker,' said Emily. 'Papa, this is Mrs +Parker. She is the wife of Mr Parker, who is Ferdinand's +partner. She has come here with bad news.' + +'Very bad news, indeed, sir,' said Mrs Parker, curtseying again. +Mr Wharton frowned, not as being angry with the woman, but +feeling that some further horror was to be told him of his son- +in-law. 'I can't help coming, sir,' continued Mrs Parker. +'Where am I to go if I don't come? Mr Lopez, sir, has ruined us +root and branch,--root and branch.' + +'That at any rate is not my fault,' said Mr Wharton, + +'But she is his wife, sir. Where am I to go if not to where he +lives? Am I to put up with everything gone, and my poor husband +in the right way to go to Bedlam, and not to say a word about it +to the grand relations of him who did it all?' + +'He is a bad man,' said Mr Wharton. 'I cannot make him +otherwise.' + +'Will he do nothing for us?' + +'I will tell you all I know about him.' Then Mr Wharton did tell +her all that he knew, as to the appointment at Guatemala and the +amount of salary which was to be attached to it. 'Whether he +will do anything for you, I cannot say;--I should think not, +unless he be forced. I should advise you to go to the offices of +the Company in Coleman Street and try to make some terms there. +But I fear,--I fear that it will all be useless.' + +'Then we may starve.' + +'It is not her fault,' said Mr Wharton, pointing to his daughter. +'She has had no hand in it. She knows less of it than you do.' + +'It is my fault,' said Emily, bursting out in self-reproach,-- +'my fault that I married him.' + +'Whether married or single he would have preyed upon Mr Parker to +the same extent.' + +'Like enough,' said the poor wife. 'He'd prey upon anybody as he +could get hold of. And so, Mr Wharton, you think that you can do +nothing for me.' + +'If your want be immediate I can relieve it,' said the barrister. +Mrs Parker did not like the idea of accepting direct charity, +but, nevertheless, on going away did take the five sovereigns +which Mr Wharton offered to her. + +After such an interview as that the evening between the father +and the daughter was not very happy. She was eaten up by +remorse. Gradually she had learned how frightful was the thing +she had done in giving herself to a man of whom she had known +nothing. And it was not only that she had degraded herself by +loving such a man, but that she had been persistent in clinging +to him though her father and all his friends had told her of the +danger which she was running. And now it seemed that she had +destroyed her father as well as herself! All that she could do +was to be persistent in her prayer that he would let her go. 'I +have done it,' she said that night, 'and I could bear it better, +if you would let me bear it alone.' But he only kissed her, and +sobbed over her, and held her close to his heart with his +clinging arms,--in a manner in which he had never held her in +their old happy days. + +He took himself to his own rooms before Lopez returned, but she +of course had to bear her husband's presence. As she had +declared to her father more than once, she was not afraid of him. +Even though he should strike her,--though he should kill her,-- +she would not be afraid of him. He had already done worse to her +than anything that could follow. 'Mrs Parker has been here to- +day,' she said to him that night. + +'And what did Mrs Parker have to say?' + +'That you ruined her husband.' + +'Exactly. When a man speculates and doesn't win of course he +throws the blame on someone else. And when he is too much of a +cur to come himself, he sends his wife.' + +'She says you owe him money.' + +'What business have you to listen to what she says? If she comes +again, do not see her. Do you understand me?' + +'Yes, I understand. She saw papa also. If you owe him money, +should it not be paid?' + +'My dearest love, everybody who owes anything to anybody should +always pay it. That is so self-evident that one would almost +suppose that it might be understood without being enunciated. +But the virtue of paying debts is incompatible with an absence of +money. Now, if you please, we will not say anything more about +Mrs Parker. She is not at any rate a fit companion for you.' + +'It was you who introduced her.' + +'Hold your tongue about her,--and let that be an end of it. I +little knew what a world of torment I was preparing for myself +when I allowed you to come and live in your father's house.' + + + +CHAPTER 56 + +WHAT THE DUCHESS THOUGHT OF HER HUSBAND. + +When the session began it was understood in the political world +that a very strong opposition was to be organized against the +Government under the guidance of Sir Orlando Drought, and that +the great sin to be imputed to the Cabinet was an utter +indifference to the safety and honour of Great Britain, as +manifested by their neglect of the navy. All the world knew that +Sir Orlando had deserted the Coalition because he was not allowed +to build new ships, and of course Sir Orlando would make the most +of his grievance. With him was joined Mr Boffin, the patriotic +Conservative who had never listened to the voice of the seducer, +and the staunch remainder of the Tory party. And with them the +more violent of the Radicals were prepared to act, not desirous, +indeed, that new ships should be built, or that a Conservative +Government should be established,--or, indeed, that anything +should be done,--but animated by intense disgust that so mild a +politician as the Duke of Omnium should be Prime Minister. The +fight began at once, Sir Orlando objecting violently to certain +passages in the Queen's Speech. It was all very well to say that +the country was at present at peace with all the world; but how +was peace to be maintained without a fleet? Then Sir Orlando +paid a great many compliments to the Duke, and ended his speech +by declaring him to be the most absolutely faineant minister that +had disgraced the country since the Duke of Newcastle. Mr Monk +defended the Coalition, and assured the House that the navy was +not only the most powerful navy existing, but that it was the +most powerful that ever had existed in the possession of this or +any other country, and was probably in absolute efficiency +superior to the combined navies of all the world. The House was +not shocked by statements absolutely at variance with each other, +coming from two gentlemen who had lately been members of the same +Government, and who must be supposed to know what they are +talking about, but seemed to think that upon the whole Sir +Orlando had done his duty. For though there was complete +confidence in the navy as a navy, and though a very small +minority would have voted for any considerably increased expense, +still it was well that there should be an opposition. And how +can there be an opposition without a subject for grumbling,-- +some matter on which a minister can be attacked? No one really +thought that the Prussians and French combined would invade our +shores and devastate our fields, and plunder London, and carry +our daughters away into captivity. The state of the funds showed +very plainly that there was no such fear. But a good cry was a +very good thing,--and it is always well to rub up the officials +of the Admiralty by a little wholesome abuse. Sir Orlando was +thought to have done his business well. Of course he did not +risk a division upon the address. Had he done so he would have +been 'nowhere'. But, as it was, he was proud of his achievement. + +The ministers generally would have been indifferent to the very +hard words that were said of them, knowing what they were worth, +and feeling aware that a ministry which had everything too easy +was very sore on the subject. The old Duke's work at this time +consisted almost all together in nursing the younger Duke. It +did sometimes occur to his elder Grace that it might be well to +let his brother retire, and that a Prime Minister, malgre lui, +could not be a successful Prime Minister, or a useful one. But +if the Duke of Omnium went the Coalition must go too, and the +Coalition had been the offspring of the old statesman. The +country was thriving under the Coalition, and there was no real +reason why it should not last for the next ten years. He +continued, therefore, his system of coddling, and was ready at +any moment, or at every moment, to pour, if not comfort, at any +rate consolation into the ears of his unhappy friend. In the +present emergency, it was the falsehood and general baseness of +Sir Orlando which nearly broke the heart of the Prime Minister. +'How is one to live,' he said, 'if one has to do with men of that +kind?' + +'But you haven't to do with him any longer,' said the Duke of St +Bungay. + +'When I see a man who is supposed to have earned the name of +statesman, and been high in the councils of his sovereign, +induced by personal jealousy to do as he is doing, it makes me +feel that an honest man should not place himself where he may +have to deal with such persons.' + +'According to that the honest men are to desert their country in +order that the dishonest men may have everything their own way.' +Our Duke could not answer this, and therefore for the moment he +yielded. But he was unhappy, saturnine, and generally silent +except when closeted with his ancient mentor. And he knew that +he was saturnine and silent, and that it behoved him as a leader +of men to be genial and communicative,--listening to counsel +even if he did not follow it, and at any rate appearing to have +confidence in his colleagues. + +During this time Mr Slide was not inactive, and in his heart of +hearts the Prime Minister was more afraid of Mr Slide's attacks +than of those made upon him by Sir Orlando Drought. Now that +Parliament was sitting, and the minds of men were stirred to +political feeling by the renewed energy of the House, a great +deal was being said in many quarters about the Silverbridge +election. The papers had taken the matter up generally, some +accusing the Prime Minister and some defending. But the defence +was almost as unpalatable to him as the accusation. It was +admitted on all sides that the Duke, both as a peer and as a +Prime Minister, should have abstained from any interference +whatever in the election. And it was also admitted on all sides +that he had not so abstained;--if there was any truth at all in +the allegation that he had paid the money for Mr Lopez. But it +was pleaded on his behalf that the Duke of Omnium had always +interfered in Silverbridge, and that no Reform Bill had ever had +any effect in reducing their influence in that borough. Frequent +allusion was made to the cautious Dod, who, year after year, had +reported that the Duke of Omnium exercised considerable influence +in the borough. And then the friendly newspapers went on to +explain that the Duke had in this instance stayed his hand, and +that the money, if paid at all, had been paid because the +candidate who was to have been his nominee had been thrown over, +when the Duke at the last moment made up his mind that he would +abandon the privilege which had hitherto been always exercised by +the head of his family, and which had been exercised more than +once or twice in his own favour. But Mr Slide, day after day, +repeated his question, 'We want to know whether the Prime +Minister did or did not pay the election expenses of Mr Lopez at +the last Silverbridge election; and if so, why he paid them. We +shall continue to ask this question till it has been answered, +and when asking it we again say that the actual correspondence on +the subject between the Duke and Mr Lopez is in our hands.' And +then, after a while, allusions were made to the Duchess,--for Mr +Slide had learned all the facts of the case from Lopez himself. +When Mr Slide found how hard it was 'to draw his badger', as he +expressed himself concerning his own operations, he at last +openly alluded to the Duchess, running the risk of any punishment +that might fall upon him by action for libel or by severe +reprehension from his colleagues of the Press. 'We have as yet,' +he said, 'received no answers to the questions which we have felt +ourselves called upon to ask in reference to the conduct of the +Prime Minister at the Silverbridge election. We are of the +opinion that all interference by peers with the constituencies of +the country should be put down by the strong hand of the law as +thoroughly and unmercifully as we are putting down ordinary +bribery. But when the offending peer is also the Prime Minister +of this great country, it becomes doubly the duty of those who +watch over the public safety,'--Mr Slide always speaks of +himself as watching over the public safety,--'to animadvert upon +his crime till it has been assoiled, or at any rate repented. +From what we now hear we have reason to believe that the crime is +acknowledged. Had the payment on behalf of Mr Lopez not been +made,--as it certainly was made, or the letters in our hand +would be impudent forgeries,--the charge would long since have +been denied. Silence in such a matter amounts to a confession. +But we understand that the Duke intends to escape under the plea +that he has a second self, powerful as he is to exercise the +baneful influence which his territorial wealth unfortunately +gives him, but for the actions of which second self he, as a Peer +of Parliament and as Prime Minister, is not responsible. In +other words we are informed that the privilege belonging to the +Palliser family at Silverbridge was exercised, not by the Duke +himself, but by the Duchess;--and that the Duke paid the money +when he found out that the Duchess had promised more than she +could perform. We should hardly have thought that even a man so +notoriously weak as the Duke of Omnium would have endeavoured to +ride out the responsibility by throwing the blame upon his wife; +but he will certainly find that the attempt, if made, will fail.' + +'Against the Duchess herself we wish to say not a word. She is +known as exercising a wide if not discriminate hospitality. We +believe her to be a kind-hearted, bustling, ambitious lady, to +whom any little faults may be easily forgiven on account of her +good-nature and generosity. But we cannot accept her +indiscretion as an excuse for a most unconstitutional act +performed by the Prime Minister of this country.' + +Latterly the Duchess had taken her own copy of the "People's +Banner". Since she had found those around her were endeavouring +to keep from her what was being said of her husband in regard to +the borough, she had been determined to see it all. She +therefore read the article from which two or three paragraphs +have just been given,--and having read it she handed it to her +friend Mrs Finn. 'I wonder that you trouble yourself with such +trash,' her friend said to her. + +'That is all very well, my dear, for you, but we poor wretches +who are the slaves of the people have to regard what is said of +us in the "People's Banner". + +'It would be much better for you to neglect it.' + +'Just as authors are told not to read the criticisms;--but I +never would believe any author who told me that he didn't read +what was said about him. I wonder when the man found out that I +was good-natured. He wouldn't find me good-natured if I could +get hold of him.' + +'You are not going to allow it to torment you?' + +'For my own sake, not a moment. I fancy that if I might be +permitted to have my own way, I could answer him very easily. +Indeed with these dregs of the newspapers, these gutter- +slanderers, if one would be open and say all the truth aloud what +would one have to fear? After all, what is it that I did? I +disobeyed my husband because I thought that he was too +scrupulous. Let me say as much, out loud to the public,--saying +also that I am sorry for it, as I am,--and who would be against +me? Who would have a word to say after that? I should be the +most popular woman in England for a month,--and, as regards +Plantagenet, Mr Slide and his articles would all sink into +silence. But even though he were to continue this from day to +day for a twelvemonth it would not hurt me,--but then I know how +it scorches him. This mention of my name will make it more +intolerable to him than ever. I doubt that you know him even +yet.' + +'I thought that I did.' + +'Though in manner he is as dry as a stick, though all his +pursuits are opposite to the very idea of romance, though he +passes his days and nights thinking how he may take a halfpenny +in the pound off the taxes of the people without robbing the +revenue, there is a dash of chivalry about him worthy of the old +poets. To him a woman, particularly his own woman, is a thing so +fine and so precious that the winds of heaven should hardly be +allowed to blow upon her. He cannot bear to think that people +should even talk of his wife. And yet, heaven knows, poor +fellow, I have given people occasion enough to talk of me. And +he has a much higher chivalry than that of the old poets. They, +or their heroes, watched their women because they did not want to +have trouble about them,--shut them up in castles, kept them in +ignorance, and held them as far as they could out of harm's way.' + +'I hardly think they succeeded,' said Mrs Finn. + +'But in pure selfishness they tried all they could. But he is +too proud to watch. If you and I were hatching treason against +him in the dark, and chance brought him there, he would stop his +ears with his fingers. He is all trust, even when he knows that +he is being deceived. He is honour complete from head to foot. +Ah, it was before you knew me when I tried him the hardest. I +never could quite tell you the story, and I won't try it now; but +he behaved like a god. I could never tell him what I felt,--but +I felt it.' + +'You ought to love him.' + +'I do;--but what's the use of it? He is a god, but I am not a +goddess;--and then, though he is a god, he is a dry, silent, +uncongenial and uncomfortable god. It would have suited me much +better to have married a sinner. But then the sinner that I +would have married was so irredeemable a scapegrace.' + +'I do not believe in a woman marrying a bad man in the hope of +making him good.' + +'Especially not when the woman is naturally inclined to evil +herself. It will half kill him when he reads all this about me. +He has read it already, and it has already half killed him. For +myself I do not mind it in the least, but for his sake I mind it +much. It will rob him of his only possible answer to the +accusation. The very thing which this wretch in the newspaper +says he will say, and that he will be disgraced by saying it, is +the very thing that he ought to say. And there would be no +disgrace in it,--beyond what I might well bear for my little +fault, and which I could bear so easily.' + +'Shall you speak to him about it?' + +'No; I dare not. In this matter it has gone beyond speaking. I +suppose he does talk it over with the old Duke; but he will say +nothing to me about it,--unless he were to tell me that he had +resigned, and that we were to start off and live at Matching for +the next ten years. I was so proud when they made him Prime +Minister, but I think that I am beginning to regret it now.' +Then there was a pause, and the Duchess went on, with her +newspapers; but she soon resumed her discourse. Her heart was +full, and out of a full heart the mouth speaks. 'They should +have made me Prime Minister, and have let him be Chancellor of +the Exchequer. I begin to see the ways of Government now. I +could have done all the dirty work. I could have given away +garters and ribbons, and made my bargains while giving them. I +could select sleek, easy bishops who wouldn't be troublesome. I +could give pensions or withhold them, and make the stupid men +into peers. I could have the big noblemen at my feet, praying to +be Lieutenants of Counties. I could dole out secretaryships and +lordships, and never a one without getting something in return. +I could brazen out a job and let the "People's Banner" and the +Slides make their worst of it. And I think I could make myself +popular with my party, and do the high-flowing patriotic talk for +the benefit of the Provinces. A man at a regular office has to +work. That's what Plantagenet is fit for. He wants always to be +doing something that shall be really useful, and a man has to +toil at that and really to know things. But a Prime Minister +should never go beyond generalities about commerce, agriculture, +peace, and general philanthropy. Of course he should have the +gift of the gab, and that Plantagenet hasn't got. He never wants +to say anything unless he has got something to say. I could do a +Mansion House dinner to a marvel!' + +'I don't doubt that you could speak at all times, Lady Glen.' + +'Oh, I do so wish that I had the opportunity,' said the Duchess. + +Of course the Duke had read the article in the privacy of his own +room, and of course the article had nearly maddened him with +anger and grief. As the Duchess had said, the article had taken +from him the very ground on which his friends had told him that +he could stand. He had never consented, and never would consent, +to lay the blame publicly on his wife; but he had begun to think +that he must take notice of the charge made against him, and +depute someone to explain for him in the House of Commons that +the injury had been done at Silverbridge by the indiscretion of +an agent who had not fulfilled his employer's intentions, and +that the Duke had thought it right afterwards pay the money in +consequence of the indiscretion. He had not agreed to this, but +had brought himself to think that he must agree to it. But now, +of course, the questions would follow:--Who was the indiscreet +agent? Was the Duchess the person for whose indiscretions he had +had to pay 500 pounds to Mr Lopez? And in this matter did he not +find himself in accord even with Mr Slide? 'We should hardly +have thought that even a man so notoriously weak as the Duke of +Omnium would have endeavoured to ride out of the responsibility +by throwing the blame on his wife.' He read and reread those +words till he knew them by heart. For a few moments it seemed to +him to be an evil in the Constitution that the Prime Minister +should not have the power of instantly crucifying so foul a +slanderer;--and yet it was the very truth of the words that +crushed him. He was weak,--he told himself,--notoriously weak, +it must be, and it would be most mean in him to ride out of +responsibility by throwing the blame upon his wife. But what +else was he to do? There seemed to him to be but one course,-- +to get up in the House of Lords and declared that he paid the +money because he thought it right to do under the circumstances +which he could not explain, and to declare that it was not his +intention to say another word on the subject, or to have another +word said on his behalf. + +There was a Cabinet Council held that day, but no one ventured to +speak to the Prime Minister as to the accusation. Though he +considered himself to be weak, his colleagues were all more or +less afraid of him. There was a certain silent dignity about the +man which saved him from the evils, as it also debarred him from +the advantages, of familiarity. He had spoken on the subject to +Mr Monk and to Phineas Finn, and, as the reader knows, very often +to his old mentor. He had also mentioned it to his friend Lord +Cantrip, who was not in the Cabinet. Coming away from the +Cabinet he took Mr Monk's arm, and led him away to his own room +in the Treasury Chambers. 'Have you happened to see an article +in the "People's Banner" this morning?' he asked. + +'I never see the "People's Banner",' said Mr Monk. + +'There it is;--just look at that.' Whereupon Mr Monk read the +article. 'You understand what people call constitutional +practice as well as anyone I know. As I told you before, I did +pay that man's expenses. Did I do anything unconstitutional?' + +'That would depend, Duke, on the circumstances. If you were to +back a man up by your wealth in an expensive contest, I think it +would be unconstitutional. If you set yourself to work in that +way, and cared not what you spent, you might materially +influence the elections, and buy parliamentary support for +yourself.' + +'But in this case the payment was made after the man had failed, +and certainly had not been promised either by me or by anyone on +my behalf.' + +'I think it was unfortunate,' said Mr Monk. + +'Certainly; certainly; but I am not asking as to that,' said the +Duke impatiently. 'The man had been injured by indiscreet +persons acting on my behalf and in opposition to my wishes.' He +said not a word about the Duchess; but Mr Monk no doubt knew that +her Grace had been at any rate one of the indiscreet persons. +'He applied to me for the money, alleging that he had been +injured by my agents. That being so,--presuming that my story +be correct,--did I act unconstitutionally?' + +'I think not,' said Mr Monk, 'and I think that the circumstances, +when explained, will bear you harmless.' + +'Thank you; thank you. I did not want to trouble you about that +just at present.' + + + +CHAPTER 57 + +THE EXPLANATION. + +Mr Monk had been altogether unable to decipher the Duke's purpose +in the question he had asked. About an hour afterwards they +walked down to the Houses together. Mr Monk having been kept at +his office. 'I hope I wasn't a little short with you just now,' +said the Duke. + +'I did not find it out,' said Mr Monk, smiling. + +'You read what was in the papers, and you may imagine that it is +of a nature to irritate a man. I knew that no one could answer +my question so correctly as you, and therefore I was rather a +little eager to keep directly to the question. It occurred to me +afterwards that I had been--perhaps uncourteous.' + +'Not at all, Duke.' + +'If I was, your goodness will excuse an irritated man. If a +question were asked about it in the House of Commons who would be +the best man to answer it? Would you do it?' + +Mr Monk considered a while. 'I think,' he said, 'that Mr Finn +would do it with better grace. Of course I will do it if you +wish it. But he has tact in such matters, and it is known that +his wife is much regarded by her Grace.' + +'I will not have the Duchess's name mentioned,' said the Duke, +turning short upon his companion. + +'I did not allude to that, but I thought that the intimacy which +existed might make it pleasant to you to employ Mr Finn as the +exponent of your wishes.' + +'I have the greatest confidence in Mr Finn, certainly, and am on +most friendly personal terms with him. It shall be so, if I +decide on answering any questions in your House on a matter so +purely personal to myself.' + +'I would suggest that you should have the question asked in a +friendly way. Get some independent member, such as Mr Beverley +or Sir James Deering, to ask it. The matter would then be +brought forward in no carping spirit, and you would be enabled, +through Mr Finn, to set the matter at rest. You have probably +spoken to the Duke about it.' + +'I have mentioned it to him.' + +'Is not that what would recommend?' + +The old Duke had recommended that the entire truth should be +told, and that the Duchess's operations should be made public. +Here was our poor Prime Minister's great difficulty. He and his +Mentor were at variance. His Mentor was advising that the real +naked truth should be told, whereas Telemachus was intent on +keeping the name of the actual culprit in the background. 'I +will think it all over,' said the Prime Minister as the two +parted company at Palace Yard. + +That evening he spoke to Lord Cantrip on the subject. Though the +matter was odious to him, he could not keep his mind from it for +a moment. Had Lord Cantrip seen the article in the "People's +Banner"? Lord Cantrip, like Mr Monk, declared that the paper in +question did not constitute part of his usual morning's +recreation. 'I won't ask you to read it,' said the Duke;--'but +it contains a very bitter attack upon me,--the bitterest that +has yet been made. I suppose I ought to notice the matter?' + +'If I were you,' said the Lord Cantrip, 'I should put myself into +the hands of the Duke of St Bungay, and do exactly what he +advises. There is no man in England knows so well as he does +what should be done in such a case as this.' The Prime Minister +frowned and said nothing. 'My dear Duke,' continued Lord +Cantrip, 'I can give you no other advice. Who is there that has +your personal interest and your honour at heart so entirely as +his Grace;--and what man can be a more sagacious or more +experienced adviser?' + +'I was thinking that you might ask a question about it in our +House.' + +'I?' + +'You would do it for me in the manner that--that would be free +from all offence.' + +'If I did it all, I should certainly strive to do that. But it +has never occurred to me that you would make such a suggestion. +Would you give me a few minutes to think about it?' 'I couldn't +do it,' Lord Cantrip said afterwards. 'By taking such a step, +even at your request, I should certainly express an opinion that +the matter was one which Parliament was entitled to expect that +you should make an explanation. But my own opinion is that +Parliament has no business to meddle in the matter. I do not +think that every action of a minister's life should be made +matter of inquiry because a newspaper may choose to make allusion +to it. At any rate, if any word is said about it, it should, I +think, be said in the other house.' + +'The Duke of St Bungay thinks that something should be said.' + +'I could not, myself, consent even to appear to desire information +on a matter so entirely personal to yourself.' The Duke bowed, +and smiled with a cold, glittering, uncomfortable smile which +would sometimes cross his face when he was not pleased, and no +more was then said on the subject. + +Attempts were made to have the question asked in a far different +spirit by some hostile member of the House of Commons. Sir +Orlando Drought was sounded, and he for a while did give ear to +the suggestion. But, as he came to have the matter full before +him, he could not do it. The Duke had spurned his advice as a +minister, and had refused to sanction a measure which he, as the +head of a branch of the Government, had proposed. The Duke had +so offended him that he conceived himself bound to regard the +Duke as his enemy. But he knew,--and he could not escape from +the knowledge,--that England did not contain a more honourable +man than the Duke. He was delighted that the Duke should be +vexed and thwarted, and called ill names in the matter. To be +gratified at this discomfiture of his enemy was in the nature of +parliamentary opposition. Any blow that might weaken his +opponent was a blow in his favour. But his was a blow which he +could not strike with his own hands. There were things in +parliamentary tactics which even Sir Orlando could not do. +Arthur Fletcher was also asked to undertake the task. He was the +successful candidate, the man who opposed Lopez, and who was +declared by the "People's Banner" to have emancipated that +borough by his noble conduct from the tyranny of the House of +Palliser. And it was thought that he might like an opportunity +of making himself known in the House. But he was simply +indignant when the suggestion was made to him. 'What is it to +me,' he said, 'who paid the blackguard's expenses?' + +This went on for some weeks after Parliament had met, and for +some days even after the article in which direct allusion was +made to the Duchess. The Prime Minister could not be got to +consent that no notice should be taken of the matter, let the +papers or the public say what they would, nor could he be induced +to let the matter be handled in a manner proposed by the elder +Duke. And during this time he was in such a fever that those +about him felt that something must be done. Mr Monk suggested +that if everybody held his tongue,--meaning all the Duke's +friends,--the thing would wear itself out. But it was apparent +to those who were nearest to the minister, to Mr Warburton, for +instance, and the Duke of St Bungay, that the man himself would be +worn out first. The happy professor of a thick skin can hardly +understand how one not so blessed may be hurt by the thong of a +little whip! At last the matter was arranged. At the +instigation of Mr Monk, Sir James Deering, who was really the +father of the House, an independent member, but one who generally +voted with the Coalition, consented to ask the question in the +House of Commons. And Phineas Finn was instructed by the Duke as +to the answer that was to be given. The Duke of Omnium in giving +these instructions made a mystery of the matter which he by no +means himself intended. But he was so sore that he could not be +simple in what he said. 'Mr Finn,' he said, 'you must promise me +this;--that the name of the Duchess shall not be mentioned.' + +'Certainly not by me, if you will tell me that I am not to +mention it.' + +'No one else can do so. The matter will take the form of a +simple question, and though the conduct of the minister may no +doubt be made the subject of debate,--and it is not improbable +that any conduct may do so in this instance,--it is, I think, +impossible that any member should make an allusion to my wife. +The privilege or power of returning a member for the borough has +undoubtedly been exercised by our family since as well as +previous to both the Reform Bills. At the last election I +thought it right to abandon that privilege, and notified to those +about my intention. But that which a man has the power of doing +he cannot always do without interference of those around him. +There was a misconception, and among my,--my adherents,--there +were some who injudiciously advised Mr Lopez to stand on my +interest. But he did not get my interest, and was beaten;--and +therefore when he asked me for the money which he had spent, I +paid it to him. That is all. I think the House can hardly avoid +to see that my effort was made to discontinue an unconstitutional +proceeding.' + +Sir James Deering asked the question. 'He trusted,' he said, +'that the House would not think that the question of which he had +given notice and which he was about to ask was instigated by any +personal desire on his part to inquire into the conduct of the +Prime Minister. He was one who believed that the Duke of Omnium +was as little likely as any man in England to offend by +unconstitutional practice on his own part. But a great deal had +been talked and written lately about the late election at +Silverbridge, and there were those who thought,--and he was one +of them,--that something should be said to stop the mouths of +cavillers. With this object he would ask the Right Honourable +Gentleman who led the House, and who was perhaps first in +standing among the Duke's colleagues in that House, whether the +noble Duke was prepared to have any statement on the subject +made.' + +The house was full to the very corners of the galleries. Of +course it was known to everybody that the question was to be +asked and to be answered. There were some who thought the matter +was so serious that the Prime Minister could not get over it. +Others had heard the details in the clubs that Lady Glen, as the +Duchess was still called, was to be made the scapegoat. Men of +all classes were open-mouthed in the denunciation and meanness of +Lopez--though no one but Mr Wharton knew half his villainy, as +he alone knew that the expenses had been paid twice over. In one +corner of the reporter's gallery sat Mr Slide, pencil in hand, +prepared to revert to his old work on so momentous an occasion. +It was a great day for him. He by his own unassisted energy had +brought the Prime Minister to book, and had created all this +turmoil. It might be his happy lot to be the means of turning +the Prime Minister out of office. It was he who had watched over +the nation! The Duchess had been most anxious to be present,-- +but had not ventured to come without asking her husband's leave, +which he had most peremptorily refused to give. 'I cannot +understand, Glencora, how you can suggest such a thing,' he had +said. + +'You make so much of everything,' she had replied petulantly; but +she had remained at home. The ladies' gallery was, however, +quite full. Mrs Finn was there, of course, anxious not only for +her friend, but eager to hear how her husband would acquit +himself in his task. The wives and daughters of all the +ministers were there,--excepting the wife of the Prime Minister. +There never had been, in the memory of them all, a matter that +was so interesting to them for it was the only matter they +remembered in which a woman's conduct might probably be called +into question in the House of Commons. And the seats +appropriated to peers were so crammed that above a dozen grey- +headed old lords were standing in the passage which divides them +from the common strangers. After all it was not, in truth, much +of an affair. A very little man indeed had calumniated the +conduct of a minister of the Crown, till it had been thought well +that the minister should defend himself. No one really believed +that the Duke had committed any great offence. At the worst it +was no more than indiscretion, which was noticeable only because +a Prime Minister should never be indiscreet. Had the taxation of +the whole country for the next year been in dispute there would +have been no such interest felt. Had the welfare of the Indian +Empire occupied the House, the House would have been empty. But +the hope that a certain woman's name would have to be mentioned, +crammed it from floor to ceiling. + +The reader need not be told that the name was not mentioned. Our +old friend Phineas, on rising to his legs, first apologized for +doing so in place of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. But +perhaps the House would accept a statement from him, as +the noble Duke at the head of the Government had asked him to +make it. Then he made his statement. 'Perhaps,' he said, 'no +falser accusation than this had ever been brought forward against +a Minister of the Crown, for it specially charged his noble +friend with resorting to the employment of unconstitutional +practices to bolster up his parliamentary support, whereas it was +known by everybody that there would have been no matter for +accusation at all had not the Duke of his own motion abandoned a +recognized privilege, because, in his opinion, the exercise of +that privilege was opposed to the spirit of the Constitution. +Had the noble Duke simply nominated a candidate, as candidate had +been nominated at Silverbridge for centuries past, that candidate +would have been returned with absolute certainty, and there would +have been no word spoken on the subject. It was not, perhaps, +for him, who had the honour of serving under his Grace, and who, +as being part of his Grace's Government, was for the time one +with his Grace, to expiate at length on the nobility of the +sacrifice here made. But they all knew there at what rate was +valued a seat in that House. Thank God that privilege which his +noble friend had so magnanimously resigned from purely patriotic +motives, was, he believed, still in existence, and he would ask +those few who were still in the happy, or perhaps, he had better +say in the envied position of being able to send their friends to +that House, what was their estimation of the conduct of the Duke +in this matter? It might be that there were one or two such +present, and who now heard him,--or perhaps, one or two who owed +their seats to the exercise of such a privilege. They might +marvel at the magnitude of the surrender. They might even +question the sagacity of the man who could abandon so much +without a price. But he hardly thought that even they would +regard it as unconstitutional. + +'This was what the Prime Minister had done,--acting not as Prime +Minister, but as an English gentleman, in the management of his +own property and privileges. And now he would come to the gist +of the accusation made; in making which, the thing which the Duke +had really done had been altogether ignored. When the vacancy +had been declared by the acceptance of the Chiltern Hundreds by a +gentleman whose absence from the House they all regretted, the +Duke had signified to his agents his intention of retiring +altogether from the exercise of any privilege or power in the +matter. But the Duke was then, as he was also now, and would, it +was to be hoped, long continue to be Prime Minister of England. +He need hardly remind gentlemen in that House that the Prime +Minister was not in a position to devote his undivided time to +the management of his own property, or even to the interests of +the Borough of Silverbridge. That his Grace had been earnest in +his instructions to his agents, the sequel fully proved; but that +earnestness his agents had misinterpreted.' + +Then there was a voice heard in the House, 'What agents?' and +from another voice, 'Name them.' For there were present some who +thought it to be shameful that the excitement of the occasion +should be lowered by keeping back the allusion to the Duchess. + +'I have not distinguished,' said Phineas, assuming an indignant +tone, 'the honourable gentlemen from whom those questions have +come, and therefore I have the less compunction in telling them +that it is not part of my duty on this occasion to gratify a +morbid and an indecent curiosity.' Then there was a cry of +'Order', and an appeal to the Speaker. Certain gentlemen wished +to know whether indecent was parliamentary. The Speaker, with +some hesitation, expressed his opinion that the word, as then +used, was not open to objection from him. He thought that it was +within the scope of a member's rights to charge another member +with indecent curiosity. 'If,' said Phineas, rising again to his +legs, for he had sat down for a moment, 'the gentleman who called +for a name will rise in his place and repeat the demand, I will +recall the word indecent and substitute another,--or others. I +will tell him that he is one who, regardless of the real conduct +of the Prime Minister, either as a man or as a servant of the +Crown, is only anxious to inflict unmanly wound in order that he +may be gratified by seeing the pain he inflicts.' Then he +paused, but as no further question was asked, he continued his +statement. 'A candidate had been brought forward,' he said, 'by +those interested in the Duke's affairs. A man whom he would not +name, but who, he trusted, would never succeed in his ambition to +occupy a seat in that House, had been brought forward, and +certain tradesmen in Silverbridge had been asked to support him +as the Duke's nominee. There was no doubt about it. The House +perhaps could understand that the local adherents and neighbours +of a man so high in rank and wealth as the Duke of Omnium would +not gladly see the privileges of their lord diminished. Perhaps, +too, it occurred to them that a Prime Minister could not have his +eye everywhere. There would always be worthy men in boroughs who +liked to exercise some second-hand authority. At any rate it was +the case that this candidate was encouraged. Then the Duke had +heard it, and had put his foot upon the little mutiny, and had +stamped it out at once. He might perhaps here,' he said, +'congratulate the House on the acquisition it had received, by +the failure of that candidate. So far, at any rate,' he thought, +'it must be admitted that the Duke had been free from blame;-- +but now he came to the gravamen of the charge.' The gravamen of +the charge is so well known to the reader that the simple account +of it by Phineas gave of it need not be repeated. The Duke had +paid the money, when asked for it, because he felt that the man +had been injured by incorrect misrepresentations made to him. 'I +need hardly pause to stigmatize the meanness of that +application,' said Phineas, 'but I may perhaps conclude by saying +that whether the last act done by the Duke in this matter was or +was not indiscreet, I shall probably have the House with me when +I say that it savours much more strongly of nobility than +indiscretion.' + +When Phineas Finn sat down no one arose to say another word on +the subject. It was afterwards felt that it could only have been +graceful had Sir Orlando risen and expressed his opinion that the +House had heard the statement just made with perfect +satisfaction. But he did not do so, and after a short pause the +ordinary business of the day was recommenced. Then there was a +speedy descent from the galleries, and the ladies trooped out of +their cage, and the grey-headed old peers went back to their own +chamber, and the members themselves quickly jostled out through +the doors, and Mr Monk was left to explain his proposed +alteration in the dog tax to a thin House of seventy or eighty +members. + +The thing was then over, and people were astonished that so great +a thing should be over with so little fuss. It really seemed +that after Phineas Finn's speech there was nothing more to be +said on the matter. Everybody of course knew that the Duchess +had been the chief of the agents to whom he had alluded, but they +had known as much as that before. It was, however, felt by +everybody that the matter had been brought to an end. The game, +such as it was, had been played out. Perhaps the only person who +heard Mr Finn's speech throughout, and still hoped that the spark +could be again fanned into a flame, was Quintus Slide. He went +out and wrote another article about the Duchess. If a man was so +unable to rule his affairs at home, he was certainly unfit to be +Prime Minister. But even Quintus Slide, as he wrote his article, +felt that he was hoping against hope. The charge might be +referred to hereafter as one that had never been satisfactorily +cleared up. The game is always open to the opponents of a +minister. After the lapse of a few months an old accusation can +be serviceably used, whether at the time it was proved or +disproved. Mr Slide published his article; but he felt that for +the present the Silverbridge election papers had better be put by +among the properties of the "People's Banner" and brought out, if +necessary, for further use at some future time. + +'Mr Finn,' said the Duke, 'I feel indebted to you for the trouble +you have taken.' + +'It was only a pleasant duty.' + +'I am grateful to you for the manner in which it was performed.' +This was all the Duke said, and Phineas felt it to be cold. The +Duke, in truth, was grateful, but gratitude with him always +failed to exhibit itself readily. From the world at large +Phineas Finn received great praise for the manner in which he had +performed his task. + + + +CHAPTER 58 + +'QUITE SETTLED.' + +The abuse which was now publicly heaped on the name of Ferdinand +Lopez hit the man very hard; but not so hard perhaps as his +rejection by Lady Eustace. That was an episode in his life of +which even he felt ashamed, and of which he was unable to shake +the disgrace from his memory. He had no inner appreciation +whatsoever of what was really good or was what really bad in a +man's conduct. He did not know that he had done evil in applying +to the Duke for money. He had only meant to attack the Duke; and +when the money had come it had been regarded as justifiable prey. +And when after receiving the Duke's money, he had kept also Mr +Wharton's money, he had justified himself again by reminding +himself that Mr Wharton certainly owed him much more than that. +In a sense he was what is called a gentleman. He knew how to +speak, and how to look, how to use a knife and fork, how to dress +himself, and how to walk. But he had not the faintest notion of +the feelings of a gentleman. He had, however, a very keen +conception of the evil of being generally ill spoken of. Even +now, though he was making his mind up to leave England for a long +term of years, he understood the disadvantage of leaving it under +so heavy a cloud;--and he understood also that the cloud might +possibly impede his going altogether. Even in Coleman Street +they were looking black upon him, and Mr Hartlepod went so far as +to say to Lopez himself, that, 'by Jove, he had put his foot in +it.' He had endeavoured to be courageous under his burden, and +every day walked into the offices of the Mining Company, +endeavouring to look as though he had committed no fault of which +he had to be ashamed. But after the second day he found that +nothing was said to him of the affairs of the Company, and on the +fourth day Mr Hartlepod informed him that the time allowed for +paying up his shares had passed by, and that another local +manager would be appointed. 'The time is not over till to- +morrow,' said Lopez angrily. 'I tell you what I am told to tell +you,' said Mr Hartlepod. 'You will only waste your time by +coming here any more.' + +He had not once seen Mr Wharton since the statement made in the +Parliament, although he had lived in the same house with him. +Everett Wharton had come home, and they two had met;--but the +meeting had been stormy. 'It seems to me, Lopez, that you are a +scoundrel,' Everett said to him one day, after having heard the +whole story,--or rather many stories,--from his father. This +took place not in Manchester Square, but at the club, where +Everett had endeavoured to cut his brother-in-law. It need +hardly be said that at this time Lopez was not popular at his +club. On the next day a meeting of the whole club was to be held +that the propriety of expelling him might be discussed. But he +had resolved that he would not be cowed, that he would still show +himself, and still defend his conduct. He did not know, however, +that Everett Wharton had already made known to the Committee of +the club all the facts of the double payment. + +He had addressed Everett in that solicitude to which a man should +never be reduced of seeking to be recognized by at any rate one +acquaintance,--and now his brother-in-law had called him a +scoundrel in the presence of other men. He raised his arm as +though to use the cane in his hand, but he was cowed by the +feeling that all there were his adversaries. 'How dare you use +that language to me!' he said very weakly. + +'It is the language I must use if you speak to me.' + +'I am your brother-in-law, and that restrains me.' + +'Unfortunately you are.' + +'And am living in your father's house.' + +'That, again, is a misfortune which it appears difficult to +remedy. You have been told to go, and you won't go.' + +'Your ingratitude, sir, is marvellous! Who saved your life when +you were attacked in the park, and were too drunk to take care of +yourself? Who has stood your friend with your close-fisted old +father when you have lost money at play that you could not pay? +But you are one of those who would turn away from any benefactor +in his misfortune.' + +'I must certainly turn away from a man who has disgraced himself +as you have done,' said Everett, leaving the room. Lopez threw +himself into an easy-chair, and rang the bell loudly for a cup of +coffee, and lit a cigar. He had not been turned out of the club +as yet, and the servant at any rate was bound to attend to him. + +That night he waited up for his father-in-law in Manchester +Square. He would certainly go to Guatemala now,--if it were not +too late. He would go though he were forced to leave his wife +behind him, and thus surrender any further hope for money from Mr +Wharton beyond the sum which he would receive as the price of his +banishment. It was true that the fortnight allowed to him by the +Company was only at an end that day, and that, therefore, the +following morning might be taken as the last day named for the +payment of the money. No doubt, also, Mr Wharton's bill at a few +days' date would be accepted if that gentleman could not at the +moment give a cheque for so large a sum as was required. And the +appointment had been distinctly promised to him with no other +stipulation than that the money required for the shares should be +paid. He did not believe in Mr Hartlepod's threat. It was +impossible, he thought, that he should be treated in so infamous +a manner merely because he had had his election expenses repaid +him by the Duke of Omnium! He would, therefore, ask for the +money, and--renounce the society of his wife. + +As he made this resolve, something like real love returned to his +heart, and he became for a while sick with regret. He assured +himself that he had loved her, and that he could love her still; +--but why had she not been true to him? Why had she clung to her +father instead of clinging to her husband? Why had she not +learnt his ways,--as a wife is bound to learn the ways of the +man she marries? Why had she not helped him in his devices, +fallen into his plans, been regardful of his fortunes, and made +herself one with him? There had been present to him at times an +idea that if he could take her away with him to that distant +country to which he thought to go, and thus remove her from the +upas influence of her father's roof-tree, she would then fall +into his views and become his wife indeed. Then he would again +be tender to her, again love her, again endeavour to make the +world soft to her. But it was too late now for that. He had +failed in everything as far as England was concerned, and it was +chiefly by her fault that he had failed. He would consent to +leave her;--but, as he thought of it in solitude, his eyes +became moist with regret. + +In these days Mr Wharton never came home till about midnight, and +then passed rapidly through the hall to his own room,--and in +the morning had his breakfast brought to him in the same room, so +that he might not even see his son-in-law. His daughter would go +to him when at breakfast, and there, together for some half-hour, +they would endeavour to look forward to their future fate. But +hitherto they had never been able to look forward in accord, as +she still persisted in declaring that if her husband bade her to +go with him,--she would go. On this night Lopez sat up in the +dining-room, and as soon as he heard Mr Wharton's key in the +door, he placed himself in the hall. 'I wish to speak to you to- +night, sir,' he said. 'Would you object to come in for a few +moments?' Then Mr Wharton followed him into the room. 'As we +live now,' continued Lopez, 'I have not had much opportunity of +speaking to you, even on business.' + +'Well, sir; you can speak now,--if you have anything to say.' + +'The 5,000 pounds you promised me must be paid to-morrow. It is +the last day.' + +'I promised it only on certain conditions. Had you complied with +them the money would have been paid before.' + +'Just so. The conditions were very hard, Mr Wharton. It +surprises me that such a one as you should think it right to +separate a husband from his wife.' + +'I think it right, sir, to separate my daughter from such a one +as you are. I thought so before, but I think so doubly now. If +I can secure your absence in Guatemala by the payment of this +money, and if you will give me a document that shall be prepared +by Mr Walker and signed by yourself, assuring your wife that you +will not hereafter call upon her to live with you, the money +shall be paid.' + +'All that will take time, Mr Wharton.' + +'I will not pay a penny without it. I can meet you at the office +in Coleman Street to-morrow, and doubtless they will accept my +written assurance to pay the money as soon as those stipulations +shall be complied with.' + +'That would disgrace me in the office, Mr Wharton.' + +'And are you not disgraced there already? Can you tell me that +they have not heard of your conduct in Coleman Street, or that +hearing it they disregard it?' His son-in-law stood frowning at +him, but did not at the moment say a word. 'Nevertheless, I will +meet you there if you please, at any time that you may name, and +if they do not object to employ such a man as their manager, I +shall not object on their behalf.' + +'To the last you are hard and cruel to me,' said Lopez;--'but I +will meet you at Coleman Street at eleven to-morrow.' Then Mr +Wharton left the room, and Lopez was there alone amidst the gloom +of the heavy curtains and the dark paper. A London dining-room +at night is always dark, cavernous, and unlovely. The very +pictures on the walls lacked brightness, and the furniture is +black and heavy. This room was large, but old-fashioned and very +dark. Here Lopez walked up and down after Mr Wharton had left +him, trying to think how far Fate and how far he himself were +responsible for his present misfortunes. No doubt he had begun +the world well. His father had been little better than a +travelling pedlar, but had made some money by selling jewellery, +and had educated his son. Lopez could on no score impute blame +to his father for what had happened to him. And, when he thought +of the means at his disposal in his early youth, he felt that he +had a right to boast of some success. He had worked hard, and +had won his way upwards, and had almost lodged himself securely +among those people with whom it had been his ambition to live. +Early in life he had found himself among those who were called +gentlemen and ladies. He had been able to assume their manners, +and had lived with them on equal terms. When thinking of his +past life he never forgot to remind himself that he had been a +guest at the house of the Duke of Omnium! And yet how far was it +with him now? He was penniless. He was rejected by his father- +in-law. He was feared, and, as he thought, detested, by his +wife. He was expelled from his club. He was cut by his old +friends. And he had been told very plainly by the Secretary in +Coleman Street that his presence there was no longer desired. +What should he do with himself if Mr Wharton's money were now +refused, and if the appointment in Guatemala were denied to him? +And then he thought of Sexty Parker and his family. He was not +naturally an ill-natured man. Though he could upbraid his wife +for alluding to Mrs Parker's misery, declaring that Mrs Parker +must take the rubs of the world just as others took them, still +the misfortunes which he had brought on her and on her children +did add something to the weight of his own misfortunes. If he +could not go to Guatemala, what should he do with himself;-- +where should he go? Thus he walked up and down the room for an +hour. Would not a pistol or a razor give him the best solution +for all his difficulties? + +On the following morning he kept his appointment at the office in +Coleman Street, as did Mr Wharton also. The latter was there +first by some minutes, and explained to Mr Hartlepod that he had +come there to meet his son-in-law. Mr Hartlepod was civil, but +very cold. Mr Wharton saw at the first glance that the services +of Ferdinand Lopez were no longer in request by the San Juan +Mining Company; but he sat down and waited. Now that he was +there, however painful the interview would be, he would go +through it. At ten minutes past eleven he made up his mind that +he would wait until the half hour,--and then go, with the fixed +resolution that he would never willingly spend another shilling +on behalf of that wretched man. But at a quarter past eleven the +wretched man came,--swaggering into the office, though it had +not, hitherto, been his custom to swagger. But misfortune +masters all but the great men, and upsets her best-learned lesson +of even a long life. 'I hope I have not kept you waiting, Mr +Wharton. Well, Hartlepod, how are you to-day? So this little +affair is going to be settled at last, and now these shares shall +be bought and paid for.' Mr Wharton did not say a word, not even +rising from his chair, or greeting his son-in-law by a word. 'I +dare say Mr Wharton has already explained himself,' said Lopez. + +'I don't know that there is any necessity,' said Mr Hartlepod. + +'Well,--I suppose it's simple enough,' continued Lopez. 'Mr +Wharton, I believe I am right in saying that you are ready to pay +the money at once.' + +'Yes;--I am ready to pay the money as soon as I am assured that +you are on your route to Guatemala. I will not pay a penny till +I know that as a fact.' + +The Mr Hartlepod rose from his seat and spoke. 'Gentlemen,' he +said, 'the matter within the last few days has assumed a +different complexion.' + +'As how?' exclaimed Lopez. + +'The Directors have changed their mind as to sending out Mr Lopez +as their local manager. The Directors intend to appoint another +gentleman. I had already acquainted Mr Lopez with the Directors' +intention.' + +'Then the matter is settled?' said Mr Wharton. + +'Quite settled,' said Mr Hartlepod. + +As a matter of course Lopez began to fume and to be furious. +What!--after all that had been done, and the Directors mean to +go back from their word? After he had been induced to abandon +his business in his own country, was he to be thrown over in that +way? If the Company intended to treat him like that, the Company +would very soon hear from him. Thank God there were laws in the +land. 'Yesterday was the last day fixed for the payment of the +money,' said Mr Hartlepod. + +'It is at any rate certain that Mr Lopez is not to go to +Guatemala?' asked Mr Wharton. + +'Quite certain,' said Mr Hartlepod. Then Mr Wharton rose from +his chair and quitted the room. + +'By G--, you have ruined me among you,' said Lopez;--'ruined me in +the most shameful manner. There is no mercy, no friendship, no +kindness, no forbearance anywhere! Why am I to be treated in +this manner?' + +'If you have any complaint to make,' said Mr Hartlepod, 'you +had better write to the Directors. I have nothing to do but +my duty.' + +'By heavens, the Directors shall hear of it!' said Lopez as he +left the office. + +Mr Wharton went to his chambers and endeavoured to make up his +mind what step he must now take in reference to this dreadful +incubus. Of course he could turn the man out of his house, but +in so doing it might well be that he would also turn out his own +daughter. He believed Lopez to be utterly without means, and a +man so destitute would generally be glad to be relieved from the +burden of his wife's support. But this man would care nothing +for his wife's comfort; nothing even, as Mr Wharton believed, for +his wife's life. He would simply use his wife as best he might +as a means for obtaining money. There was nothing to be done but +to buy him off, by so much money down and by so much at stated +intervals as long as he should keep away. Mr Walker must manage +it, but it was quite clear to Mr Wharton that the Guatemala +scheme was altogether at an end. In the meantime a certain sum +must be offered to the man at once, on condition that he would +leave the house and do so without taking his wife with him. + +So far Mr Wharton had a plan, and a plan that was at least +feasible. Wretched as he was, miserable, as he thought the fate +which had befallen his daughter,--there was still a prospect of +some relief. But Lopez as he walked out of the office had nothing +to which he could look for comfort. He slowly made his way to +Little Tankard Yard and there he found Sexty Parker balancing +himself on the back legs of his chair, with a small decanter of +public-house sherry before him. 'What; you here?' he said. + +'Yes;--I have come to say good-bye.' + +'Where are you going then? You shan't start to Guatemala if I +know it.' + +'That's all over, my boy,' said Lopez, smiling. + +'What is it you mean?' said Sexty, sitting square on his chair +and looking very serious. + +'I am not going to Guatemala or anywhere else. I though I'd just +look in to tell you that I'm done for,--that I haven't a hope of +a shilling now or hereafter. You told me the other day that I +was afraid to come here. You see that as soon as anything is +fixed, I come and tell you everything at once.' + +'What is fixed?' + +'That I am ruined. That there isn't a penny to come from any +source.' + +'Wharton has got money,' said Sexty. + +'And there is money in the Bank of England,--but I cannot get at +it.' + +'What are you going to do, Lopez?' + +'Ah; that's the question. What am I going to do? I can say +nothing about that, but I can say, Sexty, that our affairs are at +an end. I'm very sorry for it, old boy. We ought to have made +fortunes, but we didn't. As far as the work went, I did my best. +Good-bye, old fellow. You'll do well some of these days yet, I +don't doubt. Don't teach the bairns to curse me. As for Mrs P. +I have not hope there, I know.' Then he went, leaving Sexty +Parker quite aghast. + + + +CHAPTER 59 + +THE FIRST AND THE LAST. + +When Mr Wharton was in Coleman Street, having his final interview +with Mr Hartlepod, there came a visitor to Mrs Lopez in +Manchester Square. Up to this date there had been great doubt +with Mr Wharton whether at last the banishment to Guatemala would +become a fact. From day to day his mind had changed. It had +been an infinite benefit that Lopez should go, if he could be got +to go alone, but as great an evil if at last he should take his +wife with him. But the father had never dared to express these +doubts to her, and she had taught herself to think that absolute +banishment with a man whom she certainly no longer loved, was the +punishment she had to pay for the evil she had done. It was now +March, and the second or third of April had been fixed for her +departure. Of course, she had endeavoured from time to time to +learn all that was to be learned from her husband. Sometimes he +would be almost communicative to her; at other times she could +hardly get a word from him. But, through it all, he gave her to +believe that she would have to go. Nor did her father make any +great effort to turn his mind the other way. If it must be so, +of what use would be such false kindness on his part? She had +therefore gone to work to make her purchases, studying that +economy which must henceforth be the great duty of her life, and +reminding herself as to everything she bought that it would have +to be worn with tears and used in sorrow. + +And then she sent a message to Arthur Fletcher. It so happened +that Sir Alured Wharton was up in London at this time with his +daughter Mary. Sir Alured did not come to Manchester Square. +There was nothing the old baronet could say in the midst of all +this misery,--no comfort that he could give. It was well known +now to all the Whartons and the Fletchers that this Lopez, who +had married her who was to have been the pearl of the two +families, had proved himself to be a scoundrel. The two old +Whartons met no doubt at some club, or perhaps the Stone +Buildings, and spoke some few bitter words to each other; but Sir +Alured did not see the unfortunate young woman who had disgraced +herself by so wretched a marriage. But Mary came, and by her a +message was sent to Arthur Fletcher. 'Tell him that I am going,' +said Emily. 'Tell him not to come, but give him my love. He was +always one of my kindest friends.' + +'Why;--why;--why did you not take him?' said Mary, moved by the +excitement of the moment to suggestions which were quite at +variance with the fixed propriety of her general idea. + +'Why should you speak of that?' said the other. 'I never speak +of him,--never think of him. But, if you see him, tell him what +I say.' Arthur Fletcher was of course in the Square on the +following day,--on that very day on which Mr Wharton learned +that, whatever might be his daughter's fate, she would not, at +any rate, be taken to Guatemala. They two had never met since +the day on which they had been brought together for a moment at +the Duchess's party at Richmond. It had of course been +understood by both of them that they were not to be allowed to +see each other. Her husband had made a pretext of an act of +friendship on his part to establish a quarrel, and both of them +had been bound by that quarrel. When a husband declares that his +wife shall not know a man, that edict must be obeyed,--or, if +disobeyed, must be subverted by intrigue. In this case there had +been no inclination to intrigue on either side. The order had +been obeyed, and as far as the wife was concerned, had been only +a small part of the terrible punishment which had come upon her +as a result of her marriage. But, now, when Arthur Fletcher had +sent up his name, she did not hesitate as to seeing him. No +doubt she had thought it probable that she might see him when she +gave her message to her cousin. + +'I could not let you go without coming to you,' he said. + +'It is very good of you. Yes;--I suppose we are going. +Guatemala sounds a long way off, Arthur, does it not? But they +tell me it is a beautiful country.' She spoke with a cheerful +voice, almost as though she liked the idea of her journey; but he +looked at her with beseeching, anxious, sorrow-laden eyes. +'After all, what is a journey of a few weeks? Why should I not +be as happy in Guatemala as in London? As to friends, I do not +know that it will make much difference,--except papa.' + +'It seems to me to make a difference,' said he. + +'I never see anybody now,--neither your people, nor the Wharton +Whartons. Indeed, I see nobody. If it were not for papa I +should be glad to go. I am told that it is a charming country. +I have not found Manchester Square very charming. I am inclined +to think that all the world is very much alike, and that it does +not matter very much where one lives,--or, perhaps, what one +does. But at any rate I am going, and I am very glad to be able +to say good-bye to you before I start.' All this she said +rapidly, in a manner unlike herself. She was forcing herself to +speak so that she might save herself, if possible, from breaking +down in his presence. + +'Of course I came when Mary told me.' + +'Yes;--she was here. Sir Alured did not come. I don't wonder +at that, however. And your mother in town some time ago,--but I +didn't expect her to come. Why should they come? I don't know +whether you might not have better stayed away. Of course I am a +Pariah now; but Pariah as I am, I shall be as good as anyone else +in Guatemala. You have seen Everett since he has been in town, +perhaps?' + +Yes;--I have seen him.' + +'I hope they won't quarrel with Everett because of what I have +done. I have felt that more than all;--that both papa and he +have suffered because of it. Do you know, I think people are +hard. They might have thrown me off without being unkind to +them. It is that that has killed me, Arthur;--that they should +have suffered.' He sat looking at her, not knowing how to +interrupt her, or what to say. There was much that he meant to +say, but he did not know how to begin it, or how to frame his +words. 'When I am gone, perhaps it will be all right,' she +continued. 'When he told me that I was to go, that was my +comfort. I think I have taught myself to think nothing of +myself, to bear it all as a necessity, to put up with it, +whatever it may be, as men bear the thirst in the desert. Thank +God, Arthur, I have no baby to suffer with me. Here,--here, it +is still very bad. When I think of papa creeping in and out of +his house, I sometimes feel that I must kill myself. But our +going will put an end to all that. It is much better that we +should go. I wish we might start to-morrow.' Then she looked up +at him, and saw that tears were running down his face, and as she +looked she heard his sobs. 'Why should you cry, Arthur? He +never cries,--nor do I. When baby died I cried,--but very +little. Tears are vain, foolish things. It has to be borne, and +there is an end of it. When one makes up one's mind to that, one +does not cry. There was a poor woman her the other day whose +husband he had ruined. She wept and bewailed herself till I +pitied her almost more than myself;--but then she had children.' + +'Oh, Emily!' + +'You mustn't call me by my name, because he would be angry. I +have to do, you know, as he tells me. And I do so strive to do +it! Through it all I have an idea that if I do my duty it will +be better for me. There are things, you know, which a husband +may tell you to do, but you cannot do. If he tells me to rob, I +am not to rob;--am I? And now I think of it, you ought not to +be here. He would be very angry, much displeased. But it has +been so pleasant once more to see and old friend.' + +'I care nothing for his anger,' said Arthur moodily. + +'Ah, but I do. I have to care for it.' + +'Leave him! Why don't you leave him?' + +'What!' + +'You cannot deceive me. You do not try to deceive me. You know +that he is altogether unworthy of you.' + +'I will hear nothing of the kind, sir.' + +'How can I speak otherwise when you yourself tell me of your own +misery? Is it possible that I should not know what he is? Would +you have me pretend to think well of him?' + +'You can hold your tongue, Arthur.' + +'No;--I cannot hold my tongue. Have I not held my tongue ever +since you married? And if I am to speak at all, must I not speak +now?' + +'There is nothing to be said that can serve us at all.' + +'Then it shall be said without serving. When I bid you leave +him, it is not that you may come to me. Though I love you better +than all the world put together, I do not mean that at all.' + +'Oh, Arthur! Arthur!' + +'But let your father save you. Only tell him that you will stay +with him, and he will do it. Though I should never see you +again, I could help protect you. Of course, I know,--and you +know. He is--a scoundrel!' + +'I will not hear it,' said she rising from her seat on the sofa +with her hands up to her forehead, but still coming nearer to him +as she moved. + +'Does not your father say the same thing? I will advise nothing +that he does not advise. I would not say a word to you that he +might not hear. I do love you, I have always loved you. But do +you think that I would hurt you with my love?' + +'No;--no;--no!' + +'No, indeed;--but I would have you feel that those who loved you +of old are still anxious for your welfare. You said just now +that you had been neglected.' + +'I spoke of papa and Everett. For myself,--of course, I have +separated myself from everybody.' + +'Never from me. You may be ten times his wife, but you cannot +separate yourself from me. Getting up in the morning and going +to bed at night I still tell myself that you are the one woman +that I love. Stay with us, and you shall be honoured,--as that +man's wife of course, but still as the dearest friend we have.' + +'I cannot stay,' she said. 'He has told me that I am to go, and +I am in his hands. When you have a wife, Arthur, you will wish +her to do your bidding. I hope she will for your sake, without +that pain I have in doing it. Good-bye, dear friend.' + +She put her hand out and he grasped it, and stood for a moment +looking at her. Then he seized her in his arms and kissed her +brow and her lips. 'Oh, Emily, why were you not my wife? My +darling, my darling!' + +She had hardly extricated herself when the door opened, and Lopez +stood in the room. 'Mr Fletcher,' he said, very calmly, 'what is +the meaning of this?' + +'He has come to bid me farewell,' said Emily. 'When going on so +long a journey one likes to see one's old friends,--perhaps for +the last time.' There was something of indifference to his anger +in her tone, and something also of scorn. + +Lopez looked from one to the other, affecting an air of great +displeasure. 'You know, sir,' he said, 'that you cannot be +welcome here.' + +'But he has been welcome,' said his wife. + +'And I look upon your coming as a base act. You are here with +the intention of creating discord between me and my wife.' + +'I am here to tell her that she has a friend to trust to, if she +ever wants a friend,' said Fletcher. + +'And you think that such trust as that would be safer than trust +in her husband? I cannot turn you out of this house, sir, +because it does not belong to me, but I desire you to leave at +once the room which is occupied by my wife.' Fletcher paused a +moment to say good-bye to the poor woman, while Lopez continued +with increased indignation. 'If you do not go at once you will +force me to desire her to retire. She shall not remain in the +same room with you.' + +'Good-bye, Mr Fletcher,' she said, again putting out her hand. + +But Lopez struck it up, not violently, so as to hurt her, but +still with eager roughness. 'Not in my presence,' he said. 'Go, +sire, when I desire you.' + +'God bless you, my friend,' said Arthur Fletcher. 'I pray that I +might live to see you back in the old country.' + +'He was--kissing you,' said Lopez, as soon as the door was shut. + +'He was,' said Emily. + +'And you tell me so to my face, with such an air as that!' + +'What am I to tell you when you ask me? I did not bid him kiss +me.' + +'But afterwards you took his part as his friend.' + +'Why not? I should lie to you if I pretended that I was angry +with him for what he did.' + +'Perhaps you will tell me that you love him.' + +'Of course I love him. There are different kinds of love, +Ferdinand. There is that which a woman gives to a man when she +would fain mate with him. It is the sweetest love of all, if it +would only last. And there is another love,--which is not +given, but which is won, perhaps through long years, by old +friends. I have none older than Arthur Fletcher, and none who +are dearer to me.' + +'And you think it right that he should take you in his arms and +kiss you?' + +'On such an occasion, I could not blame him.' + +'You were ready enough to receive it, perhaps.' + +'Well, I was. He has loved me well, and I shall never see him +again. He is very dear to me, and I was parting from him for +ever. It was the first and the last, and I did not grudge it to +him. You must remember, Ferdinand, that you are taking me across +the world from all my friends.' + +'Psha,' he said, 'that is all over. You are not going anywhere +that I know of,--unless it be out onto the streets when your +father shuts his door on you.' And so saying he left the room +without another word. + + + +CHAPTER 60 + +THE TENWAY JUNCTION. + +And thus the knowledge was conveyed to Mrs Lopez that her fate in +life was not to carry her to Guatemala. At the very moment in +which she had been summoned to meet Arthur Fletcher she had been +busy with her needle preparing that almost endless collection of +garments necessary for a journey of many days at sea. And now +she was informed, by a chance expression, by a word aside, as it +were, that the journey was not to be made. 'That is all over,' +he had said,--and then had left her, telling her nothing +further. Of course she stayed her needle. Whether the last word +had been true or false, she could not work again, at any rate +till it had been contradicted. If it were so, what was to be her +fate? One thing was certain to her,--that she could not remain +under her father's roof. It was impossible that an arrangement +so utterly distasteful as the present one, both on to her father +and to herself, should be continued. But where then should they +live,--and of what nature would her life be should she be +separated from her father? + +That evening she saw her father, and he corroborated her +husband's statement. 'It is all over now,' he said,--'that +scheme of his of going to superintend the mines. The mines don't +want him, and won't have him. I can't say I wonder at it.' + +'What are we to do, papa?' + +'Ah;--that I cannot say. I suppose he will condescend still to +honour me with his company. I do not know why he should wish to +go to Guatemala or elsewhere. He has everything here that he can +want.' + +'You know, papa, that that is impossible.' + +'I cannot say what with him is possible or impossible. He is +bound by none of the ordinary rules of mankind.' + +That evening Lopez returned to his dinner at Manchester Square, +which was still regularly served for him and his wife, though the +servants who attended upon him did so under silent and oft- +repeated protest. He said not a word more as to Arthur Fletcher, +nor did her seek any ground of quarrel with his wife. But that +he continued melancholy and dejection made anything like good- +humour impossible, even on his part, he would have been good- +humoured. When they were alone, she asked him as to their future +destiny. 'Papa tells me you are not going,' she began saying. + +'Did I not tell you so this morning?' + +'Yes; you said so. But I did not know you were in earnest. Is +it all over?' + +'All over;--I suppose.' + +'I should have thought that you would have told me with more,-- +more seriousness.' + +'I don't know what you would have. I was serious enough. The +fact is, that your father has delayed so long the payment of the +promised money that the thing has fallen through of necessity. I +do not know that I can blame the Company.' + +Then there was a pause. 'And now,' she said, 'what do you mean +to do?' + +'Upon my word I cannot say. I am quite as much in the dark as +you can be.' + +'That is nonsense, Ferdinand.' + +'Thank you! Let it be nonsense if you will. It seems to me that +there is a great deal of nonsense going on in the world; but very +little of it as true as what I say now.' + +'But it is your duty to know. Of course you cannot stay here.' + +'Nor you, I suppose,--without me.' + +'I am not speaking of myself. If you choose, I can remain here.' + +'And--just throw me overboard altogether.' + +'If you provide another home for me, I will go to it. However +poor it may be I will go to it, if you bid me. But for you,--of +course you cannot stay here.' + +'Has your father told you to say so to me?' + +'No;--but I can say so without his telling me. You are +banishing him from his own house. He has put up with it while he +thought that you were going to this foreign country; but there +must be an end of that now. You must have some scheme of life.' + +'Upon my soul I have none.' + +'You must have some intentions for the future.' + +'None in the least. I have had intentions, and they have failed; +--from want of that support which I had a right to expect. I +have struggled and I have failed, and now I have got no +intention. What are yours?' + +'It is not my duty to have any purpose, as what I do must depend +on your commands.' Then again there was a silence, during which +he lit a cigar, although he was sitting in the drawing-room. +This was a profanation of the room on which he had never ventured +before, but at the present moment she was unable to notice it by +any words. 'I must tell papa,' she said after a while, 'what our +plans are.' + +'You can tell him what you please. I have literally nothing to +say to him. If he will settle an adequate income on us, payable +of course to me, I will go and live elsewhere. If he turns me +out in the street without provision, he must turn you out too. +That is all I have got to say. It will come better from you than +from me. I am sorry, of course, that things have gone wrong with +me. When I found myself the son-in-law of a very rich man I +thought that I might spread my wings a bit. But my rich father- +in-law threw me over, and now I am helpless. You are not very +cheerful, and I think I'll go down to the club.' + +He went out of the house and did go down to the Progress. The +committee which was to be held with the view of judging whether +he was or was not a proper person to remain a member of that +assemblage had not yet been held, and there was nothing to impede +his entrance to the club, or the execution of the command which +he gave for tea and buttered toast. But no one spoke to him; +nor, though he affected a look of comfort, did he find himself +much at his ease. Among the members of the club there was a much +divided opinion whether he should be expelled or not. There was +a strong party who declared that his conduct socially, morally, +and politically, had been so bad that nothing short of expulsion +would meet the case. But there were others who said that no act +had been proved against him which the club ought to notice. He +had, no doubt, shown himself to be a blackguard, a man without a +spark of honour or honesty. But then,--as they said who thought +his position in the club to be unassailable,--what had the club +to do with that? 'If you turn out all the blackguards and all +the dishonourable men, where will the club be?' was a question +asked with a great deal of vigour by one middle-aged gentleman +who was supposed to know the club-world very thoroughly. He had +committed no offence which the law could recognize and punish, +nor had he sinned against the club rules. 'He is not required to +be a man of honour by any regulation of which I am aware,' said +the middle-aged gentleman. The general opinion seemed to be that +he should be asked to go, and that, if he declined, no one should +speak to him. This penalty was already inflicted on him, for on +the evening in question no one did speak to him. + +He drank his tea and ate his toast and read a magazine, striving +to look as comfortable and as much at his ease as men at their +clubs generally are. He was not a bad actor, and those who saw +him and made reports as to his conduct on the following day +declared that he had apparently been quite indifferent to the +disagreeable incident of his position. But his indifference had +been mere acting. His careless manner with his wife had been all +assumed. Selfish as he was, void as he was of all principle, +utterly unmanly and even unconscious of the worth of manliness, +still he was alive to the opinions of others. He thought that +the world did not understand the facts of his case, and that the +world generally would have done as he had done in similar +circumstances. He did not know that there was such a quality as +honesty, nor did he understand what the word meant. But he did +know that some men, an unfortunate class, became subject to evil +report from others who were more successful, and he was aware +that he had become one of those unfortunates. Nor could he see +any remedy for his position. It was all blank and black before +him. It may be doubted whether he got much instruction or +amusement from the pages of the magazine which he turned. + +At about twelve o'clock he left the club and took his way +homewards. But he did not go straight home. It was a nasty cold +March night, with a catching wind, and occasional short showers +of something between snow and rain,--as disagreeable a night for +a gentleman to walk in as one could well conceive. But he went +round by Trafalgar Square, and along the Strand, and up some +dirty streets by the small theatres, and so on to Holborn and by +Bloomsbury Square up to Tottenham Court Road, and then through +some unused street into Portland Place, along the Marylebone +Road, and back to Manchester Square by Baker Street. He had more +than doubled the distance,--apparently without any object. He +had been spoken to frequently by unfortunates of both sexes, but +had answered a word to no one. He had trudged on and on with his +umbrella over his head, but almost unconscious of the cold and +wet. And yet he was a man sedulously attentive to his own +personal comfort and health, who had at any rate shown this +virtue in his mode of living, that he had never subjected himself +to danger by imprudence. But now the working of his mind kept +him warm, and, if not dry, at least indifferent to the damp. He +had thrown aside with affected nonchalance those questions which +his wife had asked him, but still it was necessary that he should +answer them. He did not suppose that he could continue to live +in Manchester Square in his present condition. Nor, if it was +necessary that he should wander forth into the world, could he +force his wife to wander with him. If he would consent to leave +her, his father-in-law would probably give him something,--some +allowance on which he might exist. But then of what sort would be +his life? + +He did not fail to remind himself over and over again that he had +nearly succeeded. He had been the guest of the Prime Minister, +and had been the nominee chosen by a Duchess to represent her +husband's borough in Parliament. He had been intimate with Mills +Happerton who was fast becoming a millionaire. He had married +much above himself in every way. He had achieved a certain +popularity and was conscious of intellect. But at the present +moment two or three sovereigns in his pocket were the extent of +his worldly wealth and his character was utterly ruined. He +regarded his fate as does a card-player who day after day holds +sixes and sevens when other men have aces and kings. Fate was +against him. He saw no reason why he should not have had he aces +and kings continually, especially as fate had given him perhaps +more than his share of them at first. He had, however, lost +rubber after rubber,--not paying his stakes for some of the last +rubbers lost,--till the players would play with him no longer. +The misfortune might have happened to any man;--but it had +happened to him. There was no beginning again. A possible small +allowance and some very retired and solitary life, in which there +would be no show of honour, no flattery coming to him, was all +that was left to him. + +He let himself in at the house, and found his wife still awake. +'I am wet to the skin,' he said, 'I made up my mind to walk, and +I would do it;--but I am a fool for my pains.' She made him +some feeble answer, affecting to be half asleep, and merely +turned in her bed. 'I must be out early in the morning. Mind +you made them dry my things. They never do anything for my +telling.' + +'You don't want them dried to-night?' + +'Not to-night, of course;--but after I am gone to-morrow. +They'll leave them there without putting a hand to them, if you +don't speak. I must be off before breakfast to-morrow.' + +'Where are you going? Do you want anything packed?' + +'No; nothing. I shall be back for dinner. But I must go down to +Birmingham, to see a friend of Happerton's on business. I will +breakfast at the station. As you said to-day, something must be +done. If it's necessary to sweep a crossing, I must sweep it.' + +As she lay awake while he slept, she thought that those last +words were the best she had heard from him since they were +married. There seemed to be some indication of purpose in them. +If he would only sweep a crossing as a man should sweep it, she +would stand by him, and at any rate do her duty to him, in spite +of all that had happened. Alas! she was not old enough to have +learned that a dishonest man cannot begin even to sweep a +crossing honestly till he have in very truth repented of his +former dishonesty. The lazy man may become lazy no longer, but +there must have been first a process through his mind whereby his +laziness has become odious to him. And that process can hardly +be the immediate result of misfortune arising from misconduct. +Had Lopez found his crossing at Birmingham he would hardly have +swept it well. + +Early on the following morning he was up, and before he left his +room he kissed his wife. 'Good-bye, old girl,' he said, 'don't +be down-hearted.' + +'If you have anything before you to do, I will not be down- +hearted,' she said. + +'I shall have something to do before night, I think. Tell your +father, when you see him, that I shall not trouble him here much +longer. But tell him also, that I have no thanks to give him for +his hospitality.' + +'I will not tell him that, Ferdinand.' + +'He shall know it though. But I do not mean to be cross to you. +Good-bye, love.' Then he stooped over and kissed her again;-- +and so he took his leave of her. + +It was raining hard, and when he got into the street he looked +about for a cab, but there was none to be found. In Baker Street +he got an omnibus which took him down to the underground railway, +and by that he went to Gower Street. Through the rain he walked +up to the Euston Station, and there he ordered breakfast. Could +he have a mutton chop and some tea? And he was very particular +that the mutton chop should be well cooked. He was a good- +looking man, of fashionable appearance, and the young lady who +attended him noticed him and was courteous to him. He +condescended even to have a little light conversation with her, +and, on the whole, he seemed to enjoy his breakfast. 'Upon my +word. I should like to breakfast here every say of my life,' he +said. The young lady assured him that, as far as she could see, +there was no objection to such an arrangement. 'Only it's a +bore, you know, coming out in the rain when there are no cabs,' +he said. Then there were various little jokes between them, till +the young lady was quite impressed with the gentleman's pleasant +affability. + +After a while he went back into the hall and took a first-class +return ticket not for Birmingham, but for the Tenway Junction, as +everybody knows it. From this spot, some six or seven miles +distant from London, lines diverge east, west, and north, north- +east, and north-west, round the metropolis in every direction, +and with direct communication with every other line in and out of +London. It is marvellous place, quite unintelligible to the +uninitiated, and yet daily used by thousands who only know that +when they get there, they are to do what someone tells them. The +space occupied by the convergent rails seems to be sufficient for +a large farm. And these rails always run into one another with +sloping points, and cross passages, and mysterious meandering +sidings, till it seems to the thoughtful stranger to be +impossible that the best-trained engine should know its own line. +Here and there and around there is ever a wilderness of waggons, +some loaded, some empty, some smoking with close-packed oxen, and +others furlongs in length black with coals, which look as though +they had been stranded there by chance, and were never destined +to get again into the right path of traffic. Not a minute passes +without a train going here or there, some rushing by without +noticing Tenway in the least, crashing through like flashes of +substantial lightning, and others stopping, disgorging and taking +up passengers by the hundreds. Men and women,--especially the +men, for the women knowing their ignorance are generally willing +to trust to the pundits of the place,--look doubtful, uneasy, +and bewildered. But they all do get properly placed and +unplaced, so that the spectator at last acknowledges that over +all this apparent chaos there is presiding a great genius of +order. From dusky morn to dark night, and indeed almost +throughout the night, the air is loaded with a succession of +shrieks. The theory goes that each separate shriek,--if there +can be any separation where the sound is so nearly continuous,-- +is a separate notice to separate ears of the coming or going of a +separate train. The stranger, as he speculates on these +pandemoniac noises, is able to realize the idea that were they +discontinued the excitement necessary for the minds of the +pundits might be lowered, and that activity might be lessened, +and evil results might follow. But he cannot bring himself to +credit that theory of individual notices. + +At Tenway Junction there are a half-a-dozen long platforms, on +which men and women and luggage are crowded. On one of these for +a while Ferdinand Lopez walked backwards and forwards as though +waiting for the coming of some especial train. The crowd is ever +so great that a man might be supposed to walk there from morning +to nigh without exciting special notice. But the pundits are +very clever, and have much experience in men and women. A well- +taught pundit, who has exercised authority for a year or two at +such a station as that of Tenway, will know within a minute of +the appearance of each stranger what is his purpose there,-- +whether he be going or has just come, whether he is himself on +the way or waiting for others, whether he should be treated with +civility or with some curt command,--so that if his purport be +honest all necessary assistance may be rendered him. As Lopez +was walking up and down, with a smiling face and leisurely pace, +now reading an advertisement and now watching the contortions of +some amazed passenger, a certain pundit asked him his business. +He was waiting, he said, for a train from Liverpool, intending, +when his friend arrived, to go with him to Dulwich by a train +which went round the west of London. It was all feasible, and +the pundit told him that the stopping train from Liverpool was +due there in six minutes, but that the express from the north +would pass first. Lopez thanked the pundit and gave him +sixpence,--which made the pundit suspicious. A pundit hopes to +be paid when he handles luggage, but has no such expectation when +he merely gives information. + +The pundit still had his eye on our friend when the shriek and +the whirr of the express from the north was heard. Lopez walked +quickly up towards the edge of the platform, when the pundit +followed him, telling him that this was not his train. Lopez +then ran a few yards along the platform, not noticing the man, +reaching a spot that was unoccupied:--and there he stood fixed. +And as he stood the express flashed by. 'I am fond of seeing +them pass like that,' said Lopez to the man who had followed him. + +'But you shouldn't do it, sir,' said the suspicious pundit. 'No +one isn't allowed to stand near like that. The very hair of it +might take you off your legs when you're not used to it.' + +'All right, old fellow,' said Lopez retreating. The next train +was the Liverpool train; and it seemed that our friend's friend +had not come, for when the Liverpool passengers had cleared +themselves off, he was still walking up and down the platform. +'He'll come by the next,' said Lopez to the pundit, who now +followed him about and kept an eye on him. + +'There ain't another from Liverpool stopping here till the 2.20,' +said the pundit. 'You had better come again if you mean to meet +him by that.' + +'He has come part of the way, and will reach this by some other +train,' said Lopez. + +'There ain't nothing he can come by,' said the pundit. +'Gentlemen can't wait here all day, sir. The horders is against +waiting on the platform.' + +'All right,' said Lopez, moving away as though to make exit +through the station. + +Now, Tenway Junction is so big a place, and so scattered, that it +is impossible that all the pundits should by any combined +activity maintain to the letter the order of which our special +pundit had spoken. Lopez, departing from the platform which he +had hitherto occupied, was soon to be seen on another, walking up +and down, and again waiting. But the old pundit had his eye on +him, and had followed him round. At that moment there came a +shriek louder than all the other shrieks, and the morning express +down from Euston to Inverness was seen coming round the curve at +a thousand miles an hour. Lopez turned round and looked at it, +and again walked towards the edge of the platform but now it was +not exactly the edge that he neared, but a descent to a pathway, +--an inclined plane leading down to the level of the rails, and +made there for certain purposes of traffic. As he did so the +pundit called to him, and then made a rush at him,--for our +friend's back was turned to the coming train. But Lopez heeded +not the call, and the rush was too late. With quick, but still +with gentle and apparently unhurried steps, he walked down before +the flying engine--and in a moment had been knocked into bloody +atoms. + + + + + +VOLUME III + + + +CHAPTER 61 + +THE WIDOW AND HER FRIENDS. + +The catastrophe described in the last chapter had taken place +during the first week in March. By the end of that month old Mr +Wharton had probably reconciled himself to the tragedy, although +in fact it had affected him very deeply. In the first days after +the news had reached him he seemed to be bowed to the ground. +Stone Buildings were neglected, and the Eldon saw nothing of him. +Indeed, he barely left the house from which he had been so long +banished by the presence of his son-in-law. It seemed to +Everett, who now came to live with him and his sister, as though +his father was overcome by the horror of the affair. But after a +while he recovered himself, and appeared one morning in court +with his wig and gown, and argued a case,--which was now unusual +with him,--as though to show the world that a dreadful episode +in his life was passed, and should be thought of no more. At +this period, three or four weeks after the occurrence,--he +rarely spoke to his daughter about Lopez; but to Everett the +man's name would often be on his tongue. 'I do not know that +there could have been any other deliverance,' he said to his son +one day. 'I thought it would have killed me when I first heard +it, and it nearly killed her. But, at any rate, now there is +peace.' + +But the widow seemed to feel it more as time went on. At first +she was stunned, and for a while absolutely senseless. It was +not till two days after the occurrence that the fact became known +to her,--not known as a certainty to her father and brother. It +seemed as though the man had been careful to carry with him no +record of identity, the nature of which would permit it to +outlive the crush of the train. No card was found, no scrap of +paper with his name; and it was discovered at last that when he +left the house on the fatal morning he had been careful to dress +himself in shirt and socks, with handkerchief and collar that had +been newly purchased for his proposed journey and which bore no +mark. The fragments of his body set identity at defiance, and +even his watch had been crumpled into ashes. Of course the fact +became certain with no great delay. The man himself was missing, +and was accurately described both by the young lady from the +refreshment room, and by the suspicious pundit who had actually +seen the thing done. There was first belief that it was so, +which was not communicated to Emily,--and then certainty. + +There was an inquest held of course,--well, we will say on the +body,--and, singularly enough, great difference of opinion as to +the manner, though of course none as to the immediate cause of +the death. Had it been accidental, or premeditated? The pundit, +who in the performance of his duties on the Tenway platform was +so efficient and valuable, gave half-a-dozen opinions in half-a- +dozen minutes when subjected to the questions of the Coroner. In +his own mind he had not the least doubt in the world as to what +had happened. But he was made to believe that he was not to +speak his own mind. The gentleman, he said, certainly might have +walked down by accident. The gentleman's back was turned, and it +was possible that the gentleman did not hear the train. He was +quite certain that the gentleman knew of the train; but yet he +could not say. The gentleman walked down before the train +o'purpose; but perhaps he didn't mean to do himself an injury. +There was a deal of this, till the Coroner, putting all his wrath +into his brow, told the man that he was a disgrace to the +service, and expressed a hope that the Company would no longer +employ a man so evidently unfit for his position. But the man +was in truth a conscientious and useful pundit, with a large +family, and evident capabilities for his business. At last a +verdict was given,--that the man's name was Ferdinand Lopez, +that he had been crushed by an express train on the London and +North Western Line, and that there was no evidence to show how +his presence on the line had been occasioned. Of course, Mr +Wharton had employed counsel, and of course the counsel's object +had been to avoid a verdict of felo de se. Appended to the +verdict was a recommendation from the jury that the Railway +Company should be advised to signalize their express trains at +the Tenway Junction Station. + +When these tidings were told to the widow she had already given +way to many fears. Lopez had gone, purporting, as he said,--to +be back to dinner. He had not come then, nor on the following +morning, nor had he written. Then she remembered all that he had +done and said;--how he had kissed her, and left a parting +malediction for her father. She did not at first imagine that he +had destroyed himself, but that he had gone away, intending to +vanish as other men before now had vanished. As she thought of +this something almost like love came back upon her heart. Of +course he was bad. Even in her sorrow, even when alarmed as to +his fate, she could not deny that. But her oath to him had not +been to love him only while he was good. She had made herself a +part of him, and was she not bound to be true to him, whether +good or bad? She implored her father and she implored her +brother to be ceaseless in their endeavours to trace him,-- +sometimes seeming almost to fear that in this respect she could +not fully trust them. Then she discerned from their manner a +doubt as to her husband's fate. 'Oh, papa, if you think +anything, tell me what you think,' she said late on the evening +of the second day. He was then nearly sure that the man who had +been killed at Tenway was Ferdinand Lopez;--but he was not quite +sure, and he would not tell her. But on the following morning, +somewhat before noon, having himself gone out early to Euston +Square, he came back to his own house,--and then he told her +all. For the first hour she did not shed a tear or lose her +consciousness of the horror of the thing;--but sat still and +silent, gazing at nothing, casting back her mind over the history +of her life, and the misery which she had brought to all who +belonged to her. Then at last she gave way, fell into tears, +hysteric sobbings, convulsions so violent as for a time to take +the appearance of epileptic fits, and was at last exhausted and, +happily for herself, unconscious. + +After that she was ill for many weeks,--so ill that at times +both her father and her brother thought that she would die. When +the first month or six weeks had passed by she would often speak +of her husband, especially to her father, and always speaking of +him as though she had brought him to his untimely fate. Nor +could she endure at this time that her father should say a word +against him, even when she obliged the old man to speak of one +whose conduct had been so infamous. It had all been her doing! +Had she not married him there would have been no misfortune! She +did not say that he had been noble, true, or honest,--but she +asserted that all the evils which had come upon him had been +produced by herself. 'My dear,' her father said to her one +evening, 'it is a matter which we cannot forget, but on which it +is well that we should be silent.' + +'I shall always know what that silence means,' she replied. + +'It will never mean condemnation of you by me,' said he. + +'But I have destroyed your life,--and his, I know. I ought not +to have married him, because you bade me not. And I know that I +should have been gentler with him, and more obedient when I was +his wife. I sometimes wish that I were a Catholic, and that I +could go into a convent, and bury it all amidst sackcloths and +ashes.' + +'That would not bury it,' said her father. + +'But I should at least be buried. If I were out of sight, you +might forget it all.' + +She once stirred Everett up to speak more plainly than her father +ever dared to do, and then also she herself used language that +was very plain. 'My darling,' said her brother once, when she +had been trying to make out that her husband had been more sinned +against than sinning,--'he was a bad man. It is better that the +truth should be said.' + +'And who is a good man?' she said, raising herself in her bed and +looking at him full in the face with her deep-sunken eyes. 'If +there be any truth in our religion, are we not all bad? Who is +to tell the shades of difference of badness? He was not a +drunkard, or a gambler. Through it all he was true to his wife.' +She, poor creature, was ignorant of the little scene in the +little street near Mayfair, in which Lopez had offered to carry +Lizzie Eustace away with him to Guatemala. 'He was industrious. +His ideas about money were not the same as yours or papa's. How +was he worse than others? It happened that his faults were +distasteful to you--and so, perhaps, his virtues.' + +'His faults, such as they were, brought all these miseries.' + +'He would have been successful now if he had never seen me. But +why should we talk of it? We shall never agree. And you, +Everett, can never understand all that has passed through my mind +during the last two years.' + +There were two or three persons who attempted to see her at this +period, but she avoided them all. First came Mrs Roby, who as +her nearest neighbour, as her aunt, and as an aunt who had been +so nearly allied to her, had almost a right to demand admittance. +But she would not see Mrs Roby. She sent down word to say that +she was too ill. And when Mrs Roby wrote to her, she got her +father to answer the note. 'You had better let it drop,' the old +man said at last to his sister-in-law. 'Of course she remembers +that it was you who brought them together.' + +'But I didn't bring them together, Mr Wharton. How often am I to +tell you so? It was Everett brought Mr Lopez here.' + +'The marriage was made up in your house, and it has destroyed me +and my child. I will not quarrel with my wife's sister if I can +help it, but at present you had better keep apart.' Then he had +left her abruptly, and Mrs Roby had not dared either to write or +call again. + +At this time Arthur Fletcher saw both Everett and Mr Wharton +frequently, but he did not go to the Square, contenting himself +with asking whether he might be allowed to do so. 'Not yet, +Arthur,' said the old man. 'I am sure she thinks you one of her +best friends, but she could not see you yet.' + +'She would have nothing to fear,' said Arthur. 'We knew each +other when we were children, and I should be now only as I was +then.' + +'Not yet, Arthur, not yet,' said the barrister. + +Then there came a letter, or rather two letters from Mary +Wharton;--one to Mr Wharton and the other to Emily. To tell the +truth as to these letters, they contained the combined wisdom and +tenderness of Wharton Hall and Longbarns. As soon as the fate of +Lopez had been ascertained and thoroughly discussed in +Hertfordshire, there went forth an edict that Emily had suffered +punishment sufficient and was to be forgiven. Old Mrs Fletcher +did not come to this at once,--having some deep-seated feeling +which she did not dare to express even to her son, though she +muttered it to her daughter-in-law, that Arthur would be +disgraced for ever if he were to marry the widow of such a man as +Ferdinand Lopez. But when this question of receiving Emily back +into family favour was mooted in the Longbarns Parliament no one +alluded to the possibility of such a marriage. There was the +fact that she whom they all had loved had been freed by a great +tragedy from the husband whom they all had condemned,--and also +the knowledge that the poor victim had suffered greatly during +the period of her married life. Mrs Fletcher had frowned, and +shaken her head, and made a little speech about the duties of +women, and the necessarily fatal consequences when those duties +are neglected. There were present there, with the old lady, John +Fletcher and his wife, Sir Alured and Lady Wharton, and Mary +Wharton. Arthur was not in the county, nor could the discussion +have been held in his presence. 'I can only say,' said John, +getting up and looking away from his mother, 'that she shall +always find a home at Longbarns when she chooses to come here, +and I hope Sir Alured will say the same as to Wharton Hall.' +After all, John Fletcher was king in these parts, and Mrs +Fletcher, with many noddings and some sobbing, had to give way to +King John. The end of all this was that Mary Wharton wrote her +letters. In that to Mr Wharton she asked whether it would not be +better that her cousin should change the scene and come at once +into the country. Let her come and stay a month at Wharton, then +go onto Longbarns. She might be sure that there would be no +company at either house. In June the Fletchers would go to town +for a week, and then Emily might return to Wharton Hall. It was +a long letter, and Mary gave many reasons why the poor sufferer +would be better in the country than in town. The letter to Emily +herself was shorter, but full of affection. 'Do, do do come. +You know how we all love you. Let it be as it used to be. You +always liked the country. I will devote myself to try and +comfort you.' But Emily could not as yet submit to receive +devotion even from her cousin Mary. Through it all, and under it +all,--though she would ever defend her husband because he was +dead,--she knew that she had disgraced the Whartons and brought +a load of sorrow upon the Fletchers, and she was too proud to be +forgiven so quickly. + +Then she received another tender of affection from a quarter +whence she certainly did not expect it. The Duchess of Omnium +wrote to her. The Duchess, though she had lately been +considerably restrained by the condition of the Duke's mind, and +by the effects of her own political and social mistakes, still +from time to time made renewed efforts to keep together the +Coalition by giving dinners, balls, and garden parties, and by +binding to herself the gratitude and worship of young +parliamentary aspirants. In carrying out her plans, she had +lately showered her courtesies upon Arthur Fletcher, who had been +made welcome even by the Duke as the sitting member for +Silverbridge. With Arthur she had of course discussed the +conduct of Lopez as to the election bills, and had been very loud +in condemning him. And from Arthur also she had heard something +of the sorrows of Emily Lopez. Arthur had been very desirous +that the Duchess, who had received them both at her house, should +distinguish between the husband and the wife. Then had come the +tragedy, to which the notoriety of the man's conduct of course +gave additional interest. It was believed that Lopez had +destroyed himself because of the disgrace which had fallen upon +him from the Silverbridge affair. And for much of that +Silverbridge affair the Duchess herself was responsible. She +waited till a couple of months had gone by, and then, in the +beginning of May, sent to the widow what was intended to be, and +indeed was, a very kind note. The Duchess had heard the sad +story with the greatest grief. She hoped that Mrs Lopez would +permit her to avail herself of a short acquaintance to express +her sincere sympathy. She would not venture to call as yet, but +hoped that before long she might be allowed to come to Manchester +Square. + +This note touched the poor woman to whom it was written, not +because she herself was solicitous to be acquainted with the +Duchess of Omnium, but because the application seemed to her to +contain something like an acquittal, or at any rate a pardon, of +her husband. His sin in that measure of the Silverbridge +election,--a sin which her father had been loud in denouncing +before the wretch had destroyed himself,--had been specially +against the Duke of Omnium. And now the Duchess came forward to +say that it should be forgiven and forgotten. When she showed +the letter to her father, and asked him what she should say in +answer to it, he only shook his head. 'It is meant for kindness, +papa.' + +'Yes;--I think it is. There are people who have no right to be +kind to me. If a man stopped me in the street and offered me a +half-a-crown it might be kindness,--but I don't want the man's +half--crown.' + +'I don't think it is the same, papa. There is a reason here.' + +'Perhaps so, my dear, but I do not see the reason.' + +She became very red, but even to him she would not explain her +ideas. 'I think I shall answer it.' + +'Certainly answer it. Your compliments to the Duchess and thank +her for her kind inquiries.' + +'But she says she will come here.' + +'I should not notice that.' + +'Very well, papa. If you think so, of course I will not. +Perhaps it would be an inconvenience, if she were really to +come.' On the next day she did write a note, not quite so cold +as that which her father proposed, but still saying nothing as to +the offered visit. She felt, she said, very grateful for the +Duchess's kind remembrance of her. The Duchess would perhaps +understand that at present her sorrow overwhelmed her. + +And there was one other tender of kindness which was more +surprising than even that from the Duchess. The reader may +perhaps remember that Ferdinand Lopez and Lady Eustace had not +parted when they last saw each other on the pleasantest terms. +He had been very affectionate; but when he had proposed to devote +his whole life to her and to carry her off to Guatemala she had +simply told him that he was--a fool. Then he had escaped from +her house and had never again seen Lizzie Eustace. She had not +thought very much about it. Had he returned to her the next day +with some more tempting proposition for making money she would +have listened to him,--and had he begged her pardon for what had +taken place on the former day she would have merely laughed. She +was not more offended than she would have been had he asked her +for half her fortune instead of her person and her honour. But, +as it was, he had escaped and had never again shown himself in +the little street near May Fair. Then she had the tidings of his +death, first seeing the account in a very sensational article +from the pen of Mr Quintus Slide himself. She was immediately +filled with an intense interest which was infinitely increased by +the fact that the man had but a few days before declared himself +to be her lover. It was bringing her almost as near the event as +though she had seen it! She was, perhaps, entitled to think that +she had caused it! Nay;--in one sense she had caused it, for he +certainly would not have destroyed himself had she consented to +go with him to Guatemala or elsewhere. And she knew his wife. +An uninteresting, dowdy creature she had called her. But, +nevertheless, they had been in company together more than once. +So she presented her compliments, and expressed her sorrow, and +hoped that she might be allowed to call. There had been no one +for whom she had felt more sincere respect and esteem than for +her late friend Mr Ferdinand Lopez. To this note there was an +answer written by Mr Wharton himself. + + MADAM, + My daughter is too ill to see even her own friends. +I am, Madam, +Your obedient servant +ABEL WHARTON + +After this, life went on in a very quiet way at Manchester Square +for many weeks. Gradually Mrs Lopez recovered her capability of +attending to the duties of life. Gradually she became again able +to interest herself in her brother's pursuits and in her father's +comforts, and the house returned to its old form as it had been +before these terrible two years, in which the happiness of the +Wharton and Fletcher families had been marred, and scotched, and +almost destroyed for ever by the interference of Ferdinand Lopez. +But Mrs Lopez never for a moment forgot that she had done the +mischief,--and that the black enduring cloud had been created +solely by her own perversity and self-will. Though she would +still defend her late husband if any attack were made upon his +memory, not the less did she feel that hers had been the fault, +though the punishment had come upon them all. + + + +CHAPTER 62 + +PHINEAS FINN HAS A BOOK TO READ. + +The sensation created by the man's death was by no means confined +to Manchester Square, but was very general in the metropolis, +and, indeed, throughout the country. As the catastrophe became +the subject of general conversation, may people learned that the +Silverbridge affair had not, in truth, had much to do with it. +The man had killed himself, as many other men have done before +him, because he had run through his money and had no chance left +of redeeming himself. But to the world at large, the disgrace +brought upon him by the explanation given in Parliament was the +apparent cause of his self-immolation, and there were not wanting +those who felt and expressed a sympathy for a man who could feel +so acutely the affect of his own wrong-doing. No doubt he had +done wrong in asking the Duke for the money. But the request, +though wrong, might almost be justified. There could be no +doubt, these apologists said, that he had been ill-treated +between the Duke and Duchess. No doubt Phineas Finn, who was now +described by some opponents as the Duke's creature, had been able +to make out a story in the Duke's favour. But all the world knew +what was the worth and what was the truth of ministerial +explanations! The Coalition was very strong; and even the +question in the House, which should have been hostile, had been +asked in a friendly spirit. In this way there came to be a +party who spoke and wrote of Ferdinand Lopez as though he had +been a martyr. + +Of course Mr Quintus Slide was in the front rank of these +accusers. He may be said to have led the army which made this +matter a pretext for a special attack on the Ministry. Mr Slide +was especially hostile to the Prime Minister, but he was not less +hotly the enemy of Phineas Finn. Against Phineas Finn he had old +grudges, which, however, age had never cooled. He could, +therefore, write with a most powerful pen when discussing the +death of the unfortunate man, the late candidate for +Silverbridge, crushing his two foes in the single grasp of his +journalistic fist. Phineas had certainly said some hard things +against Lopez, though he had not mentioned the man's name. He +had congratulated the House that it had not been contaminated by +the presence of so base a creature, and he had said that he would +not pause to stigmatize the meanness of the application for money +which Lopez had made. Had Lopez continued to live and to endure +the 'slings and arrows of outrageous fortune', no one would have +ventured to say that these words would have inflicted too severe +a punishment. But death wipes out many faults, and a self- +inflicted death caused by remorse, will, in the minds of many, +wash a blackamoor almost white. Thus it came to pass that some +heavy weapons were hurled at Phineas Finn, but none so heavy as +those hurled by Quintus Slide. Should not this Irish knight, who +was so ready with his lance in the defence of the Prime Minister, +asked Mr Slide, have remembered past events of his own rather +peculiar life? Had not he, too, been poor, and driven in his +poverty to rather questionable straits? Had he not been abject +in his petition for office,--and in what degree were such +petitions less disgraceful than a request for money which had +been hopelessly expended on an impossible object, attempted at +the instance of the great Croesus who, when asked to pay it, had +at once acknowledged the necessity of doing so? Could not Mr +Finn remember that he himself had stood in danger of his life +before a British jury, and that, though he had been, no doubt +properly, acquitted of the crime imputed to him, circumstances +had come out against him during the trial which, if not as +criminal, were at any rate almost as disgraceful? Could he not +have had some mercy on a broken political adventurer who, in his +aspirations for public life, had shown none of that greed by +which Mr Phineas Finn had been characterized in all the relations +of life. As for the Prime Minister, 'We,' as Mr Quintus Slide +always described himself,--'We do not wish to add to the agony +which the fate of Mr Lopez must have brought upon him. He has +hounded that poor man to his death in revenge for the trifling +sum of money which he was called upon to pay for him. It may be +that the first blame lay not with the Prime Minister himself, but +with the Prime Minister's wife. With that we have nothing to do. +The whole thing lies in a nutshell. The bare mention of the name +of her Grace the Duchess in Parliament would have saved the Duke, +at any rate as effectually as he had been saved by his man-of- +all-work, Phineas Finn, and would have saved him without driving +poor Ferdinand Lopez to insanity. But rather than do this he +allowed his servant to make statements about mysterious agents, +which we are justified in stigmatizing as untrue, and to throw +the whole blame where but the least of the blame was due. We all +know the result. It was found in those gory shreds and tatters +of a poor human being with which the Tenway Railway Station was +bespattered.' + +Of course such an article had considerable effect. It was +apparent at once that there was ample room for an action of libel +against the newspaper on the part of Phineas Finn if not on that +of the Duke. But it was equally apparent that Mr Quintus Slide +must have been very well aware of this when he wrote the article. +Such an action, even if successful, may bring with it to the man +punished more of good than evil. Any pecuniary penalty might be +more than recouped by the largeness of advertisement which such +an action would produce. Mr Slide no doubt calculated that he +would carry with him a great body of public feeling by the mere +fact that he had attacked a Prime Minister and a Duke. If he +could only get all the publicans in London to take his paper +because of his patriotic and bold conduct, the fortune of the +paper would be made. There is no better trade than that of +martyrdom, if the would-be martyr knows how far he may +judiciously go, and in what direction. All this Mr Quintus Slide +was supposed to have considered very well. + +And Mr Phineas Finn knew that his enemy had also considered the +nature of the matters which he would have been able to drag into +court if there should be a trial. Allusions, very strong +allusions, had been made to former periods of Mr Finn's life. +And though there was but little, if anything, in the past +circumstances of which he was ashamed,--but little, if anything, +which he thought would subject him personally to the odium of +good men, could they be made accurately known in all their +details,--it would, he was well aware, be impossible that such +accuracy should be achieved. And the story if told inaccurately +would not suit him. And then, there was a reason against any +public proceeding much stronger even than this. Whether the +telling of the story would or would not suit him, it certainly +would not suit others. As has been before remarked, there are +former chronicles respecting Phineas Finn, and in them may be +found adequate cause for this conviction on his part. To no +outsider was this history known better than to Mr Quintus Slide, +and therefore Mr Quintus Slide could dare almost to defy the law. + +But not the less on this account were there many who told Phineas +that he ought to bring the action. Among these none were more +eager than his old friend Lord Chiltern, the Master of the Brake +hounds, a man who really loved Phineas, who also loved the +abstract idea of justice, and who could not endure the thought +that a miscreant should go unpunished. Hunting was over for the +season in the Brake country, and Lord Chiltern rushed up to +London, having this object among others of a very pressing nature +on his mind. His saddler had to be seen,--and threatened,--on +a certain matter touching the horses' backs. A draught of hounds +were being sent down to a friend in Scotland. And there was a +Committee of Masters to sit on the moot question concerning a +neutral covert in the XXX country, of which Committed he was one. +But the desire to punish Slide was almost as strong in his +indignant mind as those other matters referring more especially +to the profession of his life. 'Phineas,' he said, 'you are +bound to do it. If you will allow a fellow like that to say such +things of you, by heaven, any man may say anything of anybody.' + +Now Phineas could hardly explain to Lord Chiltern his objection +to the proposed action. A lady was closely concerned, and that +lady was Lord Chiltern's sister. 'I certainly shall not,' said +Phineas. + +'And why?' + +'Just because he wishes me to do it. I should be falling into +the little pit he has dug for me.' + +'He couldn't hurt you. What have you to be afraid of? Ruat +coelum.' + +'There are certain angels, Chiltern, living up in that heaven +which you wish me to pull about our ears, as to whom, if all +their heart and all their wishes and all their doings could be +known, nothing but praise could be spoken; but who would still be +dragged with soiled wings through the dirt if this man were +empowered to bring witness after witness into court. My wife +would be named. For aught I know your wife.' + +'By G-, he'd find himself wrong there.' + +'Leave a chimney-sweep alone when you see him, Chiltern. Should +he run against you, then remember that it is one of the necessary +penalties of clean linen that it is apt to be soiled.' + +'I'm d-d if I'd let him off.' + +'Yes you would, old fellow. When you come to see clearly what +you would gain and what you would lose, you would not meddle with +him.' + +His wife was at first inclined to think an action should be +taken, but she was more easily convinced than Lord Chiltern. 'I +had not thought,' she said, 'of poor Lady Laura. But is it not +horrible that a man should be able to go on like that, and that +there should be no punishment?' in answer to this he only +shrugged his shoulders. + +But the greatest pressure came upon him from another source. He +did not in truth suffer much himself from what was said in the +"People's Banner". He had become used to the "People's Banner", +and had found out that in no relation of life was he less +pleasantly situated because of the maledictions heaped upon him +in the columns of that newspaper. His position in public life +did not seem to be weakened by them. His personal friends did +not fall off because of them. Those who loved him did not love +him less. It had not been so with him always, but now, at last, +he was hardened against Mr Quintus Slide. But the poor Duke was +by no means equally strong. This attack upon him, this +denunciation of his cruelty, this assurance that he had caused +the death of Ferdinand Lopez, was very grievous to him. It was +not that he really felt himself to be guilty of the man's blood, +but that anyone should say he was guilty. It was of no use to +point out to him that other newspapers had sufficiently +vindicated his conduct in that respect, that it was already +publicly known that Lopez had received payment for those election +expenses from Mr Wharton before the application had been made to +him, and that therefore the man's dishonesty was patent to all +the world. It was equally futile to explain to him that the +man's last act had been in no degree caused by what had been said +in Parliament, but had been the result of continued failures in +life and the final absolute ruin. He fretted and fumed and was +very wretched,--and at last expressed his opinion that legal +steps should be taken to punish the "People's Banner". Now it +had already been acknowledged, on the dictum of no less a man +than Sir Gregory Grogram, the Attorney-General, that the action +for libel, if taken at all, must be taken, not on the part of the +Prime Minister, but on that of Phineas Finn. Sir Timothy Beeswax +had indeed doubted, but it had come to be understood by all the +members of the Coalition that Sir Timothy Beeswax always did +doubt whatever was said by Sir Gregory Grogram. 'The Duke thinks +that something should be done,' said Mr Warburton, the Duke's +private Secretary, to Phineas Finn. + +'Not by me, I hope,' said Phineas Finn. + +'Nobody else can do it. That is to say it must be done in your +name. Of course it would be a Government matter, as far as the +expense goes, and all that.' + +'I am sorry the Duke should think so.' + +'I don't see that it could hurt you.' + +'I am sorry the Duke should think so,' repeated Phineas,-- +'because nothing can be done in my name. I have made up my mind +about it. I think the Duke is wrong in wishing it, and I believe +that were any action taken, we should only be playing into the +hands of that wretched fellow, Quintus Slide. I have long been +conversant with Mr Quintus Slide, and have quite made up my mind +that I will never play upon his pipe. And you may tell the Duke +that there are other reasons. The man referred to my past life, +and in seeking to justify those remarks he would be enabled to +drag before the public circumstances and stories, and perhaps +persons, in a manner that I personally should disregard, but +which, for the sake of others, I am bound to prevent it. You +will explain all this to the Duke?' + +'I am afraid you will find the Duke very urgent.' + +'I must express my great sorrow that I cannot oblige the Duke. I +trust I need hardly say that the Duke has no colleague more +devoted to his interest than I am. Were he to wish me to change +my office, or to abandon it, or to undertake any political duty +within the compass of my small powers, he would find me ready to +obey his behest. But in this matter others are concerned, and I +cannot make my judgement subordinate to his.' The private +Secretary looked very serious, and simply said that he would do +his best to explain these objections to his Grace. + +That the Duke would take his refusal in bad part Phineas felt +nearly certain. He had been a little surprised at the coldness +of the Minister's manner to him after the statement he had made +in the House, and had mentioned the matter to his wife. 'You +hardly know him,' she had said, 'as well as I do.' + +'Certainly not. You ought to know him very intimately, and I +have had but little personal friendship with him. But it was a +moment in which the man might, for the moment, been cordial.' + +'It was not a moment for his cordiality. The Duchess says that +if you want to get a really genial smile from him you must talk +to him about cork soles. I know exactly what she means. He +loves to be simple, but he does not know how to show people that +he likes it. Lady Rosina found him out by accident.' + +'Don't suppose that I am in the least aggrieved,' he had said. +And now he spoke again to his wife in the same spirit. +'Warburton clearly thinks he will be offended, and Warburton, I +suppose, knows his mind.' + +'I don't see why he should. I have been reading it longer, and I +still find it very difficult. Lady Glen has been at work for the +last fifteen years, and sometimes owns that there are passages +she has not mastered yet. I fancy Mr Warburton is afraid of him, +and is a little given to fancy that everybody should bow down to +him. Now if there is anything certain about the Duke it is this, +--that he doesn't want anyone to bow down to him. He hates all +bowing down. + +'I don't think he loves those who oppose him.' + +'It is not the opposition he hates, but the cause in the man's +mind which may produce it. When Sir Orlando opposed him, and he +thought that Sir Orlando's opposition was founded on jealousy, +then he despised Sir Orlando. But had he believed in Sir +Orlando's belief in the new ships, he would have been capable of +pressing Sir Orlando to his bosom, although he might have been +forced to oppose Sir Orlando's ships in the Cabinet.' + +'He is a Sir Bayard to you,' said Phineas, laughing. + +'Rather a Don Quixote, whom I take to have been the better man of +the two. I'll tell you what he is, Phineas, and how he is better +than all the real knights of whom I have read in story. He is a +man altogether without guile, and entirely devoted to his +country. Do not quarrel with him, if you can help it.' + +Phineas had not the slightest desire to quarrel with his chief, +but he did think it to be not improbable that his chief would +quarrel with him. It was notorious to him as a member of the +Cabinet,--as a colleague living with other colleagues by whom +the Prime Minister was coddled, and especially as the husband of +his wife, who lived almost continually with the Prime Minister's +wife,--that the Duke was cut to the quick by the accusation that +he had hounded Ferdinand Lopez to his death. The Prime Minister +had defended himself in the House against the first change by +means of Phineas Finn, and now required Phineas to defend him +from the second charge in another way. This he was obliged to +refuse to do. And then the Minister's private Secretary looked +very grave, and left him with the impression that the Duke would +be much annoyed, if not offended. And already there had grown up +an idea that the Duke would have on the list of his colleagues +none who were personally disagreeable to himself. Though he was +by no means a strong Minister in regard to political measures, or +the proper dominion of his party, still men were afraid of him. +It was not that he would call upon them to resign, but that, if +aggrieved, he would resign himself. Sir Orlando Drought had +rebelled and had tried a fall with the Prime Minister,--and had +greatly failed. Phineas determined that if frowned upon he would +resign, but that he certainly would bring no action for libel +against the "People's Banner". + +A week passed after he had seen Warburton before he by chance +found himself alone with the Prime Minister. This occurred at +the house in Carlton Gardens, at which he was a frequent visitor, +--and could hardly have ceased to be so without being noticed, as +his wife spent half her time there. It was evident to him then +that the occasion was sought for by the Duke. 'Mr Finn,' said +the Duke, 'I wanted to have a word with you.' + +'Certainly,' said Phineas, arresting his steps. + +'Warburton spoke to you about that--that newspaper.' + +'Yes, Duke. He seemed to think that there should be an action +for libel.' + +'I thought so too. It was very bad, you know.' + +'Yes;--it was bad. I have known the "People's Banner" for some +time, and it is always bad.' + +'No doubt;--no doubt. It is bad, very bad. Is it not sad that +there should be such dishonesty, and that nothing can be done to +stop it? Warburton says that you won't hear of an action in your +name?' + +'There are reasons, Duke.' + +'No doubt;--no doubt. Well;--there's an end of it. I own I +think the man should be punished. I am not often vindictive, but +I think that he should be punished. However, I suppose it cannot +be.' + +'I don't see the way.' + +'So be it. So be it. It must be entirely for you to judge. Are +you not longing to get into the country, Mr Finn?' + +'Hardly yet,' said Phineas, surprised. 'It's only June, and we +have two months more of it. What is the use of longing yet?' + +'Two months more!' said the Duke. 'Two months certainly. But +even two months will come to an end. We go down to Matching +quietly,--very quietly,--when the time does come. You must +promise me that you'll come with us. Eh? I make a point of it +Mr Finn.' + +Phineas did promise, and thought that he had succeeded in +mastering one of the difficult passages in that book. + + + +CHAPTER 63 + +THE DUCHESS AND HER FRIEND. + +But the Duke, though he was by far too magnanimous to be angry +with Phineas Finn because Phineas would not fall into his views +respecting the proposed action, was not the less tormented and +goaded by what the newspaper said. The assertion that he had +hounded Ferdinand Lopez to death, that by his defence of himself +he had brought the man's blood on his head, was made and repeated +till those round him did not dare to mention the name of Lopez in +his hearing. Even his wife was restrained and became fearful, +and in her heart of hearts began almost to wish for that +retirement to which he occasionally alluded as a distant Elysium +which he should never be allowed to reach. He was beginning to +have the worn look of an old man. His scanty hair was turning +grey, and his long thin cheeks longer and thinner. Of what he +did when sitting alone in his chamber, either at home or at the +Treasury Chamber, she knew less and less from day to day, and she +began to think that much of the sorrow arose from the fact that +among them they would allow him to do nothing. There was no +special subject now which stirred him to eagerness and brought +upon herself explanations which were tedious and unintelligible +to her, but evidently delightful to him. There were no quints or +semi-tenths now, no aspirations for decimal perfection, no +delightfully fatiguing hours spent in the manipulation of the +multiplication table. And she could not but observe that the old +Duke now spoke to her much less frequently of her husband's +political position than had been his habit. He still came +frequently to the house, but did not often see her. And when he +did see her he seemed to avoid all allusion either to the +political successes or the political reverses of the Coalition. +And even her other special allies seemed to labour under unusual +restraint with her. Barrington Erle seldom told her any news. +Mr Rattler never had a word for her. Warburton, who had ever +been discreet, became almost petrified by discretion. And even +Phineas Finn had grown to be solemn, silent and uncommunicative. +'Have you heard who is the new Prime Minister?' she said to Mrs +Finn one day. + +'Has there been a change?' + +'I suppose so. Everything has become so quiet that I cannot +imagine that Plantagenet is still in office. Do you know what +anybody is doing?' + +'The world is going on very smoothly, I take it.' + +'I hate smoothness. It always means treachery and danger. I +feel sure that there will be a great blow up before long. I +smell it in the air. Don't you tremble for your husband?' + +'Why should I? He likes being in office because it gives him +something to do; but he would never be an idle man. As long as +he has a seat in Parliament, I shall be contented.' + +'To have been Prime Minister is something after all, and they +can't rob him of that,' said the Duchess recurring again to her +own husband. 'I half fancy sometimes that the charm of the thing +is growing up on him.' + +'Upon the Duke?' + +'Yes. He is always talking of the delight he will have in giving +it up. He is always Cincinnatus, going back to his peaches +and his ploughs. But I fear he is beginning to feel that the +salt would be gone out of his life if he ceased to be the first +man in the kingdom. He has never said so, but there is a +nervousness about him when I suggest to him the name of this or +that man as his successor which alarms me. And I think he is +becoming a tyrant with his own men. He spoke the other day of +Lord Drummond almost as though he meant to have him whipped. It +isn't what one expected from him,--is it?' + +'The weight of the load on his mind makes him irritable.' + +'Either that, or having no load. If he had really much to do he +wouldn't surely have time to think so much of that poor wretch +who destroyed himself. Such sensitiveness is simply a disease. +One can never punish any fault in the world if the sinner can +revenge himself upon us by rushing into eternity. Sometimes I +see him shiver and shudder, and then I know he is thinking of +Lopez.' + +'I can understand all that, Lady Glen.' + +'It isn't as it should be, though you can understand it. I'll +bet you a guinea that Sir Timothy Beeswax has to go out before +the beginning of the next Session.' + +'I've no objection. But why Sir Timothy?' + +'He mentioned Lopez's name the other day before Plantagenet. I +heard him. Plantagenet pulled that long face of his, looking as +though he meant to impose silence on the whole world for the next +six weeks. But Sir Timothy is brass itself, a sounding cymbal of +brass that nothing can silence. He went on to declare with that +loud voice of his that the death of Lopez was a good riddance to +bad rubbish. Plantagenet turned away and left the room and shut +himself up. He didn't declare to himself that he would dismiss +Sir Timothy, because that's not the way of his mind. But you'll +see that Sir Timothy will have to go.' + +'That, at any rate, will be a good riddance of bad rubbish' said +Mrs Finn, who did not love Sir Timothy Beeswax. + +Soon after that the Duchess made up her mind that she would +interrogate the Duke of St Bungay as to the present state of +affairs. It was then the end of June, and nearly one of those +long and tedious months had gone by of which the Duke spoke so +feelingly when he asked Phineas Finn to come down to Matching. +Hope had been expressed in more than one quarter that this would +be a short Session. Such hopes are more common in June than in +July, and, though rarely verified, serve to keep up the drooping +spirits of languid senators. 'I suppose we shall be early out of +town, Duke,' she said one day. + +'I think so. I don't see what there is to keep us. It often +happens that ministers are a great deal better in the country +than in London, and I fancy it will be so this year.' + +'You never think of the poor girls who haven't got their husbands +yet.' + +'They should make better use of their time. Besides, they can +get their husbands in the country.' + +'It's quite true that they never get to the end of their labours. +They are not like you members of Parliament who can shut up your +portfolios and go and shoot grouse. They have to keep at their +work spring and summer, autumn and winter,--year after year! +How they must hate the men they persecute!' + +'I don't think we can put off going for their sake.' + +'Men are always selfish, I know. What do you think of +Plantagenet lately?' The question was put very abruptly, without +a moment's notice, and there was no avoiding it. + +'Think of him!' + +'Yes;--what do you think of his condition;--of his happiness, +his health, his capacity of endurance? Will he be able to go on +much longer? Now, my dear Duke, don't stare at me like that. +You know, and I know, that you haven't spoken a word to me for +the last two months. And you know, I know, how many things there +are of which we are both thinking in common. You haven't +quarrelled with Plantagenet?' + +'Quarrelled with him! Good heavens no.' + +'Of course I know you still call him your noble colleague, and +your noble friend, and make one of the same team with him and all +that. But it used to be so much more than that.' + +'It is still much more than that;--much more.' + +'It was you who made him Prime Minister.' + +'No, no, no;--and again no. He made himself Prime Minister by +obtaining the confidence of the House of Commons. There is no +other possible way in which a man can become Prime Minister in +this country.' + +'If I were not very serious at this moment, Duke, I should make +an allusion to the--Marines.' No other human being could have +said this to the Duke of St Bungay, except the young woman whom +he had petted all his life as Lady Glencora. 'But I am very +serious,' she continued, 'and I may say I am not very happy. Of +course the big wigs of a party have to settle among themselves +who shall be their leader, and when this party was formed they +settled, at your advice, that Plantagenet should be the man.' + +'My dear Lady Glencora, I cannot allow that to pass without +contradiction.' + +'Do not suppose that I am finding fault, or even that I am +ungrateful. No one rejoiced as I rejoiced. No one still feels +so much pride in it as I feel. I would have given ten years of +my life to keep him so. It is like it was to be king, when men +struggled among themselves who should be king. Whatever he may +be, I am ambitious. I love to think that other men should look +at him as being above them, and that something of this should +come down upon me as his wife. I do not know whether it was not +the happiest moment of my life when he told me that the Queen had +sent for him.' + +'It was not so with him.' + +'No, Duke,--no! He and I are very different. He only wants to +be useful. At any rate, that was all he did want.' + +'He is still the same.' + +'A man cannot always be carrying a huge load up a hill without +having his back bent.' + +'I don't know that the load need be so heavy, Duchess.' + +'Ah, but what is the load? It is not going to the Treasury +Chambers at eleven or twelve in the morning and sitting four or +five times a week in the House of Lords till seven or eight +o'clock. He was never ill when he would remain in the House of +Commons till two in the morning, and not have a decent dinner +above twice in the week. The load I speak of isn't work.' + +'What is it then?' said the Duke, who in truth understood it all +nearly as well as the Duchess herself. + +'It is hard to explain, but it is very heavy.' + +'Responsibility, my dear, will always be very heavy.' + +'But it is hardly that;--certainly not that alone. It is the +feeling that so many people blame him for so many things, and the +doubt in his own mind whether he may not deserve it. And then he +becomes fretful, and conscious that such fretfulness is beneath +him, and injurious to his honour. He condemns men in his mind, +and condemns himself for condescending to condemn them. He +spends one quarter of an hour thinking that as he is Prime +Minister he will be Prime Minister down to his fingers' ends, and +the next in resolving that he never ought to have been Prime +Minister at all.' Here something like a frown passed across the +old man's brow, which was, however, no indication of anger. +'Dear Duke,' she said, 'you must not be angry with me. Who is +there to whom I can speak but you?' + +'Angry, my dear! No, indeed!' + +'Because you looked as though you would scold me.' At this he +smiled. 'And of course all this tells upon his health.' + +'Do you think he is ill?' + +'He never says so. There is no special illness. But he is thin +and wan and careworn. He does not eat and he does not sleep. Of +course I watch him.' + +'Does his doctor see him?' + +'Never. When I asked him once to say a word to Sir James Thorax, +--for he was getting hoarse, you know,--he only shook his head +and turned on his heels. When he was in the other House, and +speaking every night, he would see Thorax constantly, and do just +what he was told. He used to like opening his mouth and having +Sir James look down it. But now he won't let anyone touch him.' + +'What would you have me do, Lady Glen?' + +'I don't know.' + +'Do you think that he is so far out of his health that he ought +to give it up?' + +'I don't say that. I don't dare say that. I don't dare to +recommend anything. No consideration of health would tell with +him at all. If he were to die to-morrow as the penalty of doing +something useful to-night, he wouldn't think twice about it. If +you wanted to make him stay where he is, the way to do it to tell +him that his health was failing him. I don't know that he does +want to give it up now.' + +'The autumn months will do everything for him;--only let him be +quiet.' + +'You are coming to Matching, Duke?' + +'I suppose so;--if you ask me,--for a week or two.' + +'You must come. I am quite nervous if you desert us. I think he +becomes estranged every day from all the others. I know you +won't do a mischief by repeating what I say.' + +'I hope not.' + +'He seems to me to turn his nose up at everybody. He used to +like Mr Monk; but he envies Mr Monk, because Mr Monk is +Chancellor of the Exchequer. I asked him whether we shouldn't +have Lord Drummond at Matching and he told me angrily that I +might ask the whole Government if I liked.' + +'Drummond contradicted him the other day.' + +'I knew there was something. He has got to be like a bear with a +sore head, Duke. You should have seen his face the other day, +when Mr Rattler made some suggestion to him about the proper way +of dividing farms.' + +'I don't think he ever liked Rattler.' + +'What of that? Don't I have to smile upon men whom I hate like +poison;--and women too, which is worse? Do you think that I +love old Lady Ramsden, or Mrs MacPherson? He used to be so fond +of Lord Cantrip.' + +'I think he likes Lord Cantrip,' said the Duke. + +'He asked his lordship to do something and Lord Cantrip +declined.' + +'I know all about that,' said the Duke. + +'And now he looks gloomy at Lord Cantrip. His friends won't +stand that kind of thing, you know, for ever.' + +'He is always courteous to Finn,' said the Duke. + +'Yes;--just now he is on good terms with Mr Finn. He would never +be harsh to Mr Finn, because he knows that Mrs Finn is the one +really intimate female friend whom I have in the world. After +all, Duke, besides Plantagenet and the children, there are only +two persons in the world whom I really love. There are only you +and she. She will never desert me,--and you must not desert me +either.' Then he put his hand behind her waist, and stooped over +and kissed her brow, and swore to her that he would never desert +her. + +But what was he to do? He knew, without being told by the +Duchess, that his colleague and chief was becoming, from day to +day, more difficult to manage. He had been right enough in +laying it down as a general rule that Prime Ministers are +selected for that position by the general confidence of the House +of Commons;--but he was aware at the same time that it had +hardly been so in the present instance. There had come to be a +deadlock in affairs, during which neither of the two old and +recognised leaders of parties could command a sufficient +following for the carrying on of a government. With unusual +patience these two gentlemen had now for the greater part of +three Sessions sat by, offering but little opposition to the +Coalition, but of course biding their time. They, too, called +themselves,--perhaps thought themselves,--Cincinnatuses. But +their ploughs and peaches did not suffice to them, and they +longed again to be in every mouth, and to have, if to their +deeds, then even their omissions blazoned in every paragraph. +The palate accustomed to Cayenne pepper can hardly be gratified +by simple salt. When that deadlock had come, politicians who +were really anxious for the country had been forced to look about +for a Premier,--and in the search the old Duke had been the +foremost. The Duchess had hardly said more than the truth when +she declared that her husband's promotion had been effected by +their old friend. But it is sometimes easier to make than +unmake. Perhaps the time had now in truth come, in which it +would be better for the country that the usual state of things +should again exist. Perhaps,--nay, the Duke now thought that he +saw that it was so,--Mr Gresham might again have a Liberal +majority at his back if the Duke of Omnium could find some +graceful mode of retiring. But who was to tell all this to the +Duke of Omnium? There was only one man in all England to whom +such a task was possible, and that was the old Duke himself,-- +who during the last two years had been constantly with his friend +not to retire! How often since he had taken office had the +conscientious and timid Minister begged of his friend permission +to abandon his high office! But that permission had always been +refused, and now, for the last three months, the request had not +been repeated. The Duchess was probably right in saying that her +husband 'didn't want to give it up now.' + +But he, the Duke of St Bungay, had brought his friend into the +trouble, and it was certainly his duty to extricate him from it. +The admonition might come in the rude shape of repeated +minorities in the House of Commons. Hitherto the number of votes +at the command of the Ministry had not been very much impaired. +A few always fell off as time goes on. Aristides becomes too +just, and the mind of man is greedy of novelty. Sir Orlando +also, had taken with him a few, and it may be that two or three +had told themselves that there could not be all that smoke raised +by the "People's Banner", without some fire below it. But there +was a good working majority,--very much at Mr Monk's command,-- +and Mr Monk was moved by none of that feeling of rebellion which +had urged Sir Orlando on to his destruction. It was difficult to +find a cause for resignation. And yet the Duke of St Bungay, who +had watched the House of Commons closely for nearly half a +century, was aware that the Coalition which he had created had +done its work, and was almost convinced that it would not be +permitted to remain very much longer in power. He had seen some +symptoms of impatience in Mr Daubney, and Mr Gresham had snorted +once and twice, as though eager for battle. + + + +CHAPTER 64 + +THE NEW K.G. + +Early in June had died the Marquess of Mount Fidgett. In all +England there was no older family than that of the Fichy +Fidgetts, whose baronial castle of Fichy Fellows is still kept +up, the glory of archaeologists and the charm of tourists. Some +people declare it to be the most perfect castle residence in the +country. It is admitted to have been completed in the time of +Edward VI, and is thought to have commenced in the days of Edward +I. It has always belonged to the Fichy Fidgett family, who with +a persistence that is becoming rarer every day, has clung to every +acre that it ever owned, and has added acre to acre in every age. +The consequence has been that the existing Marquis of Mount +Fidgett has always been possessed of great territorial influence, +and has been flattered, cajoled, and revered by one Prime +Minister after another. Now the late Marquis had been, as was +the custom with the Fichy Fidgetts, a man of pleasure. If the +truth be spoken openly, it should be admitted that he had been a +man of sin. The duty of keeping together the family property he +had performed with a perfect zeal. It had always been +acknowledged on behalf of the existing Marquis, that in whatever +manner he might spend his money, however base might be the +gullies into which his wealth descended, he never spent more that +he had to spend. Perhaps there was but little praise in this, as +he could hardly have got beyond his enormous income unless he had +thrown it away on race-courses and roulette tables. But it had +long been remarked of the Mount Fidgett marquises that they were +too wise to gamble. The family had not been an honour to the +country, but had nevertheless been honoured by the country. The +man who had just died had perhaps been as selfish and sensual a +brute as had ever disgraced humanity;--but nevertheless he had +been a Knight of the Garter. He had been possessed of +considerable parliamentary interest, and the Prime Minister of +the day had not dared not to make him a Knight of the Garter. +All the Marquises of Mount Fidgett had for many years past been +Knights of the Garter. On the last occasion a good deal had been +said about it. A feeling had even then begun to prevail that the +highest personal offer in the gift of the Crown should not be +bestowed upon a man whose whole life was a disgrace, and who did +indeed seem to deserve every punishment which a human or divine +wrath could inflict. He had a large family, but they were +illegitimate. Wives generally he liked, but of his own wife he +very soon broke the heart. Of all the companies with which he +consorted he was the admitted king, but his subjects could do no +man any honour. The Castle of Fichy Fellows was visited by the +world at large, but no man or woman with a character to lose went +into any house really inhabited by the Marquis. And yet he had +become a Knight of the Garter, and was therefore, presumably, one +of those noble Englishmen to whom the majesty of the day was +willing to confide the honour, and glory, and safety of the +Crown. There were many who disliked this. That a base reprobate +should become a Marquis and a peer of Parliament was in +accordance with the constitution of the country. Marquises and +peers are not as a rule reprobates, and the misfortune was one +which could not be avoided. He might have ill-used his own wife +and other wives' husbands without special remark had he not been +made a Knight of the Garter. The Minister of the day, however, +had known the value of the man's support, and being thick- +skinned, had lived through the reproaches uttered without much +damage to himself. Now the wicked Marquis was dead, and it was +the privilege and the duty of the Duke of Omnium to select +another knight. + +There was a good deal said about it at the time. There was a +rumour,--no doubt a false rumour,--that the Crown insisted in +this instance on dictating a choice to the Duke of Omnium. But +even were it so, the Duke could not have been very much +aggrieved, as the choice dictated was supposed to be that +himself. The late Duke had been a Knight, and when he had died, +it was thought that his successor would succeed to the ribbon. +The new Duke had been at the time in the Cabinet, and had +remained there, but had accepted an office inferior in rank to +that which he had formerly filled. The whole history of these +things has been written, and may be read by the curious. The +Duchess, newly a duchess then and very keen in reference to her +husband's rank, had instigated him to demand the ribbon as his +right. This he had not only declined to do, but had gone out of +the way to say that he thought it should be bestowed elsewhere. +It had been bestowed elsewhere, and there had been a very general +feeling that he had been passed over because his easy temperament +in such matters had been seen and utilized. Now, whether the +Crown interfered or not,--a matter on which no one short of a +writer of newspaper articles dares to make suggestion till time +shall have made mellow the doings of sovereigns and their +ministers,--the suggestion was made. The Duke of St Bungay +ventured to say to his friend that no other selection was +possible. + +'Recommend her Majesty to give it to myself?' said the Prime +Minister. + +'You will find it to be her Majesty's wish. It has been very +common. Sir Robert Walpole had it.' + +'I am not Sir Robert Walpole.' The Duke named other examples of +Prime Ministers who had been gartered by themselves. But our +Prime Minister declared it to be out of the question. No honour +of that description should be conferred upon him as long as he +held his present position. The old Duke was much in earnest, and +there was a great deal said on the subject,--but at last it +became clear, not only to him, but to the members of the Cabinet +generally, and then to the outside world, that the Prime Minister +would not consent to accept the vacant honour. + +For nearly a month after this the question subsided. A Minister +is not bound to bestow a Garter the day after it becomes vacant. +There are other Knights to guard the throne, and one may be +spared for a short interval. But during the interval many eyes +were turned towards the stall in St George's Chapel. A good +thing should be given away like a clap of thunder if envy, +hatred, and malice are to be avoided. A broad blue ribbon across +the chest is of all decorations the most becoming, or, at any +rate, the most desired. And there was, I fear, an impression on +the minds of some men that the Duke in such matters was weak and +might be persuaded. Then there came to him an application in the +form of a letter from the new Marquis of Mount Fidgett,--a man +whom he had never seen, and of whom he had never heard. The new +Marquis had hitherto resided in Italy, and men only knew of him +that he was odious to his uncle. But he had inherited all the +Fichy Fidgett estates, and was now possessed of immense wealth +and great honour. He ventured, he said, to represent to the +Prime Minister that for generations past the Marquises of Mount +Fidgett had been honoured by the Garter. His political status in +the country was exactly that enjoyed by his late uncle, but he +intended that his political career should be very different. He +was quite prepared to support the Coalition. 'What is he that he +should expect to be made a Knight of the Garter?' said our Duke +to the old Duke. + +'He is the Marquis of Mount Fidgett, and next to yourself, +perhaps, the richest peer in Great Britain.' + +'Have riches anything to do with it?' + +'Something certainly. You would not want to name a pauper peer.' + +'Yes;--if he was a man whose career had been highly honourable +to the country. Such a man, of course, could not be a pauper, +but I do not think his want of wealth should stand in the way of +his being honoured by the Garter.' + +'Wealth and rank and territorial influence have been generally +thought to have something to do with it.' + +'And character nothing!' + +'My dear Duke, I have not said so.' + +'Something very much like it, my friend, if you advocate the +claim of the Marquis of Mount Fidgett. Did you approve of the +selection of the late Marquis?' + +'I was in the Cabinet at the time, and will therefore say nothing +against it. But I have never heard anything against this man's +character.' + +'Nor in favour of it. To my thinking he has as much claim, and +no more, as that man who just opened the door. He was never seen +in the Lower House.' + +'Surely that cannot signify.' + +'You think, then, that he should have it?' + +'You know what I think,' said the elder statesman thoughtfully. +'In my opinion there is no doubt that you would at least consult +the honour of the country by allowing her Majesty to bestow this +act of grace upon a subject who has deserved so well from her +Majesty as yourself.' + +'It is quite impossible.' + +'It seems to me,' said the Duke, not appearing to notice the +refusal of his friend, 'that in this peculiar position you should +allow yourself to be persuaded to lay aside your own feeling. No +man of high character is desirous of securing to himself +decorations which he may bestow upon others.' + +'Just so.' + +'But here the decoration bestowed upon the chief whom we all +follow, would confer a wider honour upon many than it could do if +given to anyone else.' + +'The same may be said of any Prime Minister.' + +'Not so. A commoner, without high permanent rank or large +fortune, is not lowered in the world's esteem by not being of the +Order. You will permit me to say--that a Duke of Omnium has not +reached the position which he ought to enjoy unless he is a +Knight of the Garter.' It must be borne in mind that the old +Duke, who used this argument, had himself worn the ribbon for the +last thirty years. 'But if--' + +'Well;--well.' + +'But if you are,--I must call it obstinate.' + +'I am obstinate in that respect.' + +'Then,' said the Duke of St Bungay, 'I should recommend her +Majesty to give it to the Marquis.' + +'Never,' said the Prime Minister, with very unaccustomed energy. +'I will never sanction the payment of such a price for services +which should never be bought or sold.' + +'It would give no offence.' + +'That is not enough, my friend. Here is a man of whom I only know +that he has bought a great many marble statues. He has done +nothing for his country, and nothing for his sovereign.' + +'If you are determined to look at what you call desert alone, I +would name Lord Drummond.' The Prime Minister frowned and looked +unhappy. It was quite true that Lord Drummond had contradicted +him, and that he had felt the injury grievously. 'Lord Drummond +has been very true to us.' + +'Yes;--true to us! What is that?' + +'He is in every respect a man of character, and well looked upon +in the country. There would be some enmity and a good deal of +envy--which might be avoided by either of the other courses I +have proposed; but those courses you will not take. I take it +for granted that you are anxious to secure the support of those +who generally act with Lord Drummond.' + +'I don't know that I am.' The old Duke shrugged his shoulders. +'What I mean is, that I do not think that we ought to pay an +increased price for their support. His lordship is very well as +the Head of an Office; but he is not nearly so great a man as my +friend Lord Cantrip.' + +'Cantrip would not join us. There is no evil in politics so +great as that of seeming to buy the men who will not come without +buying. These rewards are fairly given for political support.' + +'I had not, in truth, thought of Lord Cantrip.' + +'He does not expect it any more than my butler.' + +'I only named him as having a claim stronger than any that Lord +Drummond can put forward. I have a man in my mind to whom I +think such an honour is fairly due. What do you say to Lord +Earlybird?' The old Duke opened his mouth and lifted up his +hands in unaffected surprise. + +The Earl of Earlybird was an old man of a very peculiar +character. He had never opened his mouth in the House of Lords, +and had never sat in the House of Commons. The political world +knew him not at all. He had a house in town, but very rarely +lived there. Early Park, in the parish of B Bird, had been his +residence since he first came to the title forty years ago, and +had been the scene of all his labours. He was a nobleman +possessed of a moderate fortune, and, as men said of him, of a +moderate intellect. He had married early in life and was blessed +with a large family. But he had certainly not been an idle man. +For nearly half a century he had devoted himself to the +improvement of the labouring classes, especially in reference to +their abodes and education, and gradually without any desire on +his own part, worked himself up into public notice. He was not +an eloquent man, but he would take the chair at meeting after +meeting, and sit with admirable patience for long hours to hear +the eloquence of others. He was a man very simple in his tastes, +and had brought up his family to follow his habits. He had +therefore been able to do munificent things with moderate means, +and in the long course of years had failed in hiding his +munificence from the public. Lord Earlybird, till after middle +life, had not been much considered, but gradually there had grown +up a feeling that there were not very many better men in the +country. He was a fat, bald-headed old man, who was always +pulling his spectacles on and off, nearly blind, very awkward, +and altogether indifferent to appearance. Probably he had no +more idea of the Garter in his own mind than he had of a +Cardinal's hat. But he had grown into fame, and had not escaped +the notice of the Prime Minister. + +'Do you know anything against Lord Earlybird?' asked the Prime +Minister. + +'Certainly nothing against him, Duke.' + +'Not anything in his favour?' + +'I know him very well,--I think I may say intimately. There +isn't a better man breathing.' + +'A honour to the peerage?' said the Prime Minister. + +'An honour to humanity rather,' said the other, 'as being of all +men the least selfish and most philanthropical.' + +'What more can be said for a man?' + +'But according to my view he is not the sort of person whom one +would wish to see made a Knight of the Garter. If he had the +ribbon he would never wear it.' + +'The honour surely does not consist in its outward sign. I am +entitled to wear some kind of coronet, but I do not walk about +with it on my head. He is a man of great heart and of many +virtues. Surely the country, and her Majesty on behalf of the +country, should delight to honour such a man.' + +'I really doubt whether you look at the matter in the right +light,' said the ancient statesman, who was in truth frightened +at what was being proposed. 'You must not be angry with me if I +speak plainly.' + +'My friend, I do not think that it is within your power to make +me angry.' + +'Well then,--I will get for a moment to listen to my view on the +matter. There are certain great prizes in the gift of the Crown +and of the Ministers of the Crown,--the greatest of which are +now traditionally at the disposal of the Prime Minister. These +are always given to party friends. I may perhaps agree with you +that party support should not be looked to alone. Let us +acknowledge that character and services should be taken into +account. But the very theory of our Government will be overset +by a reversal of the rule which I have attempted to describe. +You will offend all your own friends, and only incur the ridicule +of your opponents. It is no doubt desirable that the high seats +of the country should be filled by men of both parties. I would +not wish to see every Lord Lieutenant of a county a Whig.' In +his enthusiasm the old Duke went back to his old phraseology. +'But I know that my opponents when their turn comes will appoint +their friends to the Lieutenancies and that the balance will be +maintained. If you or I appoint their friends, they won't +appoint ours. Lord Earlybird's proxy has been in the hands of +the Conservative Leader of the House of Lords ever since he +succeeded his father.' Then the old man paused, but his friend +waited to listen whether the lecture were finished before he +spoke, and the Duke of St Bungay continued. 'And, moreover, +though Lord Earlybird is a very good man,--so much so that many +of us may well envy him,--he is not just the man fitted for this +destination. A Knight of the Garter should be a man prone to +show himself, a public man, one whose work in the country has +brought him face to face with his fellows. There is an aptness, +a propriety, a fitness in these things which one can understand +perhaps better than explain.' + +'Those fitnesses and aptnesses change, I think, from day to day. +There was a time when a knight should be a fighting man.' + +'That has gone by.' + +'And the aptness and fitness in accordance with which the +sovereign of the day was induced to grace with the Garter such a +man as the late Marquis of Mount Fidgett have, I hope, gone by. +You will admit that?' + +'There is no such man proposed.' + +'And other fitnesses and aptnesses will go by, till the time will +come when the man to be selected as Lieutenant of a county will +be the man whose selection will be most beneficial to the county, +and Knights of the Garter will be chosen for their real virtues.' + +'I think you are Quixotic. A Prime Minister is of all men bound +to follow the traditions of his country, or, when he leaves them, +to leave them with very gradual steps.' + +'And if he break that law and throw over all that thraldom;-- +what then?' + +'He will lose the confidence which has made him what he is.' + +'It is well that I know the penalty. It is hardly heavy enough +to enforce strict obedience. As for the matter in dispute, it +had better stand over for a few days.' When the Prime Minister +said this the old Duke knew very well that he intended to have +his own way. + +And so it was. A week passed by, and then the younger Duke wrote +to the elder Duke saying that he had given to the matter all the +consideration in his power, and that he had at last resolved to +recommend her Majesty to bestow the ribbon on Lord Earlybird. He +would not, however, take any step for a few days so that his +friend might have an opportunity of making further remonstrance +if he pleased. No further remonstrance was made, and Lord +Earlybird, much to his own amazement, was nominated to the vacant +Garter. + +The appointment was one certainly not popular with any of the +Prime Minister's friends. With some, such as Lord Drummond, it +indicated a determination on the part of the Duke to declare his +freedom from all those bonds which had hitherto been binding on +the Heads of Government. Had the Duke selected himself, +certainly no offence would have been given. Had the Marquis of +Mount Fidgett been the happy man, excuses would have been made. +But it was unpardonable to Lord Drummond that he should have been +passed over and that the Garter should have been given to Lord +Earlybird. To the poor old Duke the offence was of a different +nature. He had intended to use a very strong word when he told +his friend that his proposed conduct would be Quixotic. The Duke +of Omnium would surely know that the Duke of St Bungay could not +support a Quixotic Prime Minister. And yet the younger Duke, the +Telemachus of the last two years,--after hearing that word,-- +had rebelled against his Mentor, and had obstinately adhered to +his Quixotism! The greed of power had fallen upon the man,--so +said the dear old Duke to himself,--and the man's fall was +certain. Alas, alas; had he been allowed to go before the poison +had entered his veins, how much less would have been his +suffering! + + + + +CHAPTER 65 + +THERE MUST BE TIME. + +At the end of the third week in July, when the Session was still +sitting, and when no day had been absolutely as yet fixed for the +escape of members, Mr Wharton received a letter from his friend +Arthur Fletcher which certainly surprised him very much, and +which left him for a day or two unable to decide what answer +ought to be given. It will be remembered that Ferdinand Lopez +destroyed himself in March, now three months since. The act had +been more than a nine days' wonder, having been kept in the +memory of many men by the sedulous efforts of Quintus Slide, and +by the fact that the name of so great a man as the Prime Minister +was concerned in the matter. But gradually the feeling about +Ferdinand Lopez had died away, and his fate, though it had +outlived the nominal nine days, had sunk into general oblivion +before the end of the ninth week. The Prime Minister had not +forgotten the man, nor had Quintus Slide. The name was still +common in the columns of the "People's Banner", and was ever +mentioned without being read by the unfortunate Duke. But others +had ceased to talk about Ferdinand Lopez. + +To the mind, however, of Arthur Fletcher the fact of the man's +death was always present. A dreadful incubus had come upon his +life, blighting all his prospects, obscuring all his sun by a +great cloud, covering up all his hopes, and changing for him all +his outlook into the world. It was not only that Emily Wharton +should not have become his wife, but that the woman whom he loved +with so perfect a love, should have been sacrificed to so vile a +creature as this man. He never blamed her,--but looked upon his +fate as Fate. Then on a sudden he heard that the incubus was +removed. The man who had made him and her wretched had by a +sudden stroke been taken away and annihilated. There was nothing +between him and her,--but a memory. He could certainly forgive, +if she could forget. + +Of course he had felt at the first moment that time must pass by. +He had become certain that her mad love for the man had perished. +He had been made sure that she had repented her own deed in +sackcloth and ashes. It had been acknowledged to him by her +father that she had been anxious to be separated from her husband +if her husband would consent to such a separation. And then, +remembering as he did his last interview with her, having in his +mind as he had every circumstance of that caress which he had +given her,--down to the very quiver of the fingers he had +pressed,--he could not but flatter himself that at last he had +touched her heart. But there must be time! The conventions of +the world operate on all hearts, especially on the female heart, +and teach that new vows, too quickly given, are disgraceful. The +world has seemed to decide that a widow should take two years +before she can bestow herself on a second man without a touch of +scandal. But the two years is to include everything, the +courtship of the second as well as the burial of the first,--and +not only the courtship, but the preparation of the dresses and +the wedding itself. And then this case was different from all +the others. Of course there must be time, but surely not here a +full period of two years! Why should the life of two young +persons be so wasted, if it were the case that they loved each +other! There was horror here, remorse, pity, perhaps pardon; but +there was no love,--none of that love which is always for a +little time increased in its fervour by the loss of the loved +object; none of that passionate devotion which must at first make +the very idea of another man's love intolerable. There had been +a great escape,--an escape which could not but be inwardly +acknowledged, however little prone the tongue might be to confess +it. Of course there must be time,--but how much time? He +argued it in his mind daily, and at each daily argument the time +considered by him to be appropriate was shortened. Three months +had passed and he had not yet seen her. He had resolved that he +would not even attempt to see her till her father would consent. +But surely a period had passed sufficient to justify him in +applying for that permission. And then he bethought himself that +it would be best in applying for that permission to tell +everything to Mr Wharton. He well knew that he would be telling +no secret. Mr Wharton knew the state of his feelings as well as +he knew it himself. If ever there was a case in which time might +be abridged, this was one; and therefore he wrote his letter,-- +as follows: + +3,--Court Temple, +24th July, 187- + MY DEAR MR WHARTON, + It is a matter of great regret to me that we should see + so little of each other,--especially of regret that I + should never see Emily. + + I may as well rush into the matter at once. Of course + this letter will not be shown to her, and therefore I may + write as I would speak if I were with you. The wretched + man whom she married is gone, and my love for her is the + same as it was before she had ever seen him, and as it + has always been from that day to this. I could not + address you or even think of her as yet, did I not know + that that marriage had been unfortunate. But it has not + altered her to me in the heart. It has been a dreadful + trouble to us all--to her, to you, to me, and to all + connected with us. But it is over, and I think that it + should be looked back upon as a black chasm which we have + bridged and got over, and to which we never cast back our + eyes. + + I have no right to think that, though she might some day + love another man, she would therefore, love me, but I + think that I have a right to try, and I know that I + should have your good-will. It is a question of time, + but if I let time go by, someone else may slip in. Who + can tell? I would not be thought to press indecently, + but I do feel that here the ordinary rules which govern + men and women are not to be followed. He made her + unhappy almost from the first day. She had made a + mistake which you and she and all acknowledged. She has + been punished, and so have I,--very severely I can + assure you. Wouldn't it be a good thing to bring all + this to an end as soon as possible,--if it can be + brought to an end in the way I want? + + Pray tell me what you think. I would propose that you + should ask her to see me, and then say just as much as + you please. Of course I should not press her at first. + You might ask me to dinner, and all that kind of thing, + and so she would get used to me. It is not as though we + had not been very, very old friends. But I know you will + do the best. I have put off writing to you till I + sometimes think that I shall go mad over it if I sit + still any longer. +Your affectionate friend, +ARTHUR FLETCHER. + +When Mr Wharton got this letter he was very much puzzled. Could +he have had his wish, he too would have left the chasm behind him +as proposed by his young friend, and have never cast an eye back +upon the frightful abyss. He would willingly have allowed the +whole Lopez incident to be passed over as an episode in their +lives, which, if it could not be forgotten, should at any rate +never be mentioned. They had all been severely punished, as +Fletcher had said, and if the matter could end there he would be +well content to bear on his own shoulders all that remained of +the punishment, and to let everything begin again. But he knew +very well it could not be so with her. Even yet it was +impossible to induce Emily to think of her husband without +regret. It had been only too manifest during the last year of +their married life that she had felt horror rather than love +towards him. When there had been a question of his leaving her +behind, should he go to Central America, she had always expressed +herself more than willing to comply with such an arrangement. +She would go with him should he order her to do so, but would +infinitely sooner remain in England. And then too, she had +spoken of him while alive with disdain and disgust, and had +submitted to hear her father describe him as infamous. Her life +had been one long misery, under which she had seemed gradually to +be perishing. Now she was relieved, and her health was re- +established. A certain amount of unjoyous cheerfulness was +returning to her. It was impossible to doubt that she must have +known that a great burden had fallen from her back. And yet she +would never allow his name to be mentioned without giving some +outward sign of affection for his memory. If he was bad, so were +others bad. There were many worse than he. Such were the +excuses she made for her late husband. Old Mr Wharton, who +really thought that in all his experience he had never known +anyone worse than his son-in-law, would sometimes become testy, +and at last resolved that he would altogether hold his tongue. +But he could hardly hold his tongue now. + +He, no doubt, had already formed his hopes in regard to Arthur +Fletcher. He had trusted that the man whom he had taught himself +some years since to regard as his wished-for son-in-law, might be +constant and strong enough in his love to forget all that was +past, and to be still willing to redeem his daughter from misery. +But as days had crept on since the scene as the Tenway Junction, +he had become aware that time must do much before such relief +would be accepted. It was, however, still possible that the +presence of the man might do something. Hitherto, since the deed +had been done, no stranger had dined in Manchester Square. She +herself had seen no visitor. She had hardly left the house +except to go to church, and then had been enveloped in the +deepest crape. Once or twice she had allowed herself to be +driven out in a carriage, and, when she had done so, her father +had always accompanied her. No widow, since the seclusion of +widows was first ordained, has been more strict in maintaining +the restraints of widowhood, as enjoined. How then could he bid +her receive a new lover,--or how suggest to her that a lover was +possible? And yet he did not like to answer Arthur Fletcher +without naming some period for the present mourning,--some time +at which he might at least show himself in Manchester Square. + +'I have had a letter from Arthur Fletcher,' he said to his +daughter a day or two after he had received it. He was sitting +after dinner, and Everett was also in the room. + +'Is he in Hertfordshire?' she asked. + +'No;--he is up in town, attending to the House of Commons, I +suppose. He had something to say to me, and as we are not in the +way of meeting he wrote. He wants to come and see you.' + +'Not yet, papa.' + +'He talked of coming and dining here.' + +'Oh yes, pray let him come.' + +'You would not mind that?' + +'I would dine early and be out of the way. I should be do glad +if you would have somebody sometimes. I shouldn't think then +that I was such a--such a restraint on you.' + +But this was not what Mr Wharton desired. 'I shouldn't like +that, my dear. Of course he would know that you were in the +house.' + +'Upon my word, I think you might meet an old friend like that,' +said Everett. + +She looked at her brother, and then at her father, and burst into +tears. 'Of course you shall not be pressed if it would be +irksome to you,' said her father. + +'It is the first plunge that hurts,' said Everett. 'If you could +once bring yourself to do it, you would find afterwards that you +were more comfortable.' + +'Papa,' she said slowly. 'I know what it means. His goodness I +shall always remember. You may tell him I say so. But I cannot +meet him yet.' Then they pressed her no further. Of course she +had understood. Her father could not even ask her to say a word +which might give comfort to Arthur as to some long distant time. + +He went down to the House of Commons the next day, and saw his +young friend there. Then they walked up and down Westminster +Hall for nearly an hour, talking over the matter with the most +absolute freedom. 'It cannot be for the benefit of anyone,' said +Arthur Fletcher, 'that she should immolate herself like an Indian +widow,--and for the sake of such a man as that! Of course I +have no right to dictate to you,--hardly, perhaps, to give an +opinion.' + +'Yes, yes, yes.' + +'It does seem to me, then, that you ought to force her out of +that kind of thing. Why should she not go down to +Hertfordshire?' + +'In time, Arthur,--in time.' + +'But people's lives are running away.' + +'My dear fellow, if you were to see her you would know how vain +it would be to try to hurry her. There must be time.' + + + +CHAPTER 66 + +THE END OF THE SESSION. + +The Duke of St Bungay had been very much disappointed. He had +contradicted with a repetition of noes the assertion of the +Duchess that he had been the Warwick who had placed the Prime +Minister's crown on the head of the Duke of Omnium, but no doubt +he felt in his heart that he had done so much towards it that his +advice respecting the vacant Garter, when given so much weight, +should have been followed. He was an old man, and had known the +secrets of Cabinet Councils when his younger friend was a little +boy. He had given advice to Lord John, and had been one of the +first to congratulate Sir Robert Peel when that statesman became +a free-trader. He had sat in conclave with THE Duke, and had +listened to the bold Liberalism of old Earl Grey, both in the +Lower and the Upper House. He had been always great in council, +never giving his advice unasked, nor throwing his pearls before +swine, and cautious at all times to avoid excesses on this side +or that. He had never allowed himself a hobby horse of his own +to ride, had never been ambitious, had never sought to be the +ostensible leader of men. But he did now think that when, with +all his experience, he spoke very much in earnest, some attention +should be paid to what he said. When he had described a certain +line of conduct as Quixotic he had been very much in earnest. He +did not usually indulge in strong language, and Quixotic, when +applied to the conduct of the Prime Minister, was, to his ideas, +very strong. The thing described as Quixotic had now been done, +and the Duke of St Bungay was a disappointed man. + +For an hour or two he thought that he must gently secede from all +private counsels with the Prime Minister. To resign, or to put +impediments in the way of his own chief, did not belong to his +character. That line of strategy had come into fashion since he +had learnt his political rudiments, and was very odious to him. +But in all party compacts there must be inner parties, peculiar +bonds, and confidence stricter, stronger and also sweeter than +those which bind together the twenty or thirty gentlemen who form +a Government. From those closer ties which had hitherto bound +him to the Duke of Omnium he thought, for a while, that he must +divorce himself. Surely on such a subject as the nomination of a +Knight of the Garter his advice might have been taken,--if only +because it had come from him! And so he kept himself apart for a +day or two, and even in the House of Lords ceased to whisper +kindly, cheerful words into the ears of his next neighbour. + +But various remembrances crowded in upon him by degrees, +compelling him to moderate and at last to abandon his purpose. +Among these the first was the memory of the kiss he had given to +the Duchess. The woman had told him that she loved him, that he +was one of the very few whom she did love,--and the word had +gone straight into his old heart. She had bade him not to desert +her; and he had not only given her his promise, but he had +converted that promise into a sacred pledge by a kiss. He had +known well why she had exacted the promise. The turmoil in her +husband's mind, the agony which he sometimes endured when people +spoke ill of him, the aversion which he had at first genuinely +felt to an office for which he hardly thought himself fit, and +now the gradual love of power created by the exercise of power, +had all been seen by her, and had created that solicitude which +had induced her to ask for the promise. The old Duke had known +them both well, but had hardly as yet given the Duchess credit +for so true devotion to her husband. It now seemed to him that, +though she had failed to love the man, she had given her entire +heart to the Prime Minister. He sympathized with her altogether, +and, at any rate, could not go back from his promise. + +And then he remembered, too, that if this man did anything amiss +in the high office which he had been made to fill, who had +induced him to fill it was responsible. What right had he, the +Duke of St Bungay, to be angry because his friend was not all- +wise at all points? Let the Droughts and the Drummonds and the +Beeswaxes quarrel among themselves or with their colleagues. He +belonged to a different school, in the teachings of which there +was less perhaps of excitement and more of long-suffering;--but +surely, also, more of nobility. He was, at any rate, too old to +change, and he would therefore be true to his friend through evil +and through good. Having thought all this out he again whispered +some cheery word to the Prime Minister, as they sat listening to +the denunciations of Lord Fawn, a Liberal lord, much used to +business, but who had not been received into the Coalition. The +first whisper and the second whisper the Prime Minister received +very coldly. He had fully appreciated the discontinuance of +whispers, and was aware of the cause. He had made a selection on +his own unassisted judgment in opposition to his old friend's +advice, and this was the result. Let it be so! All his friends +were turning away from him and he would have to stand alone. If +so, he would stand alone till the pendulum of the House of +Commons had told him that it was time for him to retire. But +gradually the determined good-humour of the old man prevailed. +'He has a wonderful gift of saying nothing with second-rate +dignity,' whispered the repentant friend, speaking of Lord Fawn. + +'A very honest man,' said the Prime Minister in return. + +'A sort of bastard honesty,--by precept out of stupidity. There +is no real conviction in it, begotten by thought.' This little +bit of criticism, harsh as it was, had the effect, and the Prime +Minister became less miserable than he had been. + +But Lord Drummond forgave nothing. He still held his office, but +more than once he was seen in private conference with both Sir +Orlando and Mr Boffin. He did not attempt to conceal his anger. +Lord Earlybird! An old woman! One whom no other man in England +would have thought of making a Knight of the Garter! It was not, +he said, personal disappointment in himself. There were half-a- +dozen peers whom he would have willingly have seen so graced +without the slightest chagrin. But this must have been done +simply to show the Duke's power, and to let the world understand +that he owed nothing and would pay nothing to his supporters. It +was almost a disgrace, said Lord Drummond, to belong to a +Government the Head of which could so commit himself! The +Session was nearly at an end, and Lord Drummond thought that no +step could be conveniently taken now. But it was quite clear to +him that this state of things could not be continued. It was +observed that Lord Drummond and the Prime Minister never spoke to +each other in the House, and that the Secretary of State for +Colonies,--that being the office which he held,--never rose in +his place after Lord Earlybird's nomination, unless to say a word +or two as to his own peculiar duties. It was very soon known to +all the world that there was war to the knife between Lord +Drummond and the Prime Minister. + +And, strange to say, there seemed to be some feeling of general +discontent on this very trifling subject. When Aristides had +been much too just the oyster-shells became numerous. It was +said that the Duke had been guilty of pretentious love of virtue +in taking Lord Earlybird out of his own path of life and forcing +him to write K.G. after his name. There came out an article, of +course in the "People's Banner", headed, "Our Prime Minister's +Good Works", in which poor Lord Earlybird was ridiculed in a very +unbecoming manner, and in which it was asserted that the thing +was done as a counterpoise to the iniquity displayed in 'hounding +Ferdinand Lopez to his death'. Whenever Ferdinand Lopez was +mentioned he had always been hounded. And then the article went +on to declare that either the Prime Minister had quarrelled with +all his colleagues, or else that all his colleagues had +quarrelled with the Prime Minister. Mr Slide did not care which +it might be, but, whichever it might be, the poor country had to +suffer when such a state of things was permitted. It was +notorious that neither the Duke of St Bungay nor Lord Drummond +would now even speak to their own chief, so thoroughly were they +disgusted with his conduct. Indeed it seemed that the only ally +the Prime Minister had in his own Cabinet was the Irish +adventurer, Mr Phineas Finn. Lord Earlybird never read a word +of all this, and was altogether undisturbed as he sat in his +chair in Exeter Hall,--or just at this time of the year more +frequently in the provinces. But the Duke of Omnium read it all. +After what had passed he did not dare show it to his brother +Duke. He did not dare to tell his friend that it was said in the +newspapers that they did not speak to each other. But every word +from Mr Slide's pen settled on his own memory, and added to his +torments. It came to be a fixed idea in the Duke's mind that Mr +Slide was a gadfly sent to the earth for the express purpose of +worrying him. + +And as a matter of course the Prime Minister in his own mind +blamed himself for what he had done. It is the chief torment of +a person constituted as he was that strong as may be the +determination to do a thing, fixed as may be the conviction that +the thing ought to be done, no sooner has it been perfected than +the objections of others, which before had been inefficacious +become suddenly endowed with truth and force. He did not like +being told by Mr Slide that he ought not to have set his cabinet +against him, but when he had in fact done so, then he believed +what Mr Slide told him. As soon almost as the irrecoverable +letter had been winged on its way to Lord Earlybird, he saw the +absurdity of sending it. Who was he that he should venture to +set aside all the traditions of office? A Pitt or a Peel or a +Palmerston might have done so, because they had been abnormally +strong. They had been Prime Ministers by the work of their own +hands, holding their powers against the whole world. But he,-- +he told himself daily he was only there by sufferance, because at +the moment no one else could be found to take it. In such a +condition should he have not have been bound by the traditions of +office, bound by the advice of one so experienced and so true as +the Duke of St Bungay? And for whom had he broken through these +traditions and thrown away this advice? For a man who had no +power whatever to help him or any other Minister of the Crown;-- +for one whose every pursuit in life was at variance with the +acquisition of such honours as that now thrust upon him! He +could see his own obstinacy, and could even hate the pretentious +love of virtue which he himself had displayed. + +'Have you seen Lord Earlybird with his ribbon?' his wife said to +him. + +'I do not know Lord Earlybird by sight,' he replied angrily. + +'Nor anyone else either. But he would have come down and shown +it himself to you, if he had a spark of gratitude in his +composition. As far as I can learn you have sacrificed the +Ministry for his sake.' + +'I did my duty as best I knew how to do it,' said the Duke, +almost with ferocity, 'and it little becomes you to taunt me with +my deficiency.' + +'Plantagenet!' + +'I am driven,' he said, 'almost beyond myself, and it kills me +when you take part against me.' + +'Take part against you! Surely there was very little in what I +said.' And yet, as she spoke, she repented bitterly that she had +at the moment allowed herself to relapse into the sort of +badinage which had been usual with her before she had understood +the extent of his sufferings. 'If I trouble you by what I say, I +will certainly hold my tongue.' + +'Don't repeat to me what that man says in the newspaper.' + +'You shouldn't regard the man, Plantagenet. You shouldn't allow +the paper to come into your hands.' + +'Am I to be afraid of seeing what men say of me? Never! But you +need not repeat it, at any rate if it be false.' She had not +seen the article in question or she certainly would not have +repeated the accusation it contained. 'I have quarrelled with no +colleague. If such a one as Lord Drummond chooses to think +himself injured, am I to stoop to him? Nothing strikes me so +much in all this as the ill-nature of the world at large. When +they used to bait a bear tied to a stake, everyone around would +cheer the dogs and help torment the helpless animal. It is much +the same now, only they have a man instead of a bear for their +pleasure.' + +'I will never help the dogs again,' she said, coming up to him +and clinging him within the embrace of his arm. + +He knew that he had been Quixotic, and he would sit in his chair +repeating the word to himself aloud, till he himself began to +fear that he would do it in company. But the thing had been done +and could not be undone. He had had the bestowal of one Garter, +and he had given it to Lord Earlybird! It was,--he told +himself, but not correctly,--the only thing he had done on his +own undivided responsibility since he had been Prime Minister. + +The last days of July had passed, and it had been at last decided +that the Session should close on the 11th August. Now the 11th +of August was thought to be a great deal too near the 12th to +allow of such an arrangement being considered satisfactory. A +great many members were angry at the arrangement. It had been +said all through June and into July that it was to be an early +Session, and yet things had been so mismanaged that when the end +came everything could not be finished without keeping members of +Parliament in town on the 11th August! In the memory of the +present legislators there had never been anything so awkward. +The fault, if there was a fault, was attributable to Mr Monk. In +all probability the delay was unavoidable. A minister cannot +control long-winded gentlemen, and when gentlemen are very long- +winded there must be delay. No doubt a strong minister can +exercise some control, and it is certain that long-winded +gentlemen find an unusual scope for their breath when the +reigning dynasty is weak. In that way Mr Monk and the Duke may +have been responsible, but they were blamed as though they, for +their own special amusement, detained gentlemen in town. Indeed +the gentlemen were not detained. They grumbled and growled and +then fled,--but their grumblings and growlings were heard even +after their departure. + +'Well;--what do you think of it all?' the Duke said one day to +Mr Monk at the Treasury, affecting an air of cheery good-humour. + +'I think,' said Mr Monk, 'that the country is very prosperous. I +don't know that I ever remember trade to have been more evenly +satisfactory.' + +'Ah, yes. That's very well for the country, and ought, I +suppose, to satisfy me.' + +'It satisfies me,' said Mr Monk. + +'And me, in a way. But if you were walking about in a very tight +pair of boots, in agony with your feet, would you be able just +then to relish the news that agricultural wages in that parish +had gone up sixpence a week?' + +'I'd take my boots off, and then try,' said Mr Monk. + +'That's just what I'm thinking of doing. If I had my boots off +all that prosperity would be so pleasant to me! But, you see, +you can't take your boots off in company. And it may be that you +have a walk before you, and that no boots will be worse for your +feet than tight ones.' + +'We'll have our boots off soon, Duke,' said Mr Monk, speaking of +the recess. + +'And when shall we be quit of them altogether? Joking apart, +they have to be worn if the country requires it.' + +'Certainly, Duke.' + +'And it may be that you and I think upon the whole they may be +worn with advantage. What does the country say to that?' + +'The country never says the reverse. We have not had a majority +against us this Session on any Government question.' + +'But we have had narrowing majorities. What will the House do as +to the Lords' amendments on the Bankruptcy Bill? There was a +bill that had gone down from the House of Commons, but had not +originated with the Government. It had, however, been fostered +by ministers of the House of Lords, and had been sent back with +certain amendments for which the Lord Chancellor had made himself +responsible. It was therefore now almost a Government measure. +The manipulation of this measure had been one of the causes of +the prolonged sitting of the Houses.' + +'Grogram says they will take the amendments.' + +'And if they don't?' + +'Why then,' said Mr Monk, 'the Lords must take our rejection.' + +'And we shall have been beaten,' said the Duke. + +'Undoubtedly.' + +'And simply because the House desires to beat us. I am told Sir +Timothy Beeswax intends to speak and vote against the +amendments.' + +'What,--Sir Timothy on one side, and Sir Gregory on the other?' + +'So Lord Ramsden tells me,' said the Duke. 'If it be so, what +are we to do?' + +'Certainly not go out in August,' said Mr Monk. + +When the time came for the consideration of the Lords' amendments +in the House of Commons,--and it did not come till the 8th of +August,--the matter was exactly as the Duke had said. Sir +Gregory Grogram, with a deal of earnestness, supported the Lords' +amendments,--as he was in honour bound to do. The amendment had +come from his chief, the Lord Chancellor, and had indeed been +discussed with Sir Gregory before it had been proposed. He was +very much in earnest;--but it was evident from Sir Gregory's +earnestness that he expected a violent opposition. Immediately +after him rose Sir Timothy. Now Sir Timothy was a pretentious +man, who assumed to be not only an advocate but a lawyer. And he +assumed also to be a political magnate. He went into the matter +at great length. He began by saying that it was not a party +question. The bill, which he had had the honour of supporting +before it went from their own House, had been a private bill. As +such it had received a general support from the Government. It +had been materially altered in the other House under the auspices +of his noble friend on the woolsack, but from those alterations +he was obliged to dissent. Then he said some very heavy things +against the Lord Chancellor, and increased in acerbity as he +described what he called the altered mind of his honourable and +learned friend the Attorney-General. He then made some very +uncomplimentary allusions to the Prime Minister, whom he accused +of being more than ordinarily reserved with his subordinates. +The speech was manifestly arranged and delivered with the express +view of damaging the Coalition, of which at the time he himself +made a part. Men observed that things were very much altered +when such a course as that was taken in the House of Commons. +But that course was taken on this occasion by Sir Timothy +Beeswax, and was so far taken with success that the Lords' +amendments were rejected and the Government was beaten in a thin +House, by a large majority--composed partly of its own men. +'What am I to do?' asked the Prime Minister of the old Duke. + +The old Duke's answer was exactly the same as that given by Mr +Monk. 'We cannot resign in August.' And then he went on. 'We +must wait and see how things go at the beginning of next Session. +The chief question is whether Sir Timothy should not be asked to +resign.' + +Then the Session was at an end, and they who had been staunch to +last got out of town as quick as the trains could carry them. + + + +CHAPTER 67 + +MRS LOPEZ PREPARES TO MOVE. + +The Duchess of Omnium was not the most discreet woman in the +world. That was admitted by her best friends, and was the great +sin alleged against her by her worst enemies. In her desire to +say sharp things, she would say the sharp thing in the wrong +place, and in her wish to be good-natured she was apt to run into +offences. Just as she was about to leave town, which did not +take place for some days after Parliament had risen, she made an +indiscreet proposition to her husband. 'Should you mind asking +Mrs Lopez down to Matching? We shall only be a small party.' + +Now the very name of Lopez was terrible to the Duke's ears. +Anything which recalled the wretch and that wretched tragedy to +the Duke's mind gave him a stab. The Duchess ought to have felt +that any communication between her husband and even the man's +widow was to be avoided rather than sought. 'Quite out of the +question!' said the Duke, drawing himself up. + +'Why out of the question?' + +'There are a thousand reasons I could not have it.' + +'Then I shall say nothing more about it. But there's a romance +there,--something quite touching.' + +'You don't mean that she has---a lover?' + +'Well;--yes.' + +'And she lost her husband only the other day,--lost him in so +terrible a manner? If that is so certainly I do not wish to see +her again.' + +'Ah, that is because you don't know the story.' + +'I don't wish to know it.' + +'The man who wants to marry her knew her long before she had seen +Lopez, and had offered to her so many times. He is a fine +fellow, and you know him.' + +'I had rather not hear any more about it,' said the Duke, walking +away. + +There was an end to the Duchess's scheme of getting Emily down to +Matching,--a scheme which could hardly have been successful even +had the Duke not objected to it. But yet the Duchess would not +abandon her project of befriending the widow. She had injured +Lopez. She had liked what she had seen of Mrs Lopez. And she +was now endeavouring to take Arthur Fletcher by the hand. She +called therefore at Manchester Square on the day before she +started for Matching, and left a card and a note. This was on +the 15th of August, when London was as empty as it ever is. The +streets at the West End were deserted. The houses were shut up. +The very sweepers of the crossings seemed to have gone out of +town. The public offices were manned by one or two unfortunates +each, who consoled themselves by reading novels at their desks. +Half the cab-drivers had gone apparently to the seaside,--or to +bed. The shops were still open, but all the respectable +shopkeepers were either in Switzerland or at their marine villas. +The travelling world had divided itself into Cookites and +Hookites:--those who escaped trouble under the auspices of Mr +Cook, and those who boldly combatted the extortions of foreign +innkeepers and the Anti-Anglican tendencies of foreign railway +officials 'on their own hooks.' The Duchess of Omnium was +nevertheless in town, and the Duke might still be seen going in +at the back entrance of the Treasury Chambers every day at eleven +o'clock. Mr Warburton thought it very hard, for he, too, could +shoot grouse; but he would have perished rather than have spoken +a word. + +The Duchess did not ask to see Mrs Lopez, but left her card and a +note. She had not liked, she said, to leave town without +calling, though she would not seek to be admitted. She hoped +that Mrs Lopez was recovering her health, and trusted that on her +return to town she might be allowed to renew her acquaintance. +The note was very simple, and could not be taken as other than +friendly. If she had been simply Mrs Palliser, and her husband +had been a junior clerk in the Treasury, such a visit would have +been a courtesy; and it was not less so because it was made by +the Duchess of Omnium and by the wife of the Prime Minister. But +yet among all the poor widow's acquaintance she was the only one +who had ventured to call since Lopez had destroyed himself. Mrs +Roby had been told not to come. Lady Eustace had been sternly +rejected. Even old Mrs Fletcher when she had been up in town, +had, after a very solemn meeting with Mr Wharton, contented +herself with sending her love. It had come to pass that the idea +of being immured was growing to be natural to Emily herself. The +longer that it was continued the more did it seem to be +impossible to her that she should break from her seclusion. But +yet she was gratified by the note from the Duchess. + +'She means to be civil, papa,' + +'Oh yes,--but there are people whose civility I don't want.' + +'Certainly. I did not want the civility of that horrid Lady +Eustace. But I can understand this. She thinks that she did +Ferdinand an injury.' + +'When you begin, my dear,--and I hope it will be soon,--to get +back to the world, you will find it more comfortable, I think, to +find yourself among your own people.' + +'I don't want to go back,' she said, sobbing bitterly. + +'But I want you to go back. All who know you want you to go +back. Only don't begin at that end.' + +'You don't suppose, papa, that I wish to go to the Duchess?' + +'I wish you to go somewhere. It can't be good for you to remain +here. Indeed I shall think it wicked, or at any rate weak, if +you continue to seclude yourself.' + +'Where shall I go,' she said imploringly. + +'To Wharton. I certainly think you ought to go there first.' + +'If you would go, papa, and leave me here,--just this once. +Next year I will go,--if they ask me.' + +'When I may be dead, for aught any of us know.' + +'Do not say that, papa. Of course anyone may die.' + +'I certainly shall not go without you. You may take that as +certain. Is it likely that I should leave you alone in August +and September in this great gloomy house? If you stay, I shall +stay.' Now this meant a great deal than it had meant in former +years. Since Lopez had died Mr Wharton had not once dined at the +Eldon. He came home regularly at six o'clock, sat with his +daughter an hour before dinner, and then remained with her all +the evening. It seemed as though he were determined to force her +out of her solitude by her natural consideration for him. She +would implore him to go to his club and have his rubber, but he +would never give way. No;--he didn't care for the Eldon, and +disliked whist. So he said. Till at last he spoke more plainly. +'You are dull enough here all day, and I will not leave you in +the evenings.' There was a persistent tenderness in this which +she had not expected from the antecedents of his life. When, +therefore, he told her that he would not go into the country +without her, she felt herself almost constrained to yield. + +And she would have yielded at once but for one fear. How could +she insure to herself that Arthur Fletcher should not be there? +Of course he would be at Longbarns, and how could she prevent his +coming over from Longbarns to Wharton? She could hardly bring +herself to ask the question of her father. But she felt an +insuperable objection to finding herself in Arthur's presence. +Of course she loved him. Of course in all the world he was the +dearest of all to her. Of course if she could wipe out the past +as with a wet towel, if she could put the crape of her mind as +well as from her limbs, she would become his wife with the +greatest joy. But the very feeling that she loved him was +disgraceful to her in her own thoughts. She had allowed his +caress while Lopez was still her husband,--the husband who had +ill-used her and betrayed her, who had sought to drag her down to +his own depth of baseness. But now she could not endure to think +that the other man should even touch her. It was forbidden to +her, she believed, by all the canons of womanhood eve to think of +love again. There ought to be nothing left for her but crape and +weepers. She had done it all by her own obstinacy, and she could +make no compensation either to her family, or the world, or to +her own feelings, but by drinking the cup of her misery down to +the very dregs. Even to think of joy would in her be a treason. +On that occasion she did not yield to her father, conquering him +as she had conquered him before the pleading of her looks rather +than her words. + +But a day or two afterwards he came to her with arguments of a +very different kind. He at any rate must go to Wharton +immediately in reference to a letter of vital importance which he +had received from Sir Alured. The reader may perhaps remember +that Sir Alured's heir--the heir to the title and property--was +a nephew for whom he entertained no affection whatever. This +Wharton had been discarded by all the Whartons as a profligate +drunkard. Some years ago Sir Alured had endeavoured to reclaim +the man, and spent perhaps more money than had been justified in +doing in the endeavour, seeing that, as present occupier of the +property, he was bound to provide for his own daughters, and that +at his death every acre must go to this ne'er-do-well. The money +had been allowed to flow like water for a twelvemonth and had +done no good whatever. There had been no hope. The man was +strong and likely to live,--and after a while had married a +wife, some woman that he took from the very streets. This had +been his last known achievement, and from that moment not even +had his name been mentioned at Wharton. Now there came tidings +of his death. It was said that he had perished in some attempt +to cross some glaciers in Switzerland;--but by degrees it +appeared that the glacier itself had been less dangerous than the +brandy which he had swallowed whilst on his journey. At any rate +he was dead. As to that Sir Alured's letter was certain. And he +was equally certain that he had left no son. + +These tidings were quite important to Mr Wharton as to Sir +Alured,--more important to Everett Wharton than to either of +them, as he would inherit all after the death of those two old +men. At this moment he was away yachting with a friend, and even +his address was unknown. Letter for him were to be sent to Oban, +and might, or might not, reach him in the course of a month. But +in a man of Sir Alured's feelings, this catastrophe produced a +great change. The heir to his title and property was one whom he +was bound to regard with affection and almost with reverence,-- +if it were only possible for him to do so. With his late heir it +had been impossible. But Everett Wharton he had always liked. +Everett had not been quite all that his father and uncle had +wished. But his faults had been exactly those which could be +cured,--or would almost be virtues,--by the possession of a +title and property. Distaste for a profession and aptitude for +Parliament would become a young man who was heir not only to the +Wharton estates, but to half his father's money. + +Sir Alured in his letter expressed a hope that Everett might be +informed instantly. He would have written himself had he known +Everett's address. But he did know that his elder cousin was in +town, and he besought his elder cousin to come at once,--quite +at once,--to Wharton. Emily, he said, would of course accompany +her father on such an occasion. Then there were long letters +from Mary Wharton, and even from Lady Wharton, to Emily. The +Whartons must have been very much moved when Lady Wharton could +be induced to write a long letter. The Whartons were very much +moved. They were in a state of enthusiasm at these news, +amounting almost to fury. It seemed as though they thought that +every tenant and labourer on the estate, and every tenant a +labourer's wife, would be in an abnormal condition and unfit for +the duties of life, till they should have seen Everett as heir to +the property. Lady Wharton went so far as to tell Emily which +bedroom was being prepared for Everett,--a bedroom very +different in honour from any by the occupation of which he had +yet been graced. And there were twenty points as to new wills +and new deeds as to which the present baronet wanted the +immediate advice of his cousin. There were a score of things +which could now be done which were before impossible. Trees +could be cut down, and buildings put up; and a little bit of land +sold, and a little bit of land bought;--the doing of all which +would give new life to Sir Alured. A life interest in an estate +is a much pleasanter thing when the heir is a friend who can be +walked about the property, than when he is an enemy who must be +kept at arm's length. All these delights could now be Sir +Alured's,--if the old heir would give him his counsel and the +young one his assistance. + +This change of affairs occasioned some flutter also in Manchester +Square. It could not make much difference personally to old Mr +Wharton. He was, in fact, as old as the baronet, and did not pay +much regard to his own chance of succession. But the position +was one which would suit him admirably, and he was now on good +terms with his son. He had convinced himself that Lopez had done +all that he could to separate them, and therefore found himself +to be more bound to his son than ever. 'We must go at once,' he +said to his daughter, speaking as though he had forgotten her +misery for the moment. + +'I suppose you and Everett ought to be there.' + +'Heaven knows where Everett is. I ought to be there, and I +suppose that on such an occasion as this you will condescend to +go with me.' + +'Condescend, papa;--what does that mean?' + +'You know I cannot go alone. It is out of the question that I +should leave you here.' + +'Why, papa?' + +'And at such a time the family ought to come together. Of course +they will take it very much amiss if you refuse. What will Lady +Wharton think if you refuse afer her writing such a letter as +that? It is my duty to tell you that you ought to go. You cannot +think that is right to throw over every friend that you have in +the world.' + +There was a great deal more said in which it almost seemed that +the father's tenderness had worn out. His words were much +rougher and more imperious than any that he had yet spoken since +his daughter had become a widow, but they were also more +efficacious, and therefore probably more salutary. After twenty- +four hours of this she found she was obliged to yield, and a +telegram was sent to Wharton,--by no means the first telegram +that had been sent since the news had arrived,--saying that +Emily would accompany her father. They were to occupy themselves +for two days further in preparations for their journey. + +These preparations to Emily were so sad as almost to break her +heart. She had never as yet packed up her widow's weeds. She +had never as yet contemplated the necessity of coming down to +dinner in them before other eyes than those of her father and +brother. She had as yet made none of those struggles with which +widows seek to lessen the deformity of their costume. It was +incumbent on her now to get a ribbon or two less ghastly than +those weepers which had, for the last five months, hung about her +face and shoulders. And then how would she look if he were to be +there? It was not to be expected that the Whartons should +seclude themselves because of her grief. This very change in the +circumstances of the property would be sure, of itself, to bring +the Fletchers to Wharton,--and then how should she look at him, +how answer him, if he spoke to her tenderly? It is very hard for +a woman to tell a lie to a man when she loves him. She may speak +the words. She may be able to assure him that he is indifferent +to her. But when a woman really loves a man, as she loved this +man, there is a desire to touch him which quivers at her fingers' +ends, a longing to look at him which she cannot keep out of her +eyes, an inclination to be near him which affects every motion of +her body. She cannot refrain herself from excessive attention to +his words. She has a god to worship, and she cannot control her +admiration. Of all this Emily herself felt much,--but felt at +the same time that she would never pardon herself if she betrayed +her love by a gleam of her eye, by the tone of a word, or the +movement of a finger. What,--should she be known to love again +after such a mistake as hers, after such a catastrophe? + +The evening before they started who should bustle into the house +but Everett himself. It was about six o'clock, and he was going +to leave London by the night mail. That he should be a little +given to bustle on such an occasion may perhaps be forgiven him. +He had heard the news down on the Scotch coast, and had flown up +to London, telegraphing as he did so backwards and forwards to +Wharton. Of course he felt that the destruction of his cousin +among the glaciers,--whether by brandy or ice he did not much +care,--had made him for the nonce one of the important people of +the world. The young man who would not so feel might be the +better philosopher, but one might doubt whether he would be the +better young man. He quite agreed with his father that it was +his sister's duty to go to Wharton, and he was now in a position +to speak with authority as to the duties of the members of his +family. He could not wait, even for one night, in order that he +might travel with them. Sir Alured was impatient. Sir Alured +wanted him in Hertfordshire. Sir Alured had said that on such an +occasion he, the heir, ought to be on the property with the +shortest possible delay. His father smiled;--but with an +approving smile. Everett therefore started by the night mail, +leaving his father and sister to follow him on the morrow. + + + +CHAPTER 68 + +THE PRIME MINISTER'S POLITICAL CREED. + +The Duke, before he went to Matching, twice reminded Phineas Finn +that he was expected there in a day or two. 'The Duchess says +that your wife is coming to-morrow,' said the Duke on the day of +his departure. But Phineas could not go then. His services to +the country were required among the dockyards and ships, and he +postponed his visit till the end of September. Then he started +for Matching, having the double pleasure before him of meeting +his wife and his noble host and hostess. He found a small party +there, but not so small as the Duchess had once suggested to him. +'Your wife will be there, of course, Mr Finn. She is too good to +desert me in my troubles. And there will probably be Lady Rosina +De Courcy. Lady Rosina is to the Duke what your wife is to me. +I don't suppose there will be anybody else,--except, perhaps Mr +Warburton!' But Lady Rosina was not there. In place of Lady +Rosina there were the Duke and Duchess of St Bungay, with their +daughters, two or three Palliser offshoots, with their wives, and +Barrington Erle. There were, too, the Bishop of the diocese with +his wife, three or four others, coming and going, so that the +party never seemed to be too small. 'We asked Mr Rattler,' said +the Duchess in a whisper to Phineas, 'but he declined, with a +string of florid compliments. When Mr Rattler won't come to the +Prime Minister's house, you may depend that something is going to +happen. It is like pigs carrying straws in their mouths. Mr +Rattler is my pig.' Phineas only laughed and said that he did +not believe Rattler to be a better pig than anybody else. + +It was soon apparent to Phineas that the Duke's manner to him was +entirely altered, so much so that he was compelled to acknowledge +to himself that he had not hitherto read the Duke's character +aright. Hitherto he had never found the Duke pleasant in +conversation. Looking back he could hardly remember that he had +in truth ever conversed with the Duke. The man had seemed to +shut himself up as soon as he had uttered certain words which the +circumstances of the moment had demanded. Whether it was +arrogance or shyness Phineas had not known. His wife had said +that the Duke was shy. Had he been arrogant the effect would +have been the same. He was unbending, hard, and lucid only when +he spoke on some detail of business, or on some point of policy. +But now he smiled, and, though hesitating a little at first, very +soon fell into the ways of a pleasant country host. 'You shoot,' +said the Duke. Phineas did shoot, but cared very little about +it. 'But you hunt.' Phineas was very fond of riding to hounds. +'I am beginning to think,' said the Duke, 'that I have made a +mistake in not caring for such things. When I was very young I +gave them up, because it appeared that other men devoted too much +time to them. One might as well not eat because men are +gluttons.' + +'Only that you would die if you did not eat.' + +'Bread, I suppose, would keep me alive, but still one eats meat +without being a glutton. I very often regret the want of +amusements, and particularly of those which would throw me more +among my fellow-creatures. A man is alone when reading, alone +when writing, alone when thinking. Even sitting in Parliament he +is very much alone, though there be a crowd around him. Now a +man can hardly be thoroughly useful unless he knows his fellow- +men, and how is he to know them if he shuts himself up? If I had +to begin again I think I would cultivate the amusements of the +time.' + +Not long after this the Duke asked him whether he was going to +join the shooting men on that morning. Phineas declared that his +hands were too full of business for any amusement before lunch. +'Then,' said the Duke, 'will you walk with me this afternoon? +There is nothing I really like so much as a walk. There are some +very pretty points where the river skirts the park. And I will +show you the spot on which Sir Guy de Palliser performed the feat +for which the king gave him this property. It was a grand time +when a man could get half-a-dozen parishes because he tickled the +king's fancy.' + +'But suppose he didn't tickle the king's fancy?' + +'Ah, then indeed, it might go otherwise with him. But I am glad +to say that Sir Guy was an accomplished courtier.' + +The walk was taken, and the pretty bends of the river were seen; +but they were looked at without much earnestness, and Sir Guy's +great deed was not again mentioned. The conversation went away +to other matters. Of course it was not long before the Prime +Minister was deep in discussing the probabilities of the next +Session. It was soon apparent to Phineas that the Duke was no +longer desirous of resigning, though he spoke very freely of the +probable necessity there might be for him to do so. At the +present moment he was in his best humour. His feet were on his +own property. He could see the prosperity around him. The spot +was the one which he loved the best in the world. He liked his +present companion, who was one to whom he was entitled to speak +with freedom. But there was still present to him the sense of +some injury from which he could not free himself. Of course he +did not know that he had been haughty to Sir Orlando, to Sir +Timothy, and others. But he did know that he had intended to be +true, and he thought that they had been treacherous. Twelve +months ago there had been a goal before him which he might +attain, a winning-post which was still within his reach. There +was in store for him the tranquillity of retirement which he +would enjoy as soon as a sense of duty would permit him to seize +it. But now the prospect of that happiness had gradually +vanished from him. That retirement was no longer a winning-post +for him. The poison of place and power and dignity had got into +his blood. As he looked forward he feared rather than sighed for +retirement. 'You think it will go against us?' he said. + +Phineas did think so. There was hardly a man high up in the +party who did not think so. When one branch of the Coalition has +gradually dropped off, the other branch will hardly flourish +long. And then the tints of a political Coalition are so neutral +and unalluring that men will only endure them when they feel that +no more pronounced colours are within their reach. 'After all,' +said Phineas, 'the innings has not been a bad one. It has been +of service to the country, and has lasted longer than most +expected.' + +'If it has been of service to the country, that is everything. +It should at least be everything. With the statesman to whom it +is not everything there must be something wrong.' The Duke, as +he said this, was preaching to himself. He was telling himself +that, though he saw the better way, he was allowing himself to +walk on that which was worse. For it was not only Phineas who +would see the change,--or the old Duke, or the Duchess. It was +apparent to the man himself, though he could not prevent it. 'I +sometimes think,' he said, 'that we whom chance has led to be +meddlers in the game of politics sometimes give ourselves hardly +time enough to think what we are about.' + +'A man may have to work so hard,' said Phineas, 'that he has no +time for thinking.' + +'Or more probably, may be so eager in party conflict that he will +hardly keep his mind cool enough for thought. It seems to me +that many men,--men whom you and I know,--embrace the +profession of politics not only without political convictions, +but without seeing that it is proper that they should entertain +them. Chance brings a young man under the guidance of this or +that elder man. He has come of a Whig family, as was my case,-- +or from some old Tory stock; and loyalty keeps him true to the +interests which have first pushed him forward into the world. +There is no conviction there.' + +'Convictions grow.' + +'Yes;--the conviction that it is the man's duty to be a staunch +Liberal, but not the reason why. Or a man sees his opening on +this side or on that,--as is the case with the lawyers. Or he +has a body of men at his back ready to support him on this side +or that, as we see with commercial men. Or perhaps he has some +vague idea that aristocracy is pleasant, and he becomes a +Conservative,--or that democracy is prospering, and he becomes a +Liberal. You are a Liberal, Mr Finn.' + +'Certainly, Duke.' + +'Why?' + +'Well;--after what you have said I will not boast of myself. +Experience, however, seems to show me that Liberalism is demanded +by the country.' + +'So, perhaps, at certain epochs, may the Devil and all his works; +but you will hardly say that you will carry the Devil's colours, +because the country may like the Devil. It is not sufficient, I +think, to say that Liberalism is demanded. You should first know +what Liberalism means, and then assure yourself that the thing +itself is good. I dare say you have done so, but I see some who +never make the inquiry.' + +'I will not claim to be better than my neighbours,--I mean my +real neighbours.' + +'I understand; I understand,' said the Duke laughing. 'You +prefer some good Samaritan on the Opposition benches to Sir +Timothy and the Pharisees. It is hard to come wounded out of the +fight, and then to see him who would be your friend not only +walking by on the other side, but flinging a stone at you as he +goes. But I did not mean just now to allude to the details of +recent misfortunes, though there is no one to whom I could do so +more openly than to you. I was trying yesterday to explain to +myself why I have, all my life, sat on what is called the Liberal +side of the House to which I have belonged.' + +'Did you succeed?' + +'I began life with the misfortune of a ready-made political +creed. There was a seat in the House for me when I was twenty- +one. Nobody took the trouble to ask me my opinions. It was a +matter of course that I should be a Liberal. My uncle, whom +nothing could ever induce to enter politics himself, took it for +granted that I should run straight,--as he would have said. It +was a tradition of the family, and was a inseparable from it as +any of the titles which he had inherited. The property might be +sold or squandered,--but the political creed was fixed as +adamant. I don't know that I ever had a wish to rebel, but I +think that I took it at first very much as a matter of course.' + +'A man seldom inquires very deeply at twenty-one.' + +'And if he does it is ten to one but he comes to a wrong +conclusion. But since then I have satisfied myself that chance +put me into the right course. It has been, I dare say, the same +with you as with me. We both went into office early, and the +anxiety to do special duties well probably deterred us both from +thinking much of the great question. When a man has to be on the +alert to keep Ireland quiet, or to prevent peculation in the +dockyards, or to raise the revenue while he lowers the taxes, he +feels himself to be saved from the necessity of investigating +principles. In this way I sometimes think that ministers, or +they who have been ministers and who have to watch the ministers +from the Opposition benches, have less opportunity of becoming +real politicians than the new men who sit in Parliament with +empty hands and with time at their own disposal. But when a man +has been placed by circumstances as I am now, he does begin to +think.' + +'And yet you have not empty hands.' + +'They are not so full, perhaps, as you think. At any rate I +cannot content myself with a single branch of public service as I +used to in old days. Do not suppose that I claim to have made +any grand political invention, but I think that I have at least +labelled my own thoughts. I suppose what we all desire is to +improve the condition of the people by whom we are employed, and +to advance or country, or at any rate to save it from +regression.' + +'That of course.' + +'So much is of course. I give credit to my opponents in +Parliament for that desire quite as readily as I do to my +colleagues or to myself. The idea that political virtue is all +on one side is both mischievous and absurd. We allow ourselves +to talk in that way because indignation, scorn, and sometimes, I +fear, vituperation, are the fuel with which the necessary heat of +debate is maintained.' + +'There are some men who are very fond of poking the fire,' said +Phineas. + +'Well; I won't name anyone at present,' said the Duke, 'but I +have seen gentlemen of your country very handy with the pokers.' +Phineas laughed, knowing that he had been considered by some to +have been a little violent when defending the Duke. 'But we put +all that aside when we really think, and can give the +Conservative credit for patriotism as readily as the Liberal. +The Conservative who has had any idea of the meaning of the name +which he carries, wishes, I suppose, to maintain the differences +and the distances which separate the highly placed from their +lower brethren. He thinks that God has divided the world as he +finds it divided, and that he may best do his duty by making the +inferior many happy and contented in his position, teaching him +that the place which he holds is his by God's ordinance.' + +'And it is so.' + +'Hardly in the sense that I mean. But that is the great +Conservative lesson. That lesson seems to me to be hardly +compatible with continual improvement in the condition of the +lower man. But with the Conservative all such improvement is to +be based on the idea of the maintenance of those distances. I as +a Duke am to be kept as far apart from the man who drives my +horses as was my ancestor from the man who drove his, or who rode +after him to the wars,--and that is to go on for ever. There is +much to be said for such a scheme. Let the lords be, all of +them, men with loving hearts, and clear intellect, and noble +instincts, and it is possible that they should use their powers +so beneficently as to spread happiness over the earth. It is one +of the millenniums which the mind of man can conceive, and seems +to be that which the Conservative mind does conceive.' + +'But the other men who are not lords don't want that kind of +happiness.' + +'If such happiness were attainable it might well be to constrain +men to accept it. But the lords of this world are fallible men; +and though as units they ought to be and perhaps are better than +those others who have fewer advantages, they are much more likely +as units to go astray in opinion than the bodies of men whom they +would seek to govern. We know that power does corrupt, and that +we cannot trust kings to have loving hearts, and clear +intellects, and noble instincts. Men as they come to think about +it and to look forward, and to look back, will not believe in +such a millennium as that.' + +'Do they believe in any millennium?' + +'I think they do after a fashion, and I think that I do myself. +That is my idea of Conservatism. The doctrine of Liberalism is, +of course, the reverse. The Liberal, if he have any fixed idea +at all, must, I think, have conceived the idea of lessening +distances,--of bringing the coachman and the duke nearer +together,--nearer and nearer, till a millennium shall be reached +by--' + +'By equality?' asked Phineas, eagerly interrupting the Prime +Minister, and showing his dissent by the tone of his voice. + +'I did not use the word, which is open to many objections. In +the first place the millennium, which I have perhaps rashly +named, is so distant that we need not even think of it as +possible. Men's intellects are at present so various that we +cannot even realize the idea of equality, and here in England we +have been taught to hate the word by the evil effects of those +absurd attempts which have been made elsewhere to proclaim it as +a fact accomplished by the scratch of a pen or the chisel of a +stone. We have been injured in that, because a good word +signifying a grand idea has been driven out of the vocabulary of +good men. Equality would be a heaven, if we could attain it. +How can we to whom so much has been given dare to think +otherwise? How can you look at the bowed back and bent legs and +abject face of the poor ploughman, who winter and summer has to +drag his rheumatic limbs to his work, while you go a-hunting or +sit in pride of place among the foremost few of the country, and +say that it is all that it ought to be? You are a Liberal +because you know that it is all not as it ought to be, and +because you would still march on to some nearer approach to +equality; though the thing itself is so great, so glorious, so +godlike,--nay, so absolutely divine,--that you have been +disgusted by the very promise of it, because its perfection is +unattainable. Men have asserted a mock equality till the very +idea of equality stinks in men's nostrils.' + +The Duke in his enthusiasm had thrown off his hat, and was +sitting on a wooden seat which they had reached, looking up among +the clouds. His left hand was clenched, and from time to time +with his right he rubbed the thin hairs on his brow. He had +begun in a low voice, with a somewhat slipshod enunciation of his +words, but had gradually become clear, resonant, and even +eloquent. Phineas knew that there were stories told of certain +bursts of words which had come from him in former days in the +House of Commons. These had occasionally surprised men and +induced them to declare that Planty Pall,--as he was then often +called,--was a dark horse. But they had been few and far +between, and Phineas had never heard them. Now he gazed at his +companion in silence, wondering whether the speaker would go on +with his speech. But the face changed on a sudden, and the Duke +with an awkward motion snatched up his hat. 'I hope you ain't +cold?' he said. + +'Not at all,' said Phineas. + +'I came here because of that bend of the river. I am always very +fond of that bend. We don't go over the river. That is Mr +Upjohn's property.' + +'The member for the county?' + +'Yes; and a very good member, he is, though he doesn't support +us;--an old-school Tory, but a great friend of my uncle, who, +after all, had a good deal of Tory about him. I wonder whether +he is at home. I must remind the Duchess to ask him to dinner. +You know him, of course.' + +'Only by seeing him in the House.' + +'You'd like him very much. When he is in the country he always +wears knee breeches and gaiters, which I think is a very +comfortable dress.' + +'Troublesome, Duke, isn't it?' + +'I never tried it, and I shouldn't dare now. Goodness me, it's +past five o'clock, and we've got two miles to get home. I +haven't looked at a letter, and Warburton will think that I've +thrown myself into the river because of Sir Timothy Beeswax.' +Then they started to go home at fast pace. + +'I shan't forget, Duke,' said Phineas, 'your definition of +Conservatives and Liberals.' + +'I don't think I ventured any definition;--only a few loose +ideas which have been troubling me lately. I say, Finn!' + +'Your Grace?' + +'Don't you go and tell Ramsden and Drummond that I've been +preaching equality, or we shall have a pretty mess. I don't know +that it would serve me with my dear friend, the Duke.' + +'I will be discretion itself.' + +'Equality is a dream. But sometimes one likes to dream,-- +especially as there is not danger that Matching will fly from me +in a dream. I doubt whether I could bear the test that has been +attempted in other countries.' + +'That poor ploughman would hardly get his share, Duke.' + +'No;--that's where it is. We can only do a little, and a little +to bring it nearer to us;--so little that it won't touch +Matching in our day. Here is her ladyship and the ponies. I +don't think her ladyship would like to lose her ponies by my +doctrine.' + +The two wives of the two men were in the pony carriage, and the +little Lady Glencora, the Duchess's eldest daughter, was sitting +between them. 'Mr Warburton has sent three messages to demand +your presence,' said the Duchess, 'and as I live by bread, I +believe that you and Mr Finn have been amusing yourselves!' + +'We have been talking politics,' said the Duke. + +'Of course. What other amusement was possible? But what +business have you to indulge in idle talk when Mr Warburton wants +you in the library? There has come a box,' she said, 'big enough +to contain the resignations of all the traitors of the party.' +This was strong language, and the Duke frowned;--but there was +no one there to hear it but Phineas Finn and his wife, and they, +at least, were trustworthy. The Duke suggested that he had +better get back to the house as soon as possible. There might be +something to be done requiring time before dinner. Mr Warburton +might, at any rate, want to smoke a tranquil cigar after his +day's work. The Duchess therefore left the carriage, as did Mrs +Finn, and the Duke undertook to drive the little girl back to the +house. 'He'll surely go against a tree,' said the Duchess. But, +--as a fact,--the Duke did take himself and the child home in +safety. + +'And what do you think about it, Mr Finn?' said her Grace. 'I +suppose you and the Duke have been settling what is to be done?' + +'We have certainly settled nothing.' + +'Then you must have disagreed.' + +'That we as certainly have not done. We have in truth not once +been out of cloud-land.' + +'Ah;--then there is no hope. When once grown-up politicians get +into cloud-land it is because the realities of the world have no +longer any charm for them.' + +The big box did not contain the resignations of any of the +objectionable members of the Coalition. Ministers do not often +resign in September,--nor would it be expedient that they should +do so. Lord Drummond and Sir Timothy Beeswax were safe, at any +rate till next February, and might live without any show either +of obedience or mutiny. The Duke remained in comparative quiet +at Matching. There was not very much to do, except to prepare +the work of the next Session. The great work of the coming year +was to be the assimilation, or something very near to +assimilation, of the county suffrages with those of the boroughs. +The measure was one which had now been promised by statesmen for +the last two years,--promised at first with that half promise +which would mean nothing, were it not that such promises always +lead to more defined assurances. The Duke of St Bungay, Lord +Drummond, and other Ministers had wished to stave it off. Mr +Monk was eager for its adoption, and was of course supported by +Phineas Finn. The Prime Minister had at first been inclined to +be led by the old Duke. There was no doubt to him but that the +measure was desirable and would come, but there might well be a +question as to the time which it should be made to come. The old +Duke knew that the measure would come,--but believing it to be +wholly undesirable, thought that he was doing good work in +postponing it from year to year. But Mr Monk had become urgent, +and the old Duke had admitted the necessity. There must surely +have been a shade of melancholy on that old man's mind as, year +after year, he assisted in pulling down institutions which he in +truth regarded as safeguards of the nation, but which he knew +that, as a Liberal, he was bound to assist in destroying! It +must have occurred to him, from time to time, that it would be +well for him to depart and be at peace before everything was +gone. + +When he went from Matching Mr Monk took his place, and Phineas +Finn, who had gone up to London for a while, returned, and then +the three between them with assistance from Mr Warburton and +others, worked out the proposed scheme of the new county +franchise, with the new divisions and the new constituencies. +But it could hardly have been hearty work, as they all of them +felt that whatever might be their first proposition they would be +beat upon it in a House of Commons which thought that this +Aristides had been long enough at the Treasury. + + + +CHAPTER 69 + +MRS PARKER'S FATE. + +Lopez had now been dead more than five months, and not a word had +been heard by his widow of Mrs Parker and her children. Her own +sorrows had been so great that she had hardly thought of those of +the poor woman who had come to her but a few days before her +husband's death, telling her of the ruin caused by her husband's +treachery. But late on the evening before her departure for +Hertfordshire,--very shortly after Everett left the house,-- +there was a ring at the door, and a poorly-clad female asked to +see Mrs Lopez. The poorly-clad female was Sexty Parker's wife. +The servant, who did not remember her, would not leave her alone +in the hall, having an eye to the coats and umbrellas, but called +up one of the maids to carry the message. The poor woman +understood the insult and resented it in her heart. But Mrs +Lopez recognized the name in a moment, and went down to her in +the parlour, leaving Mr Wharton upstairs. Mrs Parker, smarting +from her present grievance, had bent her mind on complaining at +once of the treatment she had received from the servant, but the +sight of the widow's weeds quelled her. Emily had never been +much given to fine clothes, either as a girl or as a married +woman; but it had always been her husband's pleasure that she +should be well dressed,--though he had never carried his trouble +so far as to pay the bills; and Mrs Parker's remembrance of her +friend at Dovercourt had been that of a fine lady in bright +apparel. Now a black shade,--something almost like a dark +ghost,--glided into the room and Mrs Parker forgot her recent +injury. Emily came forward and offered her hand, and was the +first to speak. 'I have had a great sorrow since we met,' she +said. + +'Yes, indeed, Mrs Lopez. I don't think there is anything left in +the world now except sorrow.' + +'I hope Mr Parker is well. Will you not sit down, Mrs Parker?' + +'Thank you, ma'am. Indeed, then, he is not well at all. How +should he be well? Everything,--everything has been taken away +from him.' Poor Emily groaned as she heard this. 'I wouldn't +say a word against them as is gone, Mrs Lopez, if I could help +it. I know it is bad to bear when him who once loved you isn't +no more. And perhaps it is all the worse when things didn't go +well with him, and it was, maybe, his own fault. I wouldn't do +it, Mrs Lopez, if I could help it.' + +'Let me hear what you have to say,' said Emily, determined to +suffer everything patiently. + +'Well;--it is just this. He has left us that bare that there is +nothing left. And that, they say, isn't the worst of all,-- +though what can be worse than doing that, how is a woman to +think? Parker was that soft, and he had that way with him of +talking, that he has talked me and mine out of the very linen on +our backs.' + +'What do you mean by saying that that is not the worst?' + +'They've come upon Sexty for a bill for four thousand and fifty, +--something to do with that stuff they call Bios,--and Sexty +says it isn't his name at all. But he's been in that state he +don't hardly know how to swear to anything. But he's sure he +didn't sign it. The bill was brought to him by Lopez and there +was words between them, and he wouldn't have nothing to do with +it. How is he to go to law? And it don't make much difference +neither, for they can't take much more from him than they have +already taken.' Emily as she heard all this sat shivering, +trying to repress her groans. 'Only,' continued Mrs Parker, +'they hadn't sold the furniture, and I was thinking they might +let me stay in the house, and try to do with letting lodgings,-- +and now they're seizing everything along of this bill. Sexty is +like a mad man, swearing this and swearing that;--but what can +he do, Mrs Lopez? It's as like his hand as two peas; but he was +clever at everything was,--was--you know who I mean, ma'am.' +Then Emily covered her face with her hands and burst into violent +tears. She had not determined whether she did or did not believe +this last accusation made against her husband. She had had +hardly time to realize the criminality of the offence imputed. +But she did believe that the woman before her had been ruined by +her husband's speculations. 'It's very bad, ma'am; isn't it?' +said Mrs Parker, crying for company. 'It's bad all round. If +you had five children as hadn't bread you'd know how I feel. +I've got to go back by the 10.15 to-night, and when I've paid for +a third-class ticket I shan't have but twopence left in this +world.' + +This utter depth of immediate poverty, this want of bread for the +morrow and the next day, Emily could relieve out of her own +pocket. And, thinking of this and remembering that her purse was +not with her at the moment, she started up with the idea of +getting it. But it occurred to her that that would not suffice; +that her duty required more of her than that. And yet, by her +own power, she could do no more. From month to month, almost +from week to week, since her husband's death, her father had been +called upon to satisfy claims for money which he would not +resist, lest by doing so he should add to her misery. She had +felt that she ought to bind herself to the strictest personal +economy because of the miserable losses to which she had +subjected him by her ill-starred marriage. 'What would you wish +me to do?' she said, resuming her seat. + +'You are rich,' said Mrs Parker. Emily shook her head. 'They +say your papa is rich. I thought you would not like to see me in +want like this.' + +'Indeed, indeed, it makes me very unhappy.' + +'Wouldn't your papa do something? It wasn't Sexty's fault nigh +so much as it was his. I wouldn't say it to you if it wasn't for +starving. I wouldn't say it to you if it wasn't for the +children. I'd lie in the ditch and die if it was only for +myself, because,--because I know what your feelings is. But +what wouldn't you do, and what wouldn't you say, if you had five +children at home as hadn't a loaf of bread among 'em?' Hereupon +Emily got up and left the room, bidding her visitor wait for a +few minutes. Presently the offensive butler came in, who had +wronged Mrs Parker by watching his master's coats, and brought a +tray with meat and wine. Mr Wharton, said the altered man, hoped +that Mrs Parker would take a little refreshment, and he would be +down himself very soon. Mrs Parker, knowing that strength for +her journey home would be necessary to her, remembering that she +would have to walk all through the city to the Bishopgate Street +station, did take some refreshment, and permitted herself to +drink the glass of sherry that her late enemy had benignantly +poured out for her. + +Emily had been with her father nearly half an hour before Mr +Wharton's heavy step was heard upon the stairs. And when he +reached the dining-room door he paused a moment before he +ventured to turn the lock. He had not told Emily what he would do, +and hardly as yet made up his own mind. As every fresh call was +made upon him, his hatred for the memory of the man who had +stepped in and disturbed his whole life, and turned all the +mellow satisfaction of his evening into storm and gloom, was of +course increased. The scoundrel's name was so odious to him that +he could hardly keep himself from shuddering visibly before his +daughter even when the servants called her by it. But yet he had +determined that he would devote himself to save her from further +suffering. It had been her fault, no doubt. But she was +expiating it in very sackcloth and ashes, and he would add +nothing to the burden on her back. He would pay, and pay, and +pay, merely remembering that what he paid must be deducted from +her share of his property. He had never intended to make what is +called an elder son of Everett, and now there was less necessity +than ever that he should do so, as Everett had become an elder +son in another direction. He could satisfy almost any demand +that might be made without material injury to himself. But these +demands, one after another, scalded him by their frequency, and +by the baseness of the man who had occasioned them. His daughter +had now repeated to him with sobbings and wailings the whole +story as it had been told to her by the woman downstairs. +'Papa,' she had said, 'I don't know how to tell you or how not.' +Then he had encouraged her, and had listened without saying a +word. He had endeavoured not even to shrink as the charge of +forgery was repeated to him by his own child,--the widow of the +guilty man. He endeavoured not to remember at the moment that +she had claimed this wretch as the chosen one of her maiden +heart, in opposition to all his wishes. It hardly occurred to +him to disbelieve the accusation. It was so probable! What was +there to hinder the man from forgery, if he could only make it +believed that his victim had signed the bill when intoxicated? +He heard it all;--kissed his daughter, and then went down to the +dining-room. + +Mrs Parker, when she saw him, got up, and curtsied low, and then +sat down again. Old Wharton looked at her from under his bushy +eyebrows before he spoke, and then sat opposite her. 'Madam,' he +said, 'this is a very sad story that I have heard.' Mrs Parker +again rose, and again curtsied, and put her handkerchief to her +face. 'It is of no use talking any more about it here.' + +'No, sir,' said Mrs Parker. + +'I and my daughter leave town early to-morrow morning.' + +'Indeed, sir. Mrs Lopez didn't tell me.' + +'My clerk will be in London, at No.12, Stone Buildings, Lincoln's +Inn, till I come back. Do you think you can find the place? I +have written it there.' + +'Yes, sir, I can find it,' said Mrs Parker, just raising herself +from her chair at every word he spoke. + +'I have written his name, you see. Mr Crumpy.' + +'Yes, sir.' + +'If you will permit me, I will give you two sovereigns now.' + +'Thank you, sir.' + +'And if you can make it convenient to call on Mr Crumpy every +Thursday morning about twelve, he will pay you two sovereigns a +week till I come back to town. Then I will see about it.' + +'God Almighty bless you, sir!' + +'And as to the furniture, I will write to my attorney, Mr Walker. +You need not trouble yourself by going to him.' + +'No, sir.' + +'If necessary, he will send to you, and he will see what can be +done. Good night Mrs Parker.' Then he walked across the room +with two sovereigns which he dropped into her hand. Mrs Parker, +with many sobs, bade him farewell, and Mr Wharton stood in the +hall immoveable till the front door had been closed behind her. +'I have settled it,' he said to Emily. 'I'll tell you to-morrow, +or some day. Don't worry yourself now, but go to bed.' She +looked wistfully,--so sadly, up into his face, and then did as +he bade her. + +But Mr Wharton could not go to bed without further trouble. It +was incumbent on him to write full particulars that very night +both to Mr Walker and to Mr Crumpy. And the odious letters in +the writing became very long;--odious because he had to confess +in them over and over again that his daughter, the very apple of +his eye, had been the wife of a scoundrel. To Mr Walker he had +to tell the whole story of the alleged forgery, and in doing so +could not abstain from the use of hard words. 'I don't suppose +that it can be proved, but there is every reason to believe that +it's true.' And again--'I believe the man to have been as vile +a scoundrel as ever was made by the love of money.' Even to Mr +Crumpy he could not be reticent. 'She is an object of pity,' he +said. 'Her husband was ruined by the infamous speculations of Mr +Lopez.' Then he betook himself to bed. Oh, how happy would he +be to pay the two thousand weekly pounds,--even to add to that +the amount of the forged bill, if by doing so he might be saved +from ever hearing again the name of Lopez. + +The amount of the bill was ultimately lost by the bankers who had +advanced the money on it. As for Mrs Sexty Parker, from week to +week, and from month to month, and at last from year to year, she +and her children,--and probably her husband also,--were +supported by the weekly pension of two sovereigns which she +always received on Thursday mornings form the hands of Mr Crumpy +himself. In a little time the one excitement of her life was the +weekly journey to Mr Crumpy, whom she came to regard as a man +appointed by Providence to supply her with 40s on Thursday +morning. As to poor Sexty Parker,--it is to be feared that he +never again became a prosperous man. + +'You will tell me what you did for that poor woman, papa,' said +Emily, leaning over her father in the train. + +'I have settled it, my dear.' + +'You said you'd tell me.' + +'Crumpy will pay her two pounds a week till we know more about +it.' Emily pressed her father's hand, and that was an end. No +one ever did know any more about it, and Crumpy continued to pay +the money. + + + +CHAPTER 70 + +AT WHARTON. + +When Mr Wharton and his daughter reached Wharton Hall there were +at any rate no Fletchers there as yet. Emily, as she was driven +from the station to the house, had not dared to ask a question or +even to prompt her father to do so. He would probably have told +her that on such an occasion there was but little chance that she +would find any visitors, and none at all that she would find +Arthur Fletcher. But she was too confused and too ill at ease to +think of the probabilities, and to the last was in trepidation, +specially lest she should meet her lover. She found, however, at +Wharton Hall none but Whartons, and she found also to her great +relief that this change in the heir relieved her of much of the +attention which must otherwise have added to her troubles. At +the first glance her dress and demeanour struck them so forcibly +that they could not avoid showing their feeling. Of course they +had expected to see her in black,--had expected to see her in +widow's weeds. But, with her, her very face and limbs had so +adapted themselves to her crape, that she looked like a monument +of bereaved woe. Lady Wharton took the mourner up into her own +room, and there made her a little speech. 'We have all wept for +you,' she said, 'and grieve for you still. But excessive grief +is wicked, especially in the young. We will do our best to make +you happy, and hope we shall succeed. All this about dear +Everett ought to be a comfort to you.' Emily promised that she +would do her best, not, however, taking much immediate comfort +from the prospects of dear Everett. Lady Wharton certainly had +never in her life spoken of dear Everett while the wicked cousin +was alive. Then Mary Wharton also made her little speech. 'Dear +Emily, I will do all that I can. Pray try to believe me.' But +Everett was so much the hero of the hour, that there was not much +room for general attention to anyone else. + +There was very much room for triumph in regard to Everett. It +had already been ascertained that the Wharton who was now dead +had had a child,--but that the child was a daughter. Oh,--what +salvation or destruction there may be to an English gentleman in +the sex of an infant! This poor baby was now little better than +a beggar brat, unless the relatives who were utterly disregardful +of its fate, should choose, in their charity, to make some small +allowance for its maintenance. Had it by chance been a boy +Everett Wharton would have been nobody; and the child, rescued +from the iniquities of his parents, would have been nursed in the +best bedroom of Wharton Hall, and cherished with the warmest +kisses, and would have been the centre of all the hopes of the +Whartons. But the Wharton lawyer by use of reckless telegrams +had certified himself that the infant was a girl, and Everett was +the hero of the day. He found himself to be possessed of a +thousand graces, even in his father's eyesight. It seemed to be +taken as a mark of his special good fortune that he had not clung +to any business. To have been a banker immersed in the making of +money, or even a lawyer attached to his circuit and his court, +would have lessened his fitness, or at any rate his readiness, +for the duties which he would have to perform. He would never be +a very rich man, but he would have command of ready money, and of +course he would go into Parliament. + +In his new position as,--not quite head of the family, but head +expectant,--it seemed to him to be his duty to lecture his +sister. It might be well that someone should lecture her with +more severity than her father used. Undoubtedly she was +succumbing to the wretchedness of her position in a manner that +was repugnant to humanity generally. There is not power so +useful to a man as that capacity of recovering himself after a +fall, which belongs especially to those who possess a healthy +mind in a healthy body. It is not rare to see one,--generally a +woman,--whom sorrow gradually kills; and there are those among +us, who hardly perhaps envy, but certainly admire, a spirit so +delicate as to be snuffed out by a woe. But it is the weakness +of the heart rather than the strength of the feeling which has in +such cases most often produced the destruction. Some endurance +of fibre has been wanting, which power of endurance is a noble +attribute. Everett Wharton saw something of this, and being, +now, the heir apparent of the family, took his sister to task. +'Emily,' he said, 'you make us all unhappy when we look at you.' + +'Do I?' she said. 'I am sorry for that;--but why should you +look at me?' + +'Because you are one of us. Of course we cannot shake you off. +We would not if we could. We have all been very unhappy because, +--because of what has happened. But don't you think you ought to +make some sacrifice to us,--to our father, I mean, and to Sir +Alured and Lady Wharton? When you go on weeping, other people +have to weep too. I have an idea that people ought to be happy +if it be only for the sake of neighbours.' + +'What am I to do, Everett?' + +'Talk to people a little, and smile sometimes. Move about +quicker. Don't look when you come into a room as if you were +consecrating it to tears. And, if I may venture to say so, drop +something of the heaviness of the mourning.' + +'Do you mean that I am a hypocrite?' + +'No;--I mean nothing of the kind. You know I don't. But you +may exert yourself for the benefit of others without being untrue +to your own memories. I am sure you know what I mean. Make a +struggle and see if you cannot do something.' + +She did make a struggle, and she did do something. No one, not +well versed in the mysteries of feminine dress, could say very +accurately what it was that she had done; but everyone felt that +something of the weight was reduced. At first, as her brother's +words came upon her ear, and as she felt the blows which they +inflicted on her, she accused him in her heart of cruelty. They +were very hard to hear. There was a moment in which she was +almost tempted to turn upon him and tell him that he knew nothing +of her sorrows. But she restrained herself, and when she was +alone she acknowledged to herself that he had spoken the truth. +No one has a right to go about the world as Niobe, damping all +joys with selfish tears. What did she not owe to her father, who +had warned her so often against the evil she had contemplated, +and had then, from the first moment after the fault was done, +forgiven her the doing of it? She had at any rate learned from +her misfortunes the infinite tenderness of his heart, which in +the days of the unalloyed prosperity he had never felt the +necessity of expressing to her. So she struggled and did do +something. She pressed Lady Wharton's hand, and kissed her +cousin Mary, and throwing herself in her father's arms when they +were alone, whispered to him that she would try. 'What you told +me, Everett, was quite right,' she said afterwards to her +brother. + +'I didn't mean to be savage,' he answered with a smile. + +'It was quite right, and I have thought of it, and I will do my +best. I will keep it to myself if I can. It is not quite, +perhaps, what you think it is, but I will keep it to myself.' +She fancied that they did not understand her, and perhaps she was +right. It was not only that he had died and left her a young +widow;--nor even that his end had been so harsh a tragedy and so +foul a disgrace! It was not only that her love had been +misbestowed,--not only that she had made so grievous an error in +the one great act of her life which she had chosen to perform on +her own judgement. Perhaps the most crushing memory of all was +that which told her that she, who had through all her youth been +regarded as a bright star in the family, had been the one person +to bring reproach upon the name of all these people who were so +good to her. How shall a person conscious of disgrace, with a +mind capable of feeling the crushing weight of personal disgrace, +move and look and speak as though the disgrace had been washed +away? But she made the struggle, and did not altogether fail. + +As regarded Sir Alured, in spite of the poor widow's crape, he +was very happy at this time, and his joy did in some degree +communicate itself to the old barrister. Everett was taken +round to every tenant and introduced as the heir. Mr Wharton had +already declared his purpose of abdicating any possible +possession of the property. Should he outlive Sir Alured he must +be the baronet; but when that sad event should take place, +whether Mr Wharton should then be alive or no, Everett should at +once be the possessor of Wharton Hall. Sir Alured, under these +circumstances, discussed his own death with extreme satisfaction, +and insisted on having it discussed by the others. That he +should have gone and left everything at the mercy of the +spendthrift had been terrible to his old heart;--but now, the +man coming to the property would have 60,000 pounds with which to +support and foster Wharton, with which to mend, as it were, the +crevices, and stop the holes of the estate. He seemed to be +almost impatient for Everett's ownership, giving many hints as to +what should be done when he himself was gone. He must surely +have thought that he would return to Wharton a spirit, and take a +ghostly share in the prosperity of the farm. 'You will find John +Griffith a very good man,' said the baronet. John Griffith had +been a tenant on the estate for the last half-century, and was an +older man than his landlord; but the baronet spoke of all this as +though he himself were about to leave Wharton for ever in the +course of the next week. 'John Griffith has been a good man, and +if not always quite ready with his rent, has never been much +behind. You won't be hard on John Griffith?' + +'I hope I mayn't have the opportunity, sir.' + +'Well;--well;--well; that's as may be. But I don't quite know +what to say about young John. The farm has gone from father to +son, and there's never been any word of a lease.' + +'Is there anything wrong about the young man?' + +'He's a little given to poaching.' + +'Oh dear!' + +'I've always got him off for his father's sake. They say he's +going to marry Sally Jones. That may take it out of him. I do +like the farms to go from father to son, Everett. It's the way +that everything should go. Of course there's no right.' + +'Nothing of that kind, I suppose,' said Everett, who was in his +way a reformer, and had radical notions with which he would not +for worlds have disturbed the baronet at present. + +'No;--nothing of that kind. God in his mercy forbid that a +landlord in England should ever be robbed after that fashion.' +Sir Alured, when he was uttering this prayer, was thinking of +what he had heard of in an Irish land bill, the details of which, +however, had been altogether incomprehensible to him. 'But I +have a feeling about it, Everett; and I hope you will share it. +It is good that things should go from father to son. I never +make a promise; but the tenants know what I think about it, and +then the father works on the son. Why should he work for a +stranger? Sally Jones is a very good young woman, and perhaps +John will do better.' There was not field or fence that he did +not show to his heir;--hardly a tree which he left without a +word. 'That bit of woodland coming in there,--they call it +Barnton Spinnies,--doesn't belong to the estate at all.' + +'Doesn't it really?' + +'And it comes right in between Lane's farm and Paddock's. +They've always let me have the shooting as a compliment. Not +that there's anything in it. It's only seven acres. But I like +the civility.' + +'Who does it belong to?' + +'It belongs to Benet.' + +'What: Corpus Christi?' + +'Yes, yes;--they've changed the name. It used to be Benet in my +days. Walker and the College would certainly sell, but you'd +have to pay for the land and the wood separately. I don't know +that you'd get much out of it; but it's unsightly;--on the +survey map, I mean.' + +'We'll buy it by all means,' said Everett, who was already +jingling his 60,000 pounds in his pocket. + +'I never had the money, but I think it should be bought.' And +Sir Alured rejoiced in the idea that when his ghost should look +at the survey map, that hiatus of Barnton Spinnies would not +trouble his spectral eyes. + +In this way months ran on at Wharton. Our Whartons had come down +in the latter half of August, and at the beginning of September +Mr Wharton returned to London. Everett, of course, remained, as +he was still learning the lesson of which he was in truth +becoming a little weary; and at last Emily had also been +persuaded to stay in Hertfordshire. Her father promised to +return, not mentioning any precise time, but giving her to +understand that he would come before the winter. He went, and +probably found that his taste for the Eldon and for whist had +returned to him. In the middle of November old Mrs Fletcher +arrived. Emily was not aware of what was being done; but, in +truth, the Fletchers and Whartons combined were conspiring with a +view of bringing her back to her former self. Mrs Fletcher had +not yielded without some difficulty,--for it was a part of this +conspiracy that Arthur was to be allowed to marry the widow. But +John had prevailed. 'He'll do it anyway, mother,' he had said, +'whether you and I like it or not. And why on earth shouldn't he +do as he pleases?' + +'Think what the man was, John!' + +'It's more to the purpose to think what the woman is. Arthur has +made up his mind, and if I know him, he's not the man to be +talked out of it.' And so the old woman had given in, and had at +last consented to go forward as the advanced guard of Fletchers, +and lay siege to the affections of the woman whom she had once so +thoroughly discarded from her heart. + +'My dear,' she said, when they first met, 'if there has been +anything wrong between you and me, let it be among the things +that are past. You always used to kiss me. Give me a kiss now.' +Of course Emily kissed her; and after that Mrs Fletcher patted +her and petted her, and gave her lozenges, which she declared in +private to be 'the sovereignest thing on earth' for debilitated +nerves. And then it came out by degrees that John Fletcher and +his wife and all the little Fletchers were coming to Wharton for +the Christmas weeks. Everett had gone, but was also to be back +for Christmas, and Mr Wharton's visit was also postponed. It was +absolutely necessary that Everett should be at Wharton for the +Christmas festivities, and expedient that Everett's father should +be there to see them. In this way Emily had no means of escape. +Her father wrote telling her of his plans, saying that he would +bring her back after Christmas. Everett's heirship had made these +Christmas festivities,--which were, however, to be confined to +the two families,--quite a necessity. In all this not a word +was said about Arthur, nor did she dare to ask whether he was +expected. The younger Mrs Fletcher, John's wife, opened her arms +to the widow in a manner that almost plainly said that she +regarded Emily as her future sister-in-law. John Fletcher talked +to her about Longbarns, and the children,--complete Fletcher +talk,--as though she were already one of them, never, however, +mentioning Arthur's name. The old lady got down a fresh supply +of the lozenges from London because those she had by her might +perhaps be a little stale. And then there was another sign which +after a while became plain to Emily. No one in either family +ever mentioned her name. It was not singular that none of them +should call her Mrs Lopez, as she was Emily to all of them. But +they never so described her even in speaking to the servants. +And the servants themselves, as far as possible, avoided that +odious word. The thing was to be buried, if not into oblivion, +yet in some speechless grave. And it seemed that her father was +joined in this attempt. When writing to her he usually made some +excuse for writing also to Everett, or, in Everett's absence, to +the baronet,--so that the letter for his daughter might be +enclosed and addressed simply to 'Emily'. + +She understood it all, and though she was moved to continual +solitary tears by this ineffable tenderness, yet she rebelled +against them. They should never cheat her back into happiness by +such wiles as that! It was not fit that she should yield to +them. As a woman utterly disgraced it could not become her again +to laugh and be joyful, to give and take loving embraces, to sit +and smile, perhaps a happy mother, at another man's hearth. For +their love she was grateful. For his love she was more than +grateful. How constant must be his heart, how grand his nature, +how more than manly his strength of character, when he was thus +true to her through all the evil she had done! Love him! Yes;-- +she would pray for him, worship him, fill the remainder of her +days with thinking of him, hoping for him, and making his +interests her own. Should he ever be married,--and she would +pray that he might,--his wife, if possible, should be her +friend, his children should be her darlings, and he should always +be her hero. But they should not, with all their schemes, cheat +her into disgracing him by marrying him. + +At last her father came, and it was he who told her that Arthur +was expected on the day before Christmas. 'Why did you not tell +me before, papa, so that I might have asked you to take me away?' + +'Because I thought, my dear, that it was better that you should +be constrained to meet him. You would not wish to live all your +life in terror of seeing Arthur Fletcher?' + +'Not all my life.' + +'Take the plunge and it will be over. They have all been very +good to you.' + +'Too good, papa. I didn't want it.' + +'They are your oldest friends. There isn't a young man in +England I think so highly of as John Fletcher. When I am gone, +where are you to look for friends?' + +'I'm not ungrateful, papa.' + +'You can't know them all, and yet keep yourself altogether +separate from Arthur. Think what it would be to me never to be +able to ask him to the house. He is the only one of the family +that lives in London, and now it seems that Everett will spend +most of his time down here. Of course it is better that you +should meet him and have done with it.' There was no answer to +be made to this, but still she was fixed in her resolution that +she would never meet him as her lover. + +Then came the morning of the day on which he was to arrive, and +his coming was for the first time spoken openly of at breakfast. +'How is Arthur to be brought from the station,' asked old Mrs +Fletcher. + +'I'm going to take the dog-cart,' said Everett. 'Giles will go +for the luggage with the pony. He is bringing down a lot of +things;--a new saddle and gun for me.' It had all been arranged +for her, this question and answer, and Emily blushed as she felt +that it was so. + +'We shall be glad to see Arthur,' said young Mrs Fletcher to her. + +'Of course you will.' + +'He has not been down here since the Session was over, and he has +got to be quite a speaking man now. I do so hope he'll become +something some day.' + +'I am sure he will,' said Emily. + +'Not a judge, however. I hate wigs. Perhaps he might be Lord +Chancellor in time.' Mrs Fletcher was not more ignorant than +some other ladies in being unaware of the Lord Chancellor's wig +and exact position. + +At last he came. The 9am express for Hereford,--express, at +least, for the first two or three hours out of London,--brought +passengers for Wharton to the nearest station at 3pm, and the +distance was not above five miles. Before four o'clock Arthur +was standing before the drawing-room fire, with a cup of tea in +his hand, surrounded by Fletchers and Whartons, and being made +much of as the young family member of Parliament. But Emily was +not in the room. She had studied her Bradshaw, and learned the +hours of the trains, and was now in her bedroom. He had looked +around the moment he entered the room, but had not dared to ask +for her suddenly. He had said one word about her to Everett in +the cart, and that had been all. She was in the house, and he +must, at any rate, see her before dinner. + +Emily, in order that she might not seem to escape abruptly, had +retired early to her solitude. But she, too, knew that the +meeting could not be long postponed. She sat thinking of it all, +and at last heard the wheels of the vehicle before the door. She +paused, listening with all her ears, that she might recognize his +voice, or possibly his footstep. She stood near the window, +behind the curtain, with her hand pressed to her heart. She heard +Everett's voice plainly as he gave some directions to the groom, +but from Arthur she heard nothing. Yet she was sure that he was +come. The very manner of the approach and her brother's word +made her certain that there had been no disappointment. She +stood thinking for a quarter of an hour, making up her mind how +best they might meet. Then suddenly, with slow but certain step, +she walked down into the drawing-room. + +No one expected her then, or something perhaps might have been +done to encourage her coming. It had been thought that she must +meet him before dinner, and her absence till then was to be +excused. But now she opened the door, and with much dignity of +mien walked into the middle of the room. Arthur at that moment +was discussing the Duke's chance for the next session, and Sir +Alured was asking with rapture whether the Conservative party +would not come in. Arthur Fletcher heard the step, turned round, +and saw the woman he loved. He went at once to meet her, very +quickly, and put out both his hands. She gave him hers, of +course. There was no excuse for her refusal. He stood for an +instant pressing them, looking eagerly into her sad face, and +then he spoke. 'God bless you, Emily!' he said. 'God bless +you!' He had thought of no words, and at the moment nothing else +occurred to him to be said. The colour had covered all his face, +and his heart beat so strongly that he was hardly his own master. +She let him hold her two hands, perhaps for a minute, and then, +bursting into tears, tore herself from him, and, hurrying out of +the room, made her way again into her own chamber. 'It will be +better so,' said old Mrs Fletcher. 'It will be better so. Do +not let anyone follow her.' + +On that day John Fletcher took her out to dinner, and Arthur did +not sit near her. In the evening he came to her as she was +working close to his mother, and seated himself on a low chair +close to her knees. 'We are all glad to see you; are we not, +mother?' + +'Yes, indeed,' said Mrs Fletcher. Then, after a while, the old +woman got up to make a rubber at whist with the two old men and +her elder son, leaving Arthur sitting at the widow's knees. She +would willingly have escaped, but it was impossible that she +should move. + +'You need not be afraid of me,' he said, not whispering, but in a +voice which no one else could hear. 'Do not seem to avoid me, +and I will say nothing to trouble you. I think that you must +wish that we should be friends.' + +'Oh, yes.' + +'Come out, then, to-morrow, when we are walking. In that way we +shall get used to each other. You are troubled now, and I will +go.' Then he left her, and she felt herself to be bound to him +by infinite gratitude. + +A week went on and she had become used to his company. A week +passed and he had spoken no word to her that a brother might not +have spoken. They had walked together when no one else had been +within hearing, and yet he had spared her. She had begun to +think that he would spare her altogether, and she was certainly +grateful. Might it not be that she had misunderstood him, and +had misunderstood the meaning of them all? Might it not be that +she had troubled herself with false anticipations? Surely it was +so; for how could it be that such a man should wish to make such +a woman his wife? + +'Well, Arthur?' said his brother to him one day. + +'I have nothing to say about it,' said Arthur. + +'You haven't changed your mind?' + +'Never! Upon my word, to me, in that dress, she is more +beautiful than ever.' + +'I wish you would make her take it off.' + +'I dare not ask her yet.' + +'You know what they say about widows generally.' + +'That is all very well when one talks about widows in general. +It is easy to chaff about women when one hasn't got any woman in +one's mind. But as it is now, having her here, loving her as I +do,--by Heaven! I cannot hurry her. I don't dare ask to speak +to her after that fashion. I shall do it in time, I suppose;-- +but I must wait till the time comes.' + + + +CHAPTER 71 + +THE LADIES AT LONGBARNS DOUBT. + +It came at last to be decided among them that when old Mr Wharton +returned to town,--and he had now been at Wharton longer than he +had ever been known to remain there before,--Emily should still +remain in Hertfordshire, and that at some period not then fixed +she should go for a month to Longbarns. There were various +reasons which induced her to consent to this change of plans. In +the first place she found herself to be infinitely more +comfortable in the country than in the town. She could go out +and move about and bestir herself, whereas in Manchester Square +she could only sit at home. Her father had assured her that he +thought that it would be better that she should be away from the +reminiscences of the house in town. And then when the first week +of February was past Arthur would be up in town, and she would be +far away from him at Longbarns, whereas in London she would be +close within his reach. Many little schemes were laid and +struggles made both by herself and the others before at last +their plans were settled. Mr Wharton was to return to London in +the middle of January. It was quite impossible that he could +remain longer away either from Stone Buildings or from the Eldon, +and then at the same time, or a day or two following, Mrs +Fletcher was to go back to Longbarns. John Fletcher and his wife +and children were already gone;--and Arthur also had been at +Longbarns. The two brothers and Everett had been backwards and +forwards. Emily was anxious to remain at Wharton at any rate +till Parliament should have met, so that she might not be at home +with Arthur in his own house. But matters would not arrange +themselves exactly as she wished. It was at last settled that +she should go to Longbarns with Mary Wharton under the charge of +John Fletcher in the first week in February. As arrangements +were already in progress for the purchase of Barnton Spinnies, +Sir Alured could not possibly leave his own house. Not to have +walked through the wood on the first day it became part of the +Wharton property would to him have been treason to the estate. +His experience ought to have told him that there was no chance of +a lawyer and a college dealing together with such rapidity; but +in the present state of things he could not bear to absent +himself. Orders had already been given for the cutting down of +certain trees which could not have been touched had the reprobate +lived, and it was indispensable that if a tree fell at Wharton he +should see the fall. It thus came to pass that there was a week +during which Emily would be forced to live under the roof of the +Fletchers together with Arthur Fletcher. + +The week came and she was absolutely received by Arthur at the +door of Longbarns. She had not been at the house since it had +first been intimated to the Fletchers that she was disposed to +receive with favour the addresses of Ferdinand Lopez. As she +remembered this it seemed to her to be an age ago since that man +had induced her to believe that of all the men she had ever met +he was the nearest to a hero. She never spoke of him now, but of +course her thoughts of him were never ending,--as also of +herself in that she had allowed herself to be so deceived. She +would recall to her mind with bitter inward sobbings all those +lessons of iniquity which he had striven to teach her, and which +had first opened her eyes to his true character--how sedulously +he had endeavoured to persuade her that it was her duty to rob +her father on his behalf, how continually he had endeavoured to +make her think that appearance in the world was everything, and +that, being in truth poor adventurers, it behoved them to cheat +the world into thinking them rich and respectable. Every hint +that had been so given had been a wound to her, and those wounds +were all now remembered. Though since his death she had never +allowed a word to be spoken in her presence against him, she +could not but hate his memory. How glorious was that other man +in her eyes, as he stood there at the door welcoming her to +Longbarns, fair-haired, open-eyed, with bronzed brow and cheek, +and surly the honestest face that a loving woman ever loved to +gaze on. During the various lessons she had learned in her +married life, she had become gradually but surely aware that the +face of that other man had been dishonest. She had learned the +false meaning of every glance of his eyes, the subtlety of his +mouth, the counterfeit manoeuvres of his body,--the deceit even +of his dress. He had been all a lie from head to foot, and he +had thrown her love aside as useless when she also would not be a +liar. And here was this man,--spotless in her estimation, +compounded of all good qualities, which she could now see and +take at their proper value. She hated herself for the simplicity +with which she had been cheated by soft words and a false +demeanour into so great a sacrifice. + +Life at Longbarns was very quiet during the days which she passed +there before she left them. She was frequently alone with him, +but he, if he still loved her, did not speak of his love. He +explained it all one day to his mother. 'If it is to be,' said +the old lady, 'I don't see the use of more delay. Of course the +marriage ought not to be till March twelvemonths. But if it is +understood that it is to be, she might alter her dress by +degrees,--and alter her manner of living. These things should +always be done by degrees. I think it had better be settled, +Arthur, if it is to be settled.' + +'I am afraid, mother.' + +'Dear me! I didn't think you were the man ever to be afraid of a +woman. What can she say to you?' + +'Refuse me.' + +'Then you had better know at once. But I don't think she'll be +fool enough for that.' + +'Perhaps you hardly understand her, mother.' + +Mrs Fletcher shook her head with a look of considerable +annoyance. 'Perhaps not. But, to tell you the truth, I don't +like young women whom I can't understand. Young women shouldn't +be mysterious. I like people of whom I can give a pretty good +guess what they'll do. I'm sure I never could have guessed that +she would have married that man.' + +'If you love me, mother, do not let that be mentioned between us +again. When I said that you did not understand her, I did not +mean that she was mysterious. I think that before he died, and +since his death, she learned of what sort that man was. I will +not say that she hates his memory, but she hates herself for what +she has done.' + +'So she ought,' said Mrs Fletcher. + +'She has not yet brought herself to think that her life should be +anything but one long period of mourning, not for him, but for +her own mistake. You may be quite sure that I am in earnest. It +is not because I doubt of myself that I put it off. But I fear +that if once she asserts to me her resolution to remain as she +is, she will feel herself bound to keep her word.' + +'I suppose she is very much the same as other women, after all, +my dear,' said Mrs Fletcher, who was almost jealous of the +peculiar superiority of sentiment which her son seemed to +attribute to this woman. + +'Circumstances, mother, make people different,' he replied. + +'So you are going without having anything fixed,' his elder +brother said to him the day before he started. + +'Yes, old fellow. It seems to be rather slack;--doesn't it?' + +'I dare say you know best what you're about. But if you have set +your mind on it-' + +'You may take your oath on that.' + +'Then I don't see why one word shouldn't put it all right. There +never is any place so good for that kind of thing as a country +house.' + +'I don't think that with her it will make much difference where +the house is, or what the circumstances.' + +'She knows what you mean as well as I do.' + +'I dare say she does, John. She must have a very bad idea of me +if she doesn't. But she may know what I mean and not mean the +same thing herself.' + +'How are you to know if you don't ask her?' + +'You may be sure that I shall ask her as soon as I can hope that +my doing so may give her more pleasure than pain. Remember, I +have had all this out with her father. I have determined that I +will wait till twelve months have passed since that wretched man +perished.' + +On that afternoon before dinner he was alone with her in the +library some minutes before they went up to dress for dinner. 'I +shall hardly see you to-morrow,' he said, 'as I must leave this +at half-past eight. I breakfast at eight. I don't suppose +anyone will be down except my mother.' + +'I am generally as early as that. I will come down and see you +start.' + +'I am so glad that you have been here, Emily.' + +'So am I. Everybody has been so good to me.' + +'It has been like old days,--almost.' + +'It will never quite be like old days again, I think. But I have +been very glad to be here;--and at Wharton. I sometimes almost +wish that I were never going back to London again,--only for +papa.' + +'I like London myself.' + +'You! Yes, of course you like London. You have everything in +life before you. You have things to do, and much to hope for. +It is all beginning for you, Arthur.' + +'I am five years older than you are.' + +'What does that matter? It seems to me that age does not go by +years. It is long since I have felt myself to be an old woman. +But you are quite young. Everybody is proud of you, and you +ought to be happy.' + +'I don't know,' said he, 'it is hard to say what makes a person +happy.' He almost made up his mind to speak to her then; but he +had made up his mind before to put it off still for a little +time, and he would not allow himself to be changed on the spur of +the moment. He had thought of it much, and he had almost taught +himself to think that it would be better for herself that she +should not accept another man's love so soon. 'I shall come and +see you in town,' he said. + +'You must come and see papa. It seems to me that Everett is to +be a great deal at Wharton. I had better go up to dress now, or +I shall be keeping them waiting.' He put his hand to her, and +wished her good-bye, excusing himself by saying that they should +not be alone together before he started. + +She saw him go on the next morning,--and then she almost felt +herself to be abandoned, almost deserted. It was a fine crisp +winter day, dry and fresh, and clear, but with the frost still on +the ground. After breakfast she went out to walk by herself in +the long shrubbery paths which went round the house, and here she +remained for above an hour. She told herself that she was very +thankful to him for not having spoken to her on a subject so +unfit for her ears as love. She strengthened herself in her +determination never again to listen to a man willingly on that +subject. She had made herself quite unfit to have any dealings +of that nature. It was not that she could not love. Oh no! She +knew well enough that she did love,--love will all her heart. If +it were not that she were so torn to rags that she was not fit to be +worn again, she could now have thrown herself into his arms with +a whole heaven of joy before her. A woman, she told herself, had +no right to a second chance in life, after having made a +shipwreck of herself in the first. But the danger of being +seduced from her judgement by Arthur Fletcher was all over. He +had been near her for the last week and had not spoken a word. +He had been in the same house with her for the last ten days and +had been with her as a brother might be with his sister. It was +not only she who had seen the propriety of this. He also had +acknowledged it, and she was--grateful to him. As she +endeavoured in her solitude to express her gratitude in spoken +words the tears rolled down her cheeks. She was glad, she told +herself, very glad that it was so. How much trouble and pain to +both of them would thus be spared! And yet her tears were bitter +tears. It was better as it was;--and yet one word of love would +have been very sweet. She almost thought that she would have +liked to tell him that for his sake, for his dear sake, she would +refuse--that which now would never be offered to her. She was +quite clear as to the rectitude of her own judgement, clear as +ever. And yet her heart was heavy with disappointment. + +It was the end of March before she left Hertfordshire for London, +having spent the greater part of the time at Longbarns. The +ladies at that place were moved by many doubts as to what would +be the end of all this. Mrs Fletcher the elder at last almost +taught herself to believe that there would be no marriage, and +having got back to that belief, was again opposed to the idea of +marriage. Anything and everything that Arthur wanted he ought to +have. The old lady felt no doubt as to that. When convinced +that he did not want to have the widow,--this woman whose life +had hitherto been so unfortunate,--she had for his sake taken +the woman again by the hand, and had assisted in making her one +of themselves. But how much better it would it be that Arthur +should think better of it! It was the maddest constancy,--this +clinging to the widow of such a man as Ferdinand Lopez! If there +were any doubt, then she would be prepared to do all she could to +prevent the marriage. Emily had been forgiven, and the pardon +bestowed must of course be continued. But she might be pardoned +without being made Mrs Arthur Fletcher. While Emily was still at +Longbarns the old lady almost talked over her daughter-in-law to +this way of thinking,--till John Fletcher put his foot upon it +altogether. 'I don't pretend to say what she may do,' he said. + +'Oh, John,' said his mother, 'to hear a man like you talk like +that is absurd. She'd jump at him if he looked at her with half +an eye.' + +'What she may do,' he continued saying, without appearing to +listen to his mother, 'I cannot say. But that he will ask her to +be his wife is as certain as I stand here.' + + + +CHAPTER 72 + +'HE THINKS THAT OUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED.' + +All the details of the new County Suffrage Bill were settled at +Matching during the recess between Mr Monk, Phineas Finn, and a +very experienced man from the Treasury, one Mr Prime, who was +supposed to know more about such things than any man living, and +was consequently called Constitution Charlie. He was an elderly +man, over sixty years of age, who remembered the Reform Bill, and +had been engaged in the doctoring of constituencies ever since. +The bill, if passed, would be mainly his bill, and yet the world +would never hear his name connected with it. Let us hope that +he was comfortable at Matching, and that he found his consolation +in the smiles of the Duchess. During this time the old Duke was +away, and even the Prime Minister was absent for some days. He +would fain have busied himself about the bill himself, but was +hardly allowed by his colleagues to have any hand in framing it. +The great points of the measure had of course been arranged in +the Cabinet,--where, however, Mr Monk's views had been adopted +almost without a change. It may not perhaps be too much to +assume that one or two members of the Cabinet did not quite +understand the full scope of every suggested clause. The effects +which causes will produce, the dangers which may be expected from +this or that change, the manner in which this or that proposition +will come out in the washing, do not strike even Cabinet +Ministers at a glance. A little study in a man's own cabinet, +after perhaps reading a few leading articles, and perhaps a +short conversation with an astute friend or two, will enable a +statesman to be strong at a given time for, or ever, if +necessary, against a measure, who has listened in silence, and +has perhaps given his personal assent, to the original +suggestion. I doubt whether Lord Drummond, when he sat silent in +the Cabinet, had realized those fears which weighed upon him so +strongly afterwards, or had then foreseen that the adoption of a +nearly similar franchise for the counties and boroughs must +inevitably lead to the American system of numerical +representation. But when time had been given him, and he and Sir +Timothy Beeswax had talked it all over, the mind of no man was +ever clearer than that of Lord Drummond. + +The Prime Minister, with the diligence which belonged to him, had +mastered all the details of Mr Monk's bill before it was +discussed in the Cabinet, and yet he found that his assistance +was hardly needed in the absolute preparation. Had they allowed +him he would have done it all himself. But it was assumed that +he would not trouble himself with such work, and he perceived +that he was not wanted. Nothing of moment was settled without +reference to him. He required that everything should be +explained as it went on, down to the extension of every borough +boundary; but he knew that he was not doing it himself, and that +Mr Monk and Constitution Charlie had the prize between them. + +Nor did he dare ask Mr Monk what would be the fate of the bill. +To devote all one's time and mind and industry to a measure which +one knows will fall to the ground must be sad. Work under such +circumstances must be very grievous. But such is often the fate +of statesmen. Whether Mr Monk laboured under such a conviction +the Prime Minister did not know, though he saw his friend and +colleague almost daily. In truth no one dared to tell him +exactly what he thought. Even the old Duke had become partially +reticent, and taken himself off to his own woods at Long Royston. +To Phineas Finn the Prime Minister would sometimes say a word, +but would say even that timidly. On any abstract question, such +as that which he had discussed when they had been walking +together, he could talk freely enough. But on the matter of the +day, those affairs which were of infinite importance to himself, +and on which one would suppose he would take delight in speaking +to a trusted colleague, he could not bring himself to be open. +'It must be a long bill, I suppose?' + +'I'm afraid so, Duke. It will run, I fear, to over a hundred +clauses.' + +'It will take the best part of the Session to get through it?' + +'If we can have the second reading early in March, we hope to +send it up to you in the first week in June. That will give us +ample time.' + +'Yes;--yes. I suppose so.' But he did not dare to ask Phineas +Finn whether he thought that the House of Commons would assent to +the second reading. It was known at this time that the Prime +Minister was painfully anxious to the fate of the Ministry. It +seemed to be but the other day that everybody connected with the +Government was living in fear lest he should resign. His threats +in that direction had always been made to his old friend the Duke +of St Bungay; but a great man cannot whisper his thoughts without +having them carried in the air. In all the clubs it had been +declared that that was the rock by which the Coalition would +probably be wrecked. The newspapers had repeated the story, and +the "People's Banner" had assured the world that if it were so +the Duke of Omnium would thus do for his country the only good +service which it was possible that he should render it. That was +the time when Sir Orlando was mutinous and when Lopez had +destroyed himself. But now no such threat came from the Duke, +and the "People's Banner" was already accusing him of clinging to +power with pertinacious and unconstitutional tenacity. Had not +Sir Orlando deserted him? Was it not well known that Lord +Drummond and Sir Timothy Beeswax were only restrained from doing +so by a mistaken loyalty? + +Everybody came up to town, Mr Monk having his bill in his pocket, +and the Queen's speech was read, promising the County Suffrage +Bill. The address was voted with a very few words from either +side. The battle was not to be fought then. Indeed, the state +of things was so abnormal that there could hardly be said to be +any sides in the House. A stranger in the gallery, not knowing +the condition of affairs, would have thought that no minister had +for many years commanded so large a majority, as the crowd of +members was always on the Government side of the House; but the +opposition which Mr Monk expected would, he knew, come from those +who sat around him, behind him, and even at his very elbow. +About a week after Parliament met the bill was read for the first +time, and the second reading was appointed for an early day in +March. + +The Duke had suggested to Mr Monk the expedience of some further +delay, giving his reason the necessity of getting through certain +routine work, should the rejection of the bill create the +confusion of a resignation. No one who knew the Duke could ever +suspect him of giving a false reason. But it seemed that in this +the Prime Minister was allowing himself to be harassed by fears +of the future. Mr Monk thought that any delay would be injurious +and open to suspicion after what had been said and done, and was +urgent in his arguments. The Duke gave way, but he did so almost +sullenly, signifying his acquiescence with haughty silence. 'I +am sorry,' said Mr Monk, 'to differ from your Grace, but my +opinion in the matter is so strong that I do not dare to abstain +from expressing it.' The Duke bowed again and smiled. He had +intended that the smile should be acquiescent, but it had been as +cold as steel. He knew that he was misbehaving, but was not +sufficiently master of his own manner to be gracious. He told +himself on the spot,--though he was quite wrong in so telling +himself,--that he had now made an enemy also of Mr Monk, and +through Mr Monk of Phineas Finn. And now he felt that he had no +friend left in whom he could trust,--for the old Duke had become +cold and indifferent. The old Duke, he thought, was tired of his +work and anxious to rest. It was the old Duke who had brought +him into this hornet's nest; had fixed upon his back the unwilling +load; had compelled him to assume the place which now to lose +would be a disgrace,--and the old Duke was now deserting him! +He was sore all over, angry with everyone, ungracious even with +his private Secretary and his wife,--and especially miserable +because he was thoroughly aware of his own faults. And yet, +through it all, there was present to him a desire to fight on to +the very last. Let his colleagues do what they might, and say +what they might, he would remain Prime Minister of England as +long as he was supported by a majority in the House of Commons. + +'I do not know any greater ship than this,' Phineas said to him +pleasantly one day, speaking of their new measure, 'towards that +millennium of which we were talking at Matching, if we can only +accomplish it.' + +'Those moral speculations, Mr Finn,' he said, 'will hardly beat +the wear and tear of real life.' The words of the answer, +combined with the manner in which they were spoken, were stern +and almost uncivil. Phineas, at any rate, had done nothing to +offend him. The Duke paused, trying to find some expression by +which he might correct the injury he had done, but, not finding +any, passed on without further speech. Phineas shrugged his +shoulders and went his way, telling himself that he had received +one further injunction not to put his trust in princes. + +'We shall be beaten certainly,' said Mr Monk to Phineas not long +afterwards. + +'What makes you so sure?' + +'I smell it in the air. I see it in men's faces.' + +'And yet it's a moderate bill. They'll have to pass something +stronger before long if they throw it out now.' + +'It's not the bill that they'll reject, but us. We have served +our turn, and we ought to go.' + +'The House is tired of the Duke?' + +'The Duke is so good a man that I hardly like to admit even that, +--but I fear it is so. He is fretful and he makes enemies.' + +'I sometimes think that he is ill.' + +'He is ill at ease and sick at heart. He cannot hide his +chagrin, and then is double wretched because he has betrayed it. +I do not know that I ever respected, and, at the same time, pitied a +man more thoroughly.' + +'He snubbed me awfully yesterday,' said Phineas. + +'He cannot help himself. He snubs me at every word that he +speaks; yet I believe that is most anxious to be civil to me. +His ministry has been of great service to the country. For +myself, I shall never regret having joined it. But I think that +to him it has been a continual sorrow.' + +The system on which the Duchess had commenced her career as wife +of the Prime Minister had now been completely abandoned. In the +first place, she had herself become so weary of it that she had +been unable to continue the exertion. She had, too, become in +some degree ashamed of her failures. The names of Major Pountney +and Mr Lopez were not now pleasant to her ears, nor did she look +back with satisfaction on the courtesies she had lavished on Sir +Orlando or the smiles she had given to Sir Timothy Beeswax. +'I've known a good many vulgar people in my time,' she said one +day to Mrs Finn, 'but none ever so vulgar as our ministerial +supporters. You don't remember Mr Bott, my dear. He was before +your time;--one of the arithmetical men, a great friend of +Plantagenet's. He was very bad, but there have come up worse +since him. Sometimes, I think, I like a little vulgarity for a +change; but, upon my honour, when we get rid of all this it will +be a pleasure to go back to ladies and gentlemen.' This the +Duchess said in extreme bitterness. + +'It seems to me that you have pretty well got rid of "all this" +already.' + +'But I haven't got anybody else in their place. I have almost +made up my mind not to ask anyone into the house for the next +twelve months. I used to think that nothing would ever knock me +up, but now I feel that I'm almost done for. I hardly dare open +my mouth to Plantagenet. The Duke of St Bungay has cut me. Mr +Monk looks as ominous as an owl; and your husband hasn't a word +to say left. Barrington Erle hides his face and passes by when +he sees me. Mr Rattler did try to comfort me the other day by +saying that everything was at sixes and sevens, and I really took +it almost as a compliment to be spoken to. Don't you think +Plantagenet is ill?' + +'He is careworn.' + +'A man may be worn by care till there comes to be nothing left of +him. But he never speaks of giving up now. The old Bishop of St +Austell talks of resigning, and he has already made up his mind +who is to have the see. He used to consult the Duke about all +these things, but I don't think he ever consults anyone now. He +never forgave the Duke about Lord Earlybird. Certainly, if a man +wants to quarrel with all his friends, and to double the hatred +of all his enemies, he had better become Prime Minister.' + +'Are you really sorry that such was his fate, Lady Glen?' + +'Ah,--I sometimes ask myself that question, but I never get an +answer. I should have thought him a poltroon if he had declined. +It is to be the greatest man in the greatest country in the +world. Do ever so little and the men who write history must +write about you. And no man ever tried to be nobler than he till +--till--' + +'Make no exception. If he be careworn and ill and weary, his +manners cannot be the same as they were, but his purity is the +same as ever.' + +'I don't know that it would remain so. I believe in him, Marie, +more than in any man,--but I believe in none thoroughly. There +is a devil creeps in upon them when their hands are strengthened. +I do not know what I would have wished. Whenever I do wish, I +always wish wrong. Ah, me; when I think of all those people I +had down at Gatherum,--of the trouble I took, and of the +glorious anticipations in which I revelled, I do feel ashamed of +myself. Do you remember when I was determined that that wretch +should be member for Silverbridge?' + +'You haven't seen her since, Duchess?' + +'No; but I mean to see her. I couldn't make her first husband +member, and therefore the man who is member is to be her second +husband. But I'm almost sick of schemes. Oh dear, I wish I knew +something that was really pleasant to do. I have never really +enjoyed anything since I was in love, and I only liked that +because it was wicked.' + +The Duchess was wrong in saying that the Duke of St Bungay had +cut them. The old man still remembered the kiss and still +remembered the pledge. But he had found it very difficult to +maintain his old relations with his friend. It was his opinion +that the Coalition had done all that was wanted from it, and that +now had come the time when they might retire gracefully. It is, +no doubt, hard for a Prime Minister to find an excuse for going. +But if the Duke of Omnium would have been content to acknowledge +that he was not the man to alter the County Suffrage, an excuse +might have been found that would have been injurious to no one. +Mr Monk and Mr Gresham might have joined, and the present Prime +Minister might have resigned, explaining that he had done all +that he had been appointed to accomplish. He had, however, +yielded at once to Mr Monk, and now it was to be feared that the +House of Commons would not accept the bill from his hands. In +such a state of things,--especially after that disagreement +about Lord Earlybird,--it was difficult for the old Duke to +tender his advice. He was at every Cabinet Council; he always +came when his presence was required; he was invariably good- +humoured;--but it seemed to him that his work was done. He +could hardly volunteer to tell his chief and his colleague that +he would certainly be beaten in the House of Commons, and that +therefore there was little more now to be done than to arrange +the circumstances of their retirement. Nevertheless, as the +period of the second reading of the bill came on, he resolved +that he would discuss the matter with his friend. He owed it to +himself to do so, and he owed it to the man whom he had certainly +placed in his present position. On himself politics had imposed +a burden very much lighter than that which they had inflicted on +his more energetic and much less practical colleague. Through +his long life he had either been in office, or in such a position +that men were sure that he would soon return to it. He had taken +it, when it had come, willingly, and had always left without a +regret. As a man cuts in and out at a whist table, and enjoys +the game and the rest from the game, so had the Duke of St Bungay +been well pleased in either position. He was patriotic; but his +patriotism did not disturb his digestion. He had been ambitious, +--but moderately ambitious, and his ambition had been gratified. +It never occurred to him to be unhappy because he or his party +were beaten on a measure. When President of the Council, he +would do his duty and enjoy London life. When in opposition, he +could linger in Italy till May and devote his leisure to his +trees and his bullocks. He was always esteemed, always self- +satisfied, and always Duke of St Bungay. But with our Duke it +was very different. Patriotism with him was a fever, and the +public service an exacting mistress. As long as this had been +all he had still been happy. Not trusting in himself, he had never +aspired to great power. But now, now at last, ambition had laid +hold of him,--and the feeling, not perhaps uncommon with such +men, that personal dishonour attached to personal failure. What +would his future life be if he had so carried himself in his +great office as to have shown himself to be unfit to resume it? +Hitherto any office had sufficed him in which he might be useful; +--but now he must either be Prime Minister, or a silent, obscure, +and humbled man! + + DEAR DUKE, + I will be with you to-morrow morning at 11am, if you can + give me half-an-hour. +Yours affectionately, +ST. B. + +The Prime Minister received this note one afternoon, a day or two +before that appointed for the second reading, and meeting his +friend within an hour in the House of Lords, confirmed the +appointment. 'Shall I not rather come to you?' he said. But the +old Duke, who lived in St James's Square, declared that Carlton +Terrace would be on his way to Downing Street, and so the matter +was settled. Exactly at eleven the two Ministers met. 'I don't +like troubling you,' said the old man, 'when I know that you have +so much to think of.' + +'On the contrary, I have but little to think of,--and my +thoughts must be very much engaged, indeed, when they shall be +too full to admit of seeing you.' + +'Of course we are all anxious about this bill.' The Prime +Minister smiled. Anxious! Yes, indeed. His anxiety was of such +a nature that it kept him awake all night, and never for a moment +left his mind free by day. 'And of course we must be prepared as +to what shall be done either in the event of success or failure.' + +'You might as well read that,' said the other. 'It only reached +me this morning, or I should have told you of it.' The letter +was a communication from the Solicitor-General containing his +resignation. He had now studied the County Suffrage Bill closely, +and regretted to say that he could not give it conscientious +support. It was a matter of sincerest sorrow to him that his +relations so pleasant should be broken, but he must resign his +place, unless, indeed, the clauses as to redistribution could be +withdrawn. Of course he did not say this as expecting any such +concession would be made to his opinion, but merely as indicating +the matter on which his objection was so strong as to over-rule +all other considerations. All this he explained at great length. + +'The pleasantness of the relations must have all been on one +side,' said the veteran. 'He ought to have gone a long time +since.' + +'And Lord Drummond has already as good as said that unless we +will abandon the same clauses, he must oppose the bill in the +Lords.' + +'And resign, of course.' + +'He meant that, I presume. Lord Ramsden has not spoken to me.' + +'The clauses will not stick in his throat. Nor ought they. If +the lawyers have their own way about the law they should be +contented.' + +'The question is, whether in these circumstances we should +postpone the second reading?' asked the Prime Minister. + +'Certainly not,' said the other Duke. 'As to the Solicitor- +General you will have no difficulty. Sir Timothy was only placed +there as a concession to his party. Drummond will no doubt +continue to hold his office till we see what is done in the Lower +House. If the second reading be lost there,--why, then his +lordship can go with the rest of us.' + +'Rattler says we shall have a majority. He and Roby are quite +agreed about it. Between them they must know,' said the Prime +Minister, unintentionally pleading for himself. + +'They ought to know, if any men do;--but the crisis is +exceptional. I suppose you think that if the second reading is +lost we should resign?' + +'Oh;--certainly.' + +'Or, after that, if the bill is much mutilated in Committee? I +don't know that I shall personally break my own heart about the +bill. The existing difference in the suffrages is rather in +accordance with my prejudices. But the country desires the +measure, and I suppose we cannot consent to any material +alteration as these men suggest.' As he spoke he laid his hand +on Sir Timothy's letter. + +'Mr Monk would not hear of it,' said the Prime Minister. + +'Of course not. And you and I in this measure must stick to Mr +Monk. My great, indeed my only strong desire in the matter, is +to act in unison with you.' + +'You are always good and true, Duke.' + +'For my own part, I shall not in the least regret to find in all +this an opportunity for resigning. We have done our work, and +if, as I believe, a majority of the House would again support +either Gresham or Monk as the head of the entire Liberal party, I +think that that arrangement would be for the welfare of the +country.' + +'Why should it make any difference to you? Why should you not +return to the Council?' + +'I should not do so;--certainly not at once, probably never. +But you,--who are in the very prime of your life--' + +The Prime Minister did not smile now. He knit his brows and a +dark shadow came across his face. 'I don't think I could do +that,' he said. 'Caesar would hardly have led a legion under +Pompey.' + +'It has been done, greatly to the service of the country, and +without the slightest loss of honour or character in him who did +it.' + +'We need hardly talk of that, Duke. You think then that we shall +fail;--fail, I mean in the House of Commons. I do not know that +failure in our House should be regarded as fatal.' + +'In three cases we should fail. The loss of any material clause +in Committee would be as bad as the loss of the bill.' + +'Oh yes.' + +'And then, in spite of Messrs Rattler and Roby,--who have been +wrong before and may be wrong now,--we may lose the second +reading.' + +'And the third chance against us?' + +'You would not probably try to carry on the bill with a very +small majority.' + +'Not with three or four.' + +'Nor, I think, with six or seven. It would be useless. My own +belief is that we shall never carry the bill into Committee.' + +'I have always known you to be right, Duke.' + +'I think that the general opinion has set in that direction, and +general opinion is generally right. Having come to that +conclusion I thought it best to tell you, in order that we might +have our house in order.' The Duke of Omnium, with all his +haughtiness and all his reserve, was the simplest man in the +world and the least apt to pretend to be that which he was not, +sighed deeply when he heard this. 'For my own part,' continued +the elder, 'I feel no regret that it should be so.' + +'It is the first large measure that we have tried to carry.' + +'We did not come in to carry large measures, my friend. Look +back and see how many large measures Pitt carried;--but he took +the country safely through its most dangerous crisis.' + +'What have we done?' + +'Carried on the Queen's Government prosperously for three years. +Is that nothing for a minister to do? I have never been a friend +of great measures, knowing that when they come fast, one after +another, more is broken in the rattle than is repaired by the +reform. We have done what Parliament and the country expected us +to do, and to my poor judgement we have done it well.' + +'I do not feel such self-satisfaction, Duke. Well;--we must see +it out, and if it is as you anticipate, I shall be ready. Of +course I have prepared myself for it. And if, of late, my mind +has been less turned to retirement than it used to be, it has +been because I have become wedded to this measure, and have +wished it that it should be carried under our auspices.' Then +the old Duke took his leave, and the Prime Minister was left +alone to consider the announcement that had been made to him. + +He had said that he had prepared himself, but, in so saying, he +had hardly known himself. Hitherto, though he had been troubled +by many doubts, he had still hoped. The report made to him by Mr +Rattler, backed as it had been by Mr Roby's assurances, had +almost sufficed to give him confidence. But Mr Rattler and Mr +Roby combined were as nothing to the Duke of St Bungay. The +Prime Minister knew now,--that his days were numbered. The +resignation of that lingering old bishop was not completed, and +the person whom he believed would not have the see. He had +meditated the making of a peer or two, having hitherto been +cautious in that respect, but he would do nothing of the kind if +called upon by the House of Commons to resign with an uncompleted +measure. But his thoughts soon ran away from the present to the +future. What was now to become of himself? How should he live +his future life;--he who as yet had not passed his forty-seventh +year? He regretted much having made that apparently pretentious +speech about Caesar, though he knew his old friend well enough to +be sure that it would never be used against him. Who was he that +he should class himself among the big ones of the world? A man +may indeed measure small things by great, but the measurer should +be careful to declare his own littleness when he illustrates his +position by that of the topping ones of the earth. But the thing +said had been true. Let the Pompey be who he might, he, the +little Caesar of the day, could never now command another legion. + +He had once told Phineas Finn that he regretted that he had +abstained from the ordinary amusements of English gentlemen. But +he had abstained from their ordinary occupations,--except so far +as politics is one of them. He cared nothing for oxen or for +furrows. In regard to his own land he hardly knew whether the +farms were large or small. He had been a scholar, and after a +certain fitful fashion he had maintained his scholarship, but the +literature to which he had been really attached had been that of +blue books and newspapers. What was he to do with himself when +called upon to resign? And he understood,--or thought that he +understood,--his position too well to expect that after a while, +with the usual interval, he might return to power. He had been +Prime Minister, not as the leading politician on either side, not +as the king of the party, but,--so he told himself,--as a stop- +gap. There could be nothing for him now till the insipidity of +life should gradually fade away into the grave. + +After a while he got up and went off to his wife's apartment, the +room in which she used to prepare her triumphs and where now she +contemplated her disappointments. 'I have had the Duke with me,' +he said. + +'What;--at last?' + +'I do not know that he could have done any good by coming +sooner.' + +'And what does his Grace say?' + +'He thinks our days are numbered.' + +'Psha!--is that all? I could have told him that ever so long +ago. It was hardly necessary that he should disturb himself at +last to come and tell us such well-ventilated news. There isn't +a porter at one of the clubs who doesn't know it.' + +'Then there will be the less surprise,--and to those who are +concerned perhaps the less mortification.' + +'Did he tell you who was to succeed you?' asked the Duchess. + +'Not precisely.' + +'He ought to have done that, as I am sure he knows. Everybody +knows except you, Plantagenet.' + +'If you know, you can tell me.' + +'Of course I can. It is Mr Monk.' + +'With all my heart, Glencora. Mr Monk is a very good man.' + +'I wonder whether he'll do anything for us. Think how destitute +we shall be! What if I were to ask him for a place! Would he +not give it us?' + +'Will it make you unhappy, Cora?' + +'What;--your going?' + +'Yes;--the change altogether.' + +She looked him in the face for a moment before she answered, with +a peculiar smile in her eyes to which he was well used,--a smile +half ludicrous, half pathetic,--having in it also a dash of +sarcasm. 'I can dare to tell the truth,' she said, 'which you +can't. I can be honest and straightforward. Yes, it will make +me unhappy. And you?' + +'Do you think that I cannot be honest too,--at any rate to you? +It does fret me. I do not like to think that I shall be without +work.' + +'Yes;--Othello's occupation will be gone,--for a while, for a +while.' Then she came up to him and put both her hands on his +breast. 'But yet, Othello, I shall not be unhappy.' + +'Where will be your contentment?' + +'In you. It was making you ill. Rough people whom the +tenderness of your nature could not well endure, trod upon you, +and worried you with their teeth and wounded you everywhere. I +could have turned at them again with my teeth, and given them +worry for worry;--but you could not. Now you will be saved from +them, and so I shall not be discontented.' All this she said +looking up into his face, still with that smile which was half +pathetic and half ludicrous. + +'Then I shall be contented too,' he said as he kissed her. + + + +CHAPTER 73 + +ONLY THE DUKE OF OMNIUM. + +The night of the debate arrived, but before the debate was +commenced, Sir Timothy Beeswax got up to make a personal +explanation. He thought it right to state to the House how it +came to pass that he found himself bound to leave the Ministry at +so important a crisis in its existence. Then an observation was +made by an honourable member of the Government,--presumably in a +whisper, but still loud enough to catch the sharp ears of Sir +Timothy, who now sat just below the gangway. It was said +afterwards that the gentleman who made the observation,--an +Irish gentleman named Fitzgibbon, conspicuous rather for his +loyalty to his party than his steadiness,--had purposely taken +the place in which he then sat, that Sir Timothy might hear his +whisper. The whisper suggested that falling houses were often +left by certain animals. It was certainly a very loud whisper,-- +but, if gentlemen are to be allowed to whisper at all, it is +almost impossible to restrain the volume of the voice. To +restrain Mr Fitzgibbon had always been found difficult. Sir +Timothy, who did not lack pluck, turned at once upon his +assailant, and declared that words had been used with reference +to himself which the honourable member did not dare to get upon +his legs and repeat. Larry Fitzgibbon, as the gentleman was +called, looked him full in the face, but did not move his hat +from his head or stir a limb. It was a pleasant little episode +in the evening's work, and afforded satisfaction to the House +generally. The details of the measure, as soon as they were made +known to him, appeared to him, he said, to be fraught with the +gravest and most pernicious consequences. He was sure that +members of her Majesty's Government, who were hurrying on this +measure with what he thought was an indecent haste,--ministers +are always either indecent in haste or treacherous in their +delay,--had not considered what they were doing, or, if they had +considered, were blind as to the results. He then attempted to +discuss the details of the measure, but was called to order. A +personal explanation could not be allowed to give an opportunity +of anticipating the debate. He contrived, however, before he sat +down, to say some very heavy things against his late chief, and +especially to congratulate the Duke on the services of the +honourable gentleman, the member for Mayo,--meaning thereby Mr +Laurence Fitzgibbon. + +It would have perhaps been well for everybody if the measure +could have been withdrawn and the Ministry could have resigned +without the debate,--as everybody was convinced what would be +the end of it. Let the second reading go as it might, the bill +could not be carried. There are measures which require the +hopeful heartiness of a new Ministry, and the thoroughgoing +energy of a young Parliament,--and this was one of them. The +House was as fully agreed that this change was necessary, as it +ever agreed on any subject,--but still the thing could not be +done. Even Mr Monk, who was the most earnest of men, felt the +general slackness of all around him. The commotion and +excitement which would be caused by a change of Ministry might +restore its proper tone to the House, but at its present +condition it was unfit for its work. Nevertheless Mr Monk made +his speech, and put all his arguments into lucid order. He knew +it was for nothing, but nevertheless it must be done. For hour +after hour he went on,--for it was necessary to give every +detail of his contemplated proposition. He went through it as +sedulously as though he had expected to succeed, and sat down +about nine o'clock in the evening. Then Sir Orlando moved the +adjournment of the House till the morrow, giving as his reason +for doing so, the expedience of considering the details he had +heard. To this no opposition was made, and the House was +adjourned. + +On the following day the clubs were all alive with rumours as to +the coming debate. It was known that a strong party had been +formed under the auspices of Sir Orlando, and that with him Sir +Timothy and other politicians were in close council. It was of +course necessary that they should impart to many the secrets of +their conclave, so that it was known early in the afternoon that +it was the intention of the Opposition not to discuss the bill, +but to move that it be read again that day six months. The +Ministry had hardly expected this, as the bill was undoubtedly +popular both in the House and the country; and if the Opposition +should be beaten in such a course, that defeat would tend greatly +to strengthen the hands of the Government. But if the foe should +succeed in carrying a positive veto on the second reading, it +would under all the circumstances be tantamount to a want of +confidence. 'I'm afraid they know almost more than we do as to +the feeling of members,' said Mr Roby to Mr Rattler. + +'There isn't a man in the House whose feeling in the matter I +don't know,' said Rattler, 'but I'm not quite so sure of their +principles. On our own side, in our old party, there are a score +of men who detest the Duke, though they would fain be true to +the Government. They have voted with him through thick and thin, +and he has not spoken a word to them since he became Prime +Minister. What are you to do with such a man? How are you to +act with him?' + +'Lupton wrote to him the other day about something,' answered the +other, 'I forget what, and he got a note back from Warburton as +cold as ice,--an absolute slap in the face. Fancy treating a +man like Lupton in that way,--one of the most popular men in the +House, related to half the peerage, and a man who thinks so much +of himself! I shouldn't wonder if he were to vote against us;-- +I shouldn't indeed.' + +'It has all been the old Duke's doing,' said Rattler, 'and no +doubt it was intended for the best; but the thing has been a +failure from the beginning to the end. I knew it would be so. I +don't think there has been a single man who has understood what a +Ministerial Coalition really means except you and I. From the +very beginning all your men were averse to it in spirit.' + +'Look how they were treated!' said Mr Roby. 'Was it likely that +they should be very staunch when Mr Monk became Leader of the +House?' + +There was a Cabinet Council that day which lasted but a few +minutes, and it may be easily presumed that the Ministers decided +that they would all resign at once if Sir Orlando should carry +his amendment. It is not unlikely that they were agreed to do the +same if he should carry it,--leaving probably the Prime Minister +to judge what narrow majority would constitute nearness. On this +occasion the gentlemen assembled were jocose in their manner, and +apparently well satisfied,--as though they saw before them an +end to all their troubles. The Spartan boy did not even make a +grimace when the wolf bit him beneath his frock, and these were +all Spartan boys. Even the Prime Minister, who had fortified +himself for the occasion, and who never wept in any company but +that of his wife and his old friend, was pleasant in his manner +and almost affable. 'We shan't make the step towards the +millennium just at present,' he said to Phineas Finn as they left +the room together,--referring to words which Phineas had spoken +on a former occasion, and which then had not been very well +taken. + +'But we shall have made a step towards the step,' said Phineas, +'and getting to a millennium even that is something.' + +'I suppose we are all too anxious,' said the Duke, 'to see some +green effects come from our own little doings. Good day. We +shall know all about it tolerably early. Monk seems to think +that it will be an attack on the Ministry and not on the bill, +and that it will be best to get a vote with as little delay as +possible.' + +'I'll bet an even five-pound note,' said Mr Lupton at the +Carlton, 'that the present Ministry is out to-morrow, and another +that no one names five members of the next Cabinet.' + +'You can help to win your first bet,' said Mr Beauchamp, a very +old member, who, like many other Conservatives, had supported the +Coalition. + +'I shall not do that,' said Lupton, 'though I think I ought. I +won't vote against the man in his misfortunes, though, upon my +soul, I don't love him very dearly. I shall vote neither way, +but I hope that Sir Orlando may succeed.' + +'If he do, who is to come in?' said the other. 'I suppose you +don't want to serve under Sir Orlando?' + +'Nor certainly under the Duke of Omnium. We shall not want a +Prime Minister as long as there are as good fish in the sea as +have been caught out of it.' + +There had lately been formed a new Liberal club, established on a +broader basis than the Progress, and perhaps with a greater +amount of aristocratic support. This had come up since the Duke +had been Prime Minister. Certain busy men had never been quite +contented with the existing state of things, and had thought that +the Liberal party, with such assistance as the club could give +it, would be strong enough to rule alone. That the great Liberal +party should be impeded in its work and its triumph by such men +as Sir Orlando Drought and Sir Timothy Beeswax was odious to the +club. All the Pallisers had, from time immemorial, run straight +as Liberals, and therefore the club had been unwilling to oppose +the Duke personally, though he was the head of the Coalition. +And certain members of the Government, Phineas Finn, for +instance, Barrington Erle, and Mr Rattler were on the committee +of the club. But the club, as a club, was not averse to a +discontinuance of the present state of things. Mr Gresham might +again become Prime Minister, if he would condescend so far, or +Mr Monk. It might be possible that the great Liberal triumph +contemplated by the club might not be achieved by the present +House;--but the present House must go shortly, and then, with +that assistance from a well-organized club, which had lately been +so terribly wanting,--the lack of which had made the Coalition +necessary,--no doubt the British constituencies would do their +duty, and a Liberal Prime Minister, pure and simple, might reign, +--almost for ever. With this great future before it, the club +was very lukewarm in its support of the present bill. 'I shall +go down and vote for them of course,' said Mr O'Mahony, 'just for +the look of the thing.' In saying this Mr O'Mahony expressed the +feeling of the club, and the feeling of the Liberal party +generally. There was something due to the Duke, but not enough +to make it incumbent on his friends to maintain his position as +Prime Minister. + +It was a great day for Sir Orlando. At half-past four the House +was full,--not from any desire to hear Sir Orlando's arguments +against the bill, but because it was felt that a good deal of +personal interest would be attached to the debate. If one were +asked in these days what gift should a Prime Minister ask first +from the fairies, one would name the power of attracting personal +friends. Eloquence, if it be too easy, may become almost a +curse. Patriotism is suspected, and sometimes sinks to pedantry. +A Jove-born intellect is hardly wanted, and clashes with the +inferiorities. Industry is exacting. Honesty is unpractical. +Truth is easily offended. Dignity will not bend. But the man +who can be all things to all men, who has ever a kind word to +speak, a pleasant joke to crack, who can forgive all sins, who is +ever prepared for friend or foe, but never very bitter to the +latter, who forgets not man's names, and is always ready with +little words,--he is the man who will be supported at a crisis +such as this that was now in the course of passing. It is for +him that men will struggle, and talk, and, if needs be, fight, as +though the very existence of the country depended on his +political security. The present man would receive no such +defence, but still the violent deposition of a Prime Minister is +always a memorable occasion. + +Sir Orlando made his speech, and, as had been anticipated, it had +very little to do with the bill, and was almost exclusively an +attack upon his late chief. He thought, he said, that this was +an occasion on which they had better come to a direct issue with +as little delay as possible. If he rightly read the feeling of +the House, no bill of this magnitude coming from the present +Ministry would be likely to be passed in an efficient condition. +The Duke had frittered away his support in that House, and as a +Minister had lost that confidence which a majority of the House +had once been willing to place in him. We need not follow Sir +Orlando through his speech. He alluded to his own services, and +declared that he was obliged to withdraw them because the Duke +would not trust him with the management of his own office. He +had reason to believe that other gentlemen who had attached +themselves to the Duke's Ministry had found themselves equally +crippled by this passion for autocratic rule. Hereupon a loud +chorus of disapprobation came from the Treasury bench, which was +fully answered by opposing noises from the other side of the +House. Sir Orlando declared that he need only point to the fact +that the Ministry had been already shivered by the secession of +various gentlemen. 'Only two,' said a voice. Sir Orlando was +turning round to contradict the voice when he was greeted by +another. 'And those the weakest,' said another voice, which was +indubitably that of Larry Fitzgibbon. 'I will not speak of +myself,' said Sir Orlando pompously, 'but I am authorized to tell +the House that the noble lord who is now the Secretary of State +for the Colonies only holds his office till this crisis is +passed.' + +After that there was some sparring of a very bitter kind between +Sir Timothy and Phineas Finn, till at last it seemed that the +debate was to degenerate into a war of man against man. Phineas +and Erle, and Laurance Fitzgibbon allowed themselves to be lashed +into anger, and, as far as words went, had the best of it. But +of what use could it be? Every man there had come into the House +prepared to vote for or against the Duke of Omnium,--or +resolved, like Mr Lupton, not to vote at all, and it was hardly +on the cards that a single vote should be turned this way or that +by any violence of speaking. 'Let it pass,' said Mr Monk in a +whisper to Phineas. 'The fire is not worth the fuel.' + +'I know the Duke's faults,' said Phineas, 'but these men know +nothing of his virtues, and when I hear them abuse him, I cannot +stand it.' + +Early in the night,--before twelve o'clock,--the House divided, +and even at that moment of the division no one quite knew how it +would go. There would be many who would of course vote against +the amendment as being simply desirous of recording their opinion +in favour of the bill generally. And there were some who thought +that Sir Orlando and his followers had been too forward, and too +confident of their own standing in the House, in trying so +violent a mode of opposition. It would have been better, these +men thought, to have insured success by a gradual and persistent +opposition to the bill itself. But they hardly knew how +thoroughly men may be alienated by silence and a cold demeanour. +Sir Orlando on the division was beaten, but was beaten only by +nine. 'He can't go on with this bill,' said Rattler in one of +the lobbies of the House. 'I defy him. The House wouldn't stand +it, you know.' 'No minister,' said Roby, 'could carry a measure +like that with a majority of nine on a vote of confidence!' The +House was of course adjourned, and Mr Monk went at once to +Carlton Terrace. + +'I wish it had only been three or four,' said the Duke, laughing. + +'Why so?' + +'Because there would have been less doubt.' + +'Is there any at present?' + +'Less possibility for doubt, I should say. You would not wish me +to make the attempt with such a majority?' + +'I could not do it, Duke.' + +'I quite agree with you. But there will be those who will say +that the attempt might be made,--who will accuse me of being +faint-hearted because we do not make it.' + +'They will be men who understand nothing of the temper of the +House.' + +'Very likely. But still, I wish the majority had only been two +or three. There is little more to be said, I suppose.' + +'Very little, your Grace.' + +'We had better meet to-morrow at two, and if possible, I will see +her Majesty in the afternoon. Good night, Mr Monk.' + +'Good night, Duke.' + +'My reign is ended. You are a good deal and older man than I, and +yet probably yours has yet to begin.' Mr Monk smiled and shook +his head as he left the room, not trusting himself to discuss so +large a subject at so late an hour of the night. + +Without waiting a moment after his colleague's departure, the +Prime Minister,--for he was still Prime Minister,--went into +his wife's room, knowing that she was waiting up till she should +hear the result of the division, and there he found Mrs Finn with +her. 'Is it over?' asked the Duchess. + +'Yes;--there has been a division. Mr Monk has just been with +me.' + +'Well!' + +'We have beaten them, of course, as we always do,' said the Duke, +attempting to be pleasant. 'You didn't suppose there was +anything to fear? Your husband has always bid you keep up your +courage;--has he not, Mrs Finn?' + +'My husband has lost his senses, I think,' she said. 'He has +taken to such storming and raving about his political enemies +that I hardly dare to open my mouth.' + +'Tell what has been done, Plantagenet,' ejaculated the Duchess. + +'Don't you be so unreasonable as Mrs Finn, Cora. The House has +voted against Sir Orlando's amendment by a majority of nine.' + +'Only nine!' + +'And I shall cease to be Prime Minister to-morrow.' + +'You don't mean to say that it's settled?' + +'Quite settled. The play has been played, and the curtain has +fallen, and the lights are being put out, and the poor weary +actors may go home to bed.' + +'But on such an amendment surely any majority would have done.' + +'No, my dear. I will not name a number, but nine certainly would +not do.' + +'And it is all over?' + +'My Ministry is over, if you mean that.' + +'Then everything is over for me. I shall settle down in the +country and build cottages, and mix draughts. You, Marie, will +still be going up the tree. If Mr Finn manages well he may come +to be Prime Minister some day. + +'He has hardly such ambition, Lady Glen,' + +'The ambition will come fast enough;--will it not, Plantagenet? +Let him once begin to dream of it as possible, and the desire +will soon be strong enough. How should you feel if it were so?' + +'It is quite impossible,' said Mrs Finn, gravely. + +'I don't see why anything is impossible. Sir Orlando will be +Prime Minister now, and Sir Timothy Beeswax Lord Chancellor. +After that anybody may hope to be anything. Well;--I suppose we +may go to bed. Is your carriage here, my dear?' + +'I hope so.' + +'Ring the bell, Plantagenet, for somebody to see her down. Come +to lunch to-morrow because I shall have so many groans to utter. +What beast, what brutes, what ungrateful wretches men are!-- +worse than women when they get together in numbers enough to be +bold. Why have they deserted you? What have we not done for +them. Think of all the new bedroom furniture we sent to Gatherum +merely to keep the party together. There were thousands of yards +of linen, and it has all been of no use. Don't you feel like +Wolsey, Plantagenet?' + +'Not in the least, my dear. No one will take anything away from +me that I own.' + +'For me, I'm almost as much divorced as Catherine, and have had +my head cut off as completely as Anne Bullen and the rest of +them. Go away, Marie, because I am going to have a cry by +myself.' + +The Duke himself on that night put Mrs Finn into her carriage; +and as he walked with her downstairs he asked her whether she +believed the Duchess was in earnest in her sorrow. 'She so mixes +up her mirth and woe together,' said the Duke, 'that I myself +sometimes can hardly understand her.' + +'I think she does regret it, Duke.' + +'She told me the other day that she would be contented.' + +'A few weeks will make her so. As for your Grace, I hope I may +congratulate you.' + +'Oh yes;--I think so. We none of us like to be beaten when we +have taken a thing in hand. There is always a little +disappointment at first. But, upon the whole, it is better as it +is. I hope it will not make your husband unhappy.' + +'Not for his own sake. He will go again into the middle of the +scramble and fight on one side or the other. For my own part I +think opposition is the pleasantest. Good-night, Duke. I am so +sorry that I should have troubled you.' + +Then he went alone to his own room, and sat there without moving +for a couple of hours. Surely it was a great thing to have been +Prime Minister of England for three years,--a prize of which +nothing could now rob him. He ought not to be unhappy; and yet +he knew himself to be wretched and disappointed. It had never +occurred to him to be proud of being a duke, or to think of his +wealth otherwise than a chance incident of his life, advantageous +indeed, but by no means a source of honour. And he had been +aware that he had owned his first seat in Parliament to his +birth, and probably also his first introduction to official life. +An heir to a dukedom, if he will only work, may almost with +certainty find himself received into one or other regiment in +Downing Street. It had not in his early days been with him as it +had with his friends Mr Monk and Phineas Finn, who had worked +their way from the very ranks. But even a duke cannot become +Prime Minister by favour. Surely he had done something of which +he might be proud. And so he tried to console himself. + +But to have done something was nothing to him,--nothing to his +personal happiness,--unless there was also something left for +him to do. How should it be with him now,--now for the future? +Would men ever listen to him again, or allow him again to work in +their behoof, as he used to do in his happy days in the House of +Commons? He feared that it was all over for him, and that for +the rest of his days he must simply be the Duke of Omnium. + + + +CHAPTER 74 + +'I AM DISGRACED AND SHAMED.' + +Soon after the commencement of the Session Arthur Fletcher became +a constant visitor in Manchester Square, dining with the old +barrister almost constantly on Sundays, and not unfrequently on +other days when the House and his general engagements would +permit it. Between him and Emily's father there was no secret +and no misunderstanding. Mr Wharton quite understood that the +young member of Parliament was earnestly purposed to marry his +daughter, and Fletcher was sure of all the assistance and support +which Mr Wharton could give him. The name of Lopez was very +rarely used between them. It had been tacitly agreed that there +was no need that it should be mentioned. The man had come like a +destroying angel between them and their fondest hopes. Neither +could ever be what he would have been had the man never appeared +to destroy their happiness. But the man had gone away, not +without a tragedy that was appalling;--and each thought that, as +regarded him, he and the person in whom they were interested +could be taught to seem to forget him. 'It is not love,' said +the father, 'but a feeling of shame.' Arthur Fletcher shook his +head, not quite agreeing with this. It was not that he feared +that she loved the memory of her late husband. Such love was, he +thought, impossible. But there was, he believed, something more +than the feeling which her father described as shame. There was +pride also;--a determination in her own bosom not to confess the +fault she had made in giving herself to him whom she must now +think to have been so much the least worthy of her two suitors. +'Her fortune will not be what I once promised you,' said the old +man plaintively. + +'I do not remember that I ever asked you as to her fortune,' +Arthur replied. + +'Certainly not. If you had I would not have told you. But as I +named a sum, it is right that I should explain to you that that +man succeeded in lessening it by six or seven thousand pounds.' + +'If that were all!' + +'And I have promised Sir Alured that Everett, as his heir, should +have the use of a considerable portion of his share without +waiting for my death. It is odd that the one of my children from +whom I certainly expected the greater trouble should have fallen +so entirely on his feet; and that the other--; well, let us hope +for the best. Everett seems to have taken up with Wharton as +though it belonged to him already. And Emily--! Well, my dear +boy, let us hope that it may come right yet. You are not +drinking your wine. Yes,--pass the bottle. I'll have another +before I go upstairs.' + +In this way the time went by till Emily returned to town. The +Ministry had just then resigned, but I think that 'this great +reactionary success,' as it was called by the writer in the +"People's Banner", affected one member of the Lower House much +less than the return to London of Mrs Lopez. Arthur Fletcher had +determined that he would renew his suit as soon as a year should +have expired since the tragedy which had made his love a widow;-- +and that year had now passed away. He had known the day well,-- +as had she, when she passed the morning weeping in her own room +at Wharton. Now he questioned himself whether a year would +suffice,--whether both in mercy to her and with a view of +realizing his own hopes he should give her some longer time for +recovery. But he had told himself that it should be done at the +end of a year, and as he had allowed no one to talk him out of +his word, so neither could he be untrue to it himself. But it +became to him a deep matter of business, a question of great +difficulty, how he should arrange the necessary interview,-- +whether he should plead his case with her at their first meeting, +or whether he had better allow her to become accustomed to his +presence in the house. His mother had attempted to ridicule him, +because he was, as she said, afraid of a woman. He well +remembered that he had never been afraid of Emily Wharton when +they had been quite young,--little more than a boy and girl +together. Then he had told her of his love over and over again, +and had found almost a comfortable luxury in urging her to say a +word, which she had never indeed said, but which probably in +those days he still hoped she would say. And occasionally he had +feigned to be angry with her, and had tempted her on to little +quarrels with a boyish idea that a quick reconciliation would +perhaps throw her into his arms. But now it seemed to him that +an age had passed since those days. His love had certainly not +faded. There had never been a moment when that had been on the +wing. But now the azure plumage of his love had become grey as +the wings of a dove, and the gorgeousness of his dreams had +sobered into hopes and fears which were a constant burden to his +heart. There was time enough, still time enough for happiness if +she would yield;--and time enough for the dull pressure of +unsatisfied aspirations should she persist in her refusal. + +At last he saw her, almost by accident, and that meeting +certainly was not fit for the purpose of his suit. He called at +Stone Buildings the day after her arrival, and found her at her +father's chambers. She had come there keeping some appointment +with him, and certainly had not expected to meet her lover. He +was confused and hardly able to say a word to account for his +presence, but she greeted him with almost sisterly affection, +saying some word of Longbarns and his family, telling him how +Everett, to Alured's great delight, had been sworn in as a +magistrate for the County, and how at the last hunt meeting John +Fletcher had been asked to take the County hounds because Lord +Weobly at seventy-five had declared himself to be unable any +longer to ride as a master of hounds ought to ride. All these +things Arthur had of course heard, such news being too important +to be kept long from him; but on none of these subjects had he +much to say. He stuttered and stammered, and quickly went away; +--not, however, before he had promised to come to dine as usual +on the next Sunday, and not without observing that the +anniversary of that fatal day of release had done something to +lighten the sombre load of mourning which the widow had hitherto +worn. + +Yes;--he would dine there on the Sunday, but how would it be +with him then? Mr Wharton never went out of the house on a +Sunday evening, and could hardly be expected to leave his own +drawing-room for the sake of giving a lover an opportunity. No; +--he must wait till that evening should have passed, and then +make the occasion for himself as best he might. The Sunday came +and the dinner was eaten, and after dinner there was a single +bottle of port and the single bottle of claret. 'How do you +think she is looking?' asked the father. 'She was as pale as +death before we got her down into the country.' + +'Upon my word, sir,' said he, 'I've hardly looked at her. It is +not a matter of looks now, as it used to be. It has got beyond +that. It is not that I am indifferent to seeing a pretty face, +or that I have no longer an opinion of my own about a woman's +figure. But there grows up, I think, a longing which almost +kills that consideration.' + +'To me she is as beautiful as ever,' said the father proudly. + +Fletcher did manage, when in the drawing-room to talk for a while +about John and the hounds, and then went away, having resolved +that he would come again on the very next day. Surely she would +not give an order that he should be denied admittance. She had +been too calm, too even, to confident of herself for that. Yes; +--he would come and tell her plainly what he had to say. He +would tell it with all the solemnity of which he was capable, +with a few words, and those the strongest of which he could use. +Should she refuse him;--as he almost knew that she would at +first,--then he would tell her of her father and of the wishes +of all their joint friends. 'Nothing,' he would say to her, +'nothing but personal dislike can justify you in refusing to heal +many wounds.' As he fixed on these words he failed to remember +how little probable it is that a lover should ever be able to use +the phrases which he arranges. + +On the Monday he came, and asked for Mrs Lopez, slurring over the +word as best he could. The butler said his mistress was at home. +Since the death of the man he had so thoroughly despised, the old +servant had never called her Mrs Lopez. Arthur was shown +upstairs, and found the lady he sought,--but he found Mrs Roby +also. It may be remembered that Mrs Roby, after the tragedy, had +been refused admittance into Mr Wharton's house. Since that +there had been some correspondence, and a feeling had prevailed +that the woman was not to be quarrelled with forever. 'I did not +do it, papa, because of her,' Emily said with some scorn, and +that scorn had procured Mrs Roby's pardon. She was now making a +morning call, and suiting her conversation to the black dress of +her niece. Arthur was horrified at seeing her. Mrs Roby had +always been to him odious, not only as a personal enemy but as a +vulgar woman. He, at any rate, attributed on her a great part of +the evil that had been done, feeling sure that had there been no +house round the corner, Emily Wharton would never have become Mrs +Lopez. As it was he was forced to shake hands with her, and +forced to listen to the funereal tone in which Mrs Roby asked him +if he did not think that Mrs Lopez looked much improved since her +sojourn in Hertfordshire. He shrank at the sound, and then, in +order that it might not be repeated, took occasion to show that +he was allowed to call his early playmate by her Christian name. +Mrs Roby, thinking that she ought to check him, remarked that Mrs +Lopez's return was a great thing for Mr Wharton. Thereupon +Arthur Fletcher seized his hat off the ground, wished them both +good-bye, and hurried out of the room. 'What a very odd manner +he has taken up since he became a Member of Parliament,' said Mrs +Roby. + +Emily was silent for a moment, and then with an effort,--with +intense pain,--she said a word or two which she thought had +better be at once spoken. 'He went because he does not like to +hear that name.' + +'Good gracious!' + +'And papa does not like it. Don't say a word about it, aunt; +pray don't,--but call me Emily.' + +'Are you going to be ashamed of your name?' + +'Never mind, aunt. If you think it wrong, you must stay away;-- +but I will not have papa wounded.' + +'Oh;--if Mr Wharton wishes it;--of course.' That evening Mrs +Roby told Dick Roby, her husband, what an old fool Mr Wharton +was. + +The next day quite early, Fletcher was again at the house and was +again admitted upstairs. The butler, no doubt, knew well enough +why he came, and also knew that the purport of his coming had at +any rate the sanction of Mr Wharton. The room was empty when he +was shown into it, but she came to him very soon. 'I went away +yesterday rather abruptly,' he said. 'I hope you did not think +me rude.' + +'Oh no.' + +'Your aunt was here, and I had something I wished to say but +could not say it very well before her.' + +'I knew that she had driven you away. You and Aunt Harriet were +never great friends.' + +'Never;--but I will forgive her everything. I will forgive all +the injuries that have been done me if you will now do as I ask +you.' + +Of course she knew what it was he was about to ask. When he had +left her at Longbarns without saying a word of his love, without +giving her a hint whereby she might allow herself to think that +he intended to renew his suit, then she had wept because it was +so. Though her resolution had been quite firm as to the duty +which was incumbent on her of remaining in her desolate condition +of almost nameless widowhood, yet she had been unable to refrain +from bitter tears because he also had seemed to see that such was +her duty. But now again, knowing that the request was coming, +feeling once more confident of the constancy of his love, she was +urgent with herself as to that heavy duty. She would be womanly, +dead to all shame, almost inhuman, were she to allow herself +again to indulge in love after all the havoc she had made. She +had been little more than a bride when that husband, for whom she +had often been forced to blush, had been driven by the weight of +his misfortunes and disgraces to destroy himself! By the +marriage she had made she had overwhelmed her whole family with +dishonour. She had done it with a persistency of perverse self- +will which she herself could not now look back on without wonder +and horror. She, too, should have died as well as he;--only +that death had not been within the compass of her powers as of +his. How the could she forget it all, and wipe it away from her +mind, as she would figures from a slate with a wet towel? How +could it be fit that she should again be a bride with such a +spectre of a husband haunting her memory? She had known that the +request was to be made when he took his sudden departure. She +had known it well, when just now the servant told her that Mr +Fletcher was in the drawing-room below. But she was quite +certain of the answer she must make. 'I should be sorry you +should ask me anything I cannot do,' she said in a very low +voice. + +'I will ask you nothing for which I have not your father's +sanction.' + +'The time has gone by, Arthur, in which I might well have been +guided by my father. There comes a time when personal feelings +must be stronger than a father's authority. Papa cannot see me +with my own eyes, he cannot understand what I feel. It is simply +this,--that he would have me to be other than I am. But I am +what I have made myself.' + +'You have not heard me as yet. You will hear me?' + +'Oh, yes.' + +'I have loved you ever since I was a boy.' He paused as though +he expected that she would make some answer to this; but of +course there was nothing she could say. 'I have been true to you +since we were together almost as children.' + +'It is your nature to be true.' + +'In this matter, at any rate. I shall never change. I never for +a moment had a doubt about my love. There never has been anyone +else whom I have ventured to compare with you. Then came that +great trouble. Emily, you must let me speak freely this once, as +so much, to me at least, depends on it.' + +'Say what you will, Arthur. Do not wound me more than you can +help.' + +'God knows how willingly I would heal every wound without a word +if it could be done. I don't know whether you ever thought what +I suffered when he came among us and robbed me,--well, I will +not say robbed me of your love, because it was not mine--but +took away with him that which I had been trying to win.' + +'I did not think a man would feel like that.' + +'Why shouldn't a man feel as well as a woman? I had set my heart +on having you for my wife. Can any desire be nearer to a man +than that? Then he came. Well, dearest, surely I may say that +he was not worthy of you.' + +'We were neither of us worthy,' she said. + +'I need not tell you that we all grieved. It seemed to us down +in Hertfordshire as though a black cloud had come upon us. We +could not speak of you, nor yet could we be altogether silent.' + +'Of course you condemned me,--as an outcast.' + +'Did I write to you as though you were an outcast? Did I treat +you when I saw you as an outcast? When I come to you to-day, is +that proof that I think you to be an outcast? I have never +deceived you, Emily.' + +'Never.' + +'Then you will believe me when I say that through it all not one +word of reproach or contumely has ever passed my lips in regard +to you. That you should have given yourself to one whom I could +think worthy of you, was, of course, a great sorrow. Had he been +a prince of men it would have of course been a sorrow to me. How +it went with you during your married life I will not ask.' + +'I was unhappy. I would tell you everything if I could. I was +very unhappy.' + +'Then came--the end.' She was now weeping with her face buried +in her handkerchief. 'I would spare you if I knew how, but there +are some things which must be said.' + +'No;--no. I will bear it all--from you.' + +'Well! His success had not lessened my love. Though then I +could have no hope,--though you were utterly removed from me,-- +all that could not change me. There it was,--as though my arm +or my leg had been taken from me. It was bad to live without an +arm or a leg, but there was no help. I went on with my life and +tried not to look like a whipped cur;--though John from time to +time would tell me that I failed. But now;--now that is again +all changed,--what would you have me do now? It may be that +after all my limb may be restored to me, that I may be again as +other men are, whole, and sound, and happy;--so happy! When it +may possibly be within my reach am I not to look for my +happiness?' He paused, but she wept on without speaking a word. +'There are those who will say that I should wait till all these +signs of woe have been laid aside. But why should I wait? There +has come a great blot on your life, and is it not well that it +should be covered as quickly as possible?' + +'It can never be covered.' + +'You mean that it can never be forgotten. No doubt there are +passages in our life which we cannot forget, though we bury them +in the deepest silence. All this can never be driven out of your +memory,--nor from mine. But it need not therefore blacken our +lives. In such a condition we should not be ruled by what the +world thinks.' + +'Not at all. I care nothing for what the world thinks. I am +below all that. It is what I think of myself,--of myself.' + +'Will you think of no one else? Are any of your thoughts for me, +--or for your father?' + +'Oh yes;--for my father.' + +'I need hardly tell you what he wishes. You must know how you +can best give him back the comfort he has lost.' + +'But, Arthur, even for him I cannot do everything.' + +'There is one question to be asked,' he said, rising from her +feet and standing before her;--'but one; and what you do should +depend entirely on the answer which you may be able truly make to +that.' + +This he said so solemnly that he startled her. + +'What question, Arthur?' + +'Do you love me?' To this question at the moment she could make +no reply. 'Of course I know that you did not love me when you +married him.' + +'Love is not all of one kind.' + +'You know what love I mean. You did not love me then. You could not +have loved me,--though, perhaps, I thought I had deserved your +love. But love will change and memory will some times bring back +old fancies when the world has been stern and hard. When we were +very young I think you loved me. Do you remember seven years ago +at Longbarns, when they parted us and sent me away, because,-- +because we were so young? They did not tell us then, but I think +you knew. I know that I knew, and went nigh to swear that I +would drown myself. You loved me then, Emily.' + +'I was a child then.' + +'Now you are not a child. Do you love me now,--to-day? If so, +give me your hand, and the past be buried in silence. All this +has come and gone, and has nearly made us old. But there is life +before us yet, and if you are to me as I am to you it is better +that our lives should be lived together.' Then he stood before +her with his hand stretched out. + +'I cannot do it,' she said. + +'And why?' + +'I cannot be other than the wretched thing I have made myself.' + +'But do you love me?' + +'I cannot analyse my heart. Love you;--yes! I have always +loved you. Everything about you is dear to me. I can triumph in +your triumphs, rejoice at your joy, weep at your sorrows, be ever +anxious that all good things may come to you;--but, Arthur, I +cannot be your wife.' + +'Not though it would make us all happy,--Fletchers and Whartons +all alike?' + +'Do you think I have not thought it over? Do you think that I +have forgotten your first letter? Knowing your heart, as I do +know it, do you imagine that I have spent a day, an hour, for +months past, without asking myself what answer I should make to +you if the sweet constancy of your nature should bring you again +to me? I have trembled when I have heard your voice. My heart +has beat at the sound of your footsteps as though it would burst! +Do you think I have never told myself what I had thrown away. +But it is gone, and it is not now within my reach.' + +'It is, it is,' he said, throwing himself on his knees, and +twining his arms around her. + +'No;--no;--no;--never. I am disgraced and shamed. I have +lain among the pots till I am foul and blackened. Take your arms +away. They shall not be defiled,' she said as she sprang to her +feet. 'You shall not have the thing that he has left.' + +'Emily;--it is the only thing in all the world that I crave.' + +'Be a man and conquer your love,--as I will. Get it under your +feet and press it to death. Tell yourself that it is shameful +and must be abandoned. That you, Arthur Fletcher, should marry +the widow of that man,--the woman that he had thrust so far into +the mire that she can never again be clean;--you, the chosen +one, the bright star among us all;--you, whose wife should be +the fairest, the purest, the tenderest of us all, a flower that +has yet been hardly breathed on. While I--Arthur,' she said, 'I +know my duty better than that. I will not seek an escape from my +punishment in that way,--nor will I allow you to destroy +yourself. You have my word as a woman that it shall not be so. +Now I do not mind your knowing whether I love you or no.' He +stood silent before her, not able for the moment to go on with +his prayer. 'And now,' she said, 'God bless you, and give you +some fair and happy wife. And, Arthur, do not come again to me. +If you will let it be so, I shall have delight in seeing you;-- +but not if you come as you have come now. And, Arthur, spare me +with papa. Do not let him think that it is all my fault that I +cannot do the thing that he wishes.' Then she left the room +before he could say another word to her. + +But it was all her fault. No;--in that direction he could not +spare her. It must be told to her father, though he doubted his +own power of describing all that had been said. 'Do not come +again to me,' she had said. At the moment he had been left +speechless; but if there was one thing fixed in his mind, it was +the determination to come again. He was sure now, not only of +love that might have sufficed,--but of hot, passionate love. +She had told him that her heart had beat at his footsteps, and +that she had trembled as she listened to his voice,--and yet she +had expected that he would not come again! But there was a +violence of decision about the woman which made him dread that he +might still come in vain. She was so warped from herself by the +conviction of her great mistake, so prone to take shame to +herself for her own error, so keenly alive to the degradation to +which she had been submitted, that it might yet be impossible to +teach her that, though her husband had been vile and she +mistaken, yet she had not been soiled by his baseness. + +He went at once to the old barrister's chambers and told him the +result of the meeting. 'She is still a fool,' said the father, +not understanding at second-hand the depths of his daughter's +feeling. + +'No, sir,--not that. She felt herself degraded by his +degradation. If it be possible we must save her from that.' + +'She did degrade herself.' + +'Not as she means it. She is not degraded in my eyes.' + +'Why should she not take the only means in her power of rescuing +herself and rescuing us all from the evil that she did? She owes +it you, me, and to her brother.' + +'I would hardly wish her to come to me in payment of such a +debt.' + +'There is no room left,' said Mr Wharton angrily, 'for soft +sentimentality. Well;--she must take her bed as she makes it. +It is very hard on me, I know. Considering what she used to be, +it is marvellous to me that she should have so little idea left +of doing her duty to others.' + +Arthur Fletcher found that the barrister was at the moment too +angry to hear reason, or to be made to understand anything of the +feelings of mixed love and admiration with which he was animated +at the moment. He was obliged therefore to content himself with +assuring the father that he did not intend to give up the pursuit +of his daughter. + + + +CHAPTER 75 + +THE GREAT WHARTON ALLIANCE. + +When Mr Wharton got home on that day he said not a word to Emily +as to Arthur Fletcher. He had resolved to take various courses; +--first to tell her roundly that she was neglecting her duty to +herself and to her family, and that he would no longer take her +part and be her good friend unless she would consent to marry the +man whom she had confessed that she loved. But as he thought of +this he became aware,--first that he could not carry out such a +threat, and then that he would lack even the firmness to make it. +There was something in her face, something even in her dress, +something in her whole manner to himself, which softened him and +reduced him to vassalage directly he saw her. Then he determined +to throw himself on her compassion and to implore her to put an +end to all this misery by making herself happy. But as he drew +near home he found himself unable to do even this. How is a +father to beseech his widowed daughter to give herself away in +a second marriage? And therefore when he entered the house and +found her waiting for him he said nothing. At first she looked +at him wistfully,--anxious to learn by his face whether her +lover had been with him. But when he spoke not a word, simply +kissing her in his usual quiet way, she became cheerful in a +manner and communicative. 'Papa,' she said, 'I have had a letter +from Mary.' + +'Well, my dear.' + +'Just a nice chatty letter,--full of Everett, of course.' + +'Everett is a great man now.' + +'I am sure that you are very glad that he is what he is. Will +you see Mary's letter?' Mr Wharton was not specially given to +reading young ladies' correspondence, and did not know why this +particular letter should be offered to him. 'You don't suspect +anything at Wharton, do you?' she asked. + +'Suspect anything! No; I don't suspect anything.' But now, +having had his curiosity aroused, he took the letter which was +offered to him and read it. The letter was as follows: + +Wharton, Thursday. + DEAREST EMILY, + We all hope that you had a pleasant journey up to London, + and that Mr Wharton is quite well. Your brother Everett + came over to Longbarns the day after you started and + drove me back to Wharton in the dog-cart. It was such a + pleasant journey, though, now I remember, it rained all + the way. But Everett has always so much to say that I + didn't mind the rain. I think it will end in John taking + the hounds. He says he won't because he does not wish to + be the slave of the whole county;--but he says it in + that sort of way that we all think he means to do it. + Everett tells him that he ought, because he is the only + hunting man on this side of the county who can afford to + do without feeling it much; and of course what Everett + says will go a long way with him. Sarah,--(Sarah was + John Fletcher's wife),--is rather against it. But if he + makes up his mind she'll be sure to turn round. Of + course it makes us all very anxious at present to know + how it is to end, for the Master of the Hounds always is + the leading man in our part of the world. Papa went to + the bench at Ross yesterday and took Everett with him. + It was the first time that Everett had sat there. He + says I am to tell his father he has not hung anybody as + yet. + + They have already begun to cut down, or what they call + stubb up, Barnton Spinnies. Everett said that it is no + good keeping it as a wood, and papa agreed. So it is to + go into the home farm, and Griffiths is to pay rent for + it. I don't like having it cut down, as the boys always + used to get nuts there, but Everett says it won't do to + keep woods for little boys to get nuts. + + Mary Stocking has been very ill since you went, and I'm + afraid she won't last long. When they get to be so very + bad with rheumatism I almost think it's wrong to pray for + them, because they are in so much pain. We thought at + one time that mamma's ointment had done her good, but when + we came to inquire we found that she had swallowed it. + Wasn't it dreadful? But it didn't seem to do her any + harm. Everett says that it wouldn't make any difference + which she did. + + Papa is beginning to be afraid that Everett is a Radical. + But I'm sure he's not. He says he is as good a + Conservative as there is in all Hertfordshire, only that + he likes to know what is to be conserved. Papa said + after dinner yesterday that everything English should be + maintained. Everett said that according to that we + should have kept the Star Chamber. 'Of course I would,' + said papa. Then they went at it hammer and tongs. + Everett had the best of it. At any rate he talked the + longest. But I do hope he is not a Radical. No country + gentleman ought to be a Radical. Ought he, dear? + + Mrs Fletcher says you are to get the lozenges at Squire's + in Oxford Street, and be sure to ask for the Vade mecum + lozenges. She is all in a flutter about those hounds. + She says she hopes John will do nothing of the kind + because of the expense; but we all know that she would + like him to have them. The subscription is not very + good, only 1,500 pounds, and it would cost him ever so + much a year. But everybody says he is very rich and that + he ought to do it. If you see Arthur give him our love. + Of course a member of Parliament is too busy to write + letters. But I don't think Arthur was ever good at + writing. Everett says that men never ought to write + letters. Give my love to Mr Wharton. +I am, dearest Emily, +Your most affectionate Cousin, +MARY WHARTON + +'Everett is a fool,' said Mr Wharton as soon as he had read the +letter. + +'Why is he a fool, papa?' + +'Because he will quarrel with Sir Alured about politics before he +knows where he is. What business has a young fellow like that to +have an opinion either one side or the other, before his +betters?' + +'But Everett always has strong opinions.' + +'It didn't matter as long as he only talked nonsense at a club in +London, but how he'll break that old man's heart.' + +'But, papa, don't you see anything else?' + +'I see that John Fletcher is going to make an ass of himself and +spend a thousand a year in keeping a pack of hounds for other +people to ride after.' + +'I think I see something else besides that.' + +'What do you see?' + +'Would it annoy you if Everett was to become engaged to Mary?' + +Then Mr Wharton whistled. 'To be sure she does put his name into +every line of the letter. No; it wouldn't annoy me. I don't see +why he shouldn't marry his second cousin if he likes. Only if he +is engaged to her, I think it odd that he shouldn't write and +tell us.' + +'I'm sure she is not engaged to him as yet. She wouldn't write +all in that way if she were engaged. Everybody would be told at +once, and Sir Alured would never be able to keep it a secret. +Why should there be a secret? But I'm sure that she is very fond +of him. Mary would never write about any man in that way unless +she were beginning to be attached to him.' + +About ten days after this there came two letters from Wharton +Hall to Manchester Square, the shortest of which shall be given +first. It ran as follows: + + MY DEAR FATHER, + I have proposed to my cousin Mary, and she has accepted + me. Everybody here seems to like the idea. I hope it + will not displease you. Of course you and Emily will + come down. I will tell you when the day is fixed. +Your affectionate Son, +EVERETT WHARTON + +This the old man read as he sat at breakfast with his daughter +opposite to him, while Emily was reading a very much longer +letter from the same house. 'So it's going to be just as you +guessed,' he said. + +'I was quite sure of it, papa. Is that from Everett? Is he very +happy?' + +'Upon my word, I can't say whether he's happy or not. If he had +got a new horse he would have written at much greater length +about it. It seems, however, to be quite fixed.' + +'Oh yes. This is from Mary. She is happy at any rate. I +suppose men never say so much about these things as women.' + +'May I see Mary's letter?' + +'I don't think it would be quite fair, papa. It's only a girl's +rhapsody about the man she loves,--very nice and womanly, but +not intended for anyone but me. It does not seem that they mean +to wait very long.' + +'Why should they wait? Is any day fixed?' + +'Mary says that Everett talks about the middle of May. Of course +you will go down.' + +'We must both go.' + +'You will at any rate. Don't promise for me just at present. It +must make Sir Alured very happy. It is almost the same as +finding himself at last with a son of his own. I suppose they +will live at Wharton altogether now,--unless Everett gets into +Parliament.' + +But the reader may see the young lady's letter, though her future +father-in-law was not permitted to do so, and will perceive that +there was a paragraph at the close of it which perhaps was more +conducive to Emily's secrecy than her feelings as to the sacred +obligations of female correspondence. + +Monday, Wharton. + DEAREST EMILY, + I wonder whether you will be much surprised at the news I + have to tell you. You cannot be more so that I am at + having to write it. It has all been so very sudden that + I almost feel ashamed of myself. Everett has proposed to + me, and I have accepted him. There;--now you know it + all. Though you never can know how very dearly I love + him and how thoroughly I admire him, I do think that he + is everything that a man ought to be, and that I am the + most fortunate young woman in the world. Only isn't it + odd that I should always have to live my life in the same + house, and never change my name,--just like a man, or an + old maid? But I don't mind that because I do love him so + dearly and because he is so good. He has written to Mr + Wharton. I know. I was sitting by him and his letter + didn't take him a minute. But he says that long letters + about such things only give trouble. I hope you won't + think my letter troublesome. He is not sitting by me + now, but has gone over to Longbarns to help settle about + the hounds. John is going to have them after all. I + wish it hadn't happened just at this time because all the + gentlemen do think so much about it. Of course Everett + is one of the committee. + + Papa and mamma are both very, very glad of it. Of course + it is nice for them, as it will keep Everett and me here. + If I had married anybody else,--though I am sure I never + should,--she would have been very lonely. And of course + papa likes to think that Everett is already one of us. I + hope they will never quarrel about politics, but as + Everett says, the world does change as it goes on, and + young men and old men never will think quite the same + about things. Everett told papa the other day that if he + could be put back a century he would be a Radical. Then + there were ever so many words. But Everett always + laughs, and at last papa comes round. + + I can't tell you, my dear, what a fuss we are in already + about it all. Everett wants our marriage early in May, + so that we may have two months in Switzerland before + London is what he calls turned loose. And papa says that + there is no use in delaying, because he gets older every + day. Of course that is true of everybody. So that we + are all in flutter about getting things. Mamma did talk + of going up to town, but I believe they have things quite + as good at Hereford. Sarah, when she was married, had + all her things from London, but they say that there has + been a great change since that. I am sure I think that + you may get anything you want at Muddocks and Cramble's. + But mamma says I am to have my veil from Howell and + James's. + + Of course you and Mr Wharton will come. I shan't think + it any marriage without. Papa and mama talk of it as + quite of course. You know how fond papa is of the + bishop. I think he will marry us. I own I should like + to be married by a bishop. It would make it so sweet and + so solemn. Mr Higgenbottom could of course assist;--but + he is such an odd old man, with his snuff and his + spectacles always tumbling off, that I shouldn't like to + have no one else. I have often thought that if it were + only for marrying people we ought to have a nicer rector at + Wharton. + + Almost all the tenants have been to wish me joy. They + are very fond of Everett already, and now they feel that + there will never be any very great change. I do think it + is the very best thing that could be done, even if it + were not that I am so thoroughly in love with him. I + didn't think I should ever be able to own that I was in + love with a man; but now I feel quite proud of it. I + don't mind telling you because he is your brother, and I + think that you will be glad of it. + + He talks very often about you. Of course you know what + it is that we all wish. I love Arthur Fletcher almost as + much as if he were my brother. He is my sister's + brother-in-law, and if he could become my husband's + brother-in-law too, I should be so happy. Of course we + all know that he wishes it. Write immediately to wish me + joy. Perhaps you could go to Howell and James's about + the veil. And promise to come to us in May. Sarah says + the veil should cost about thirty pounds. +Dearest, dearest Emily, +I shall soon be your most affectionate sister, +MARY WHARTON + +Emily's answer was full of warm, affectionate congratulations. +She had much to say in favour of Everett. She promised to use +all her little skill at Howell and James's. She expressed a hope +that the overtures to be made in regard to the bishop might be +successful. And she made kind remarks even as to Muddocks and +Crumble. But she would not promise that she herself would be at +Wharton on the happy day. 'Dear Mary,' she said, 'remember what +I have suffered, and that I cannot be quite as other people are. +I could not stand at your marriage in black clothes,--nor should +I have the courage even if I had the will to dress myself in +others.' None of the Whartons had come to her wedding. There +was no feeling of anger now left as to that. She was quite aware +that they had done right to stay away. But the very fact that it +had been right that they should stay away would make it wrong +that the widow of Ferdinand Lopez should now assist at the +marriage of one Wharton to another. This was all that a marriage +ought to be, whereas that had been--all that a marriage ought +not to be. In answer to the paragraph about Arthur Fletcher +Emily Lopez had not a word to say. + +Soon after this, early in April, Everett came up to town. Though +his bride might be content to get her bridal clothes in Hereford, +none but a London tailor could decorate him properly for such an +occasion. During these last weeks Arthur Fletcher had not been +seen at Manchester Square; nor had his name been mentioned there +by Mr Wharton. Of anything that may have passed between them +Emily was altogether ignorant. She observed, or thought that she +observed, that her father was more silent with her,--perhaps +less tender than he had been since the day on which her husband +had perished. His manner of life was the same. He almost always +dined at home in order that she might not be alone, and made no +complaint as to her conduct. But she could see that he was +unhappy, and she knew the cause of his grief. 'I think, papa,' +she said one day, 'that it would be better that I should go +away.' This was on the day before Everett's arrival,--of which, +however, he had given no notice. + +'Go away! Where would you go to?' + +'It does not matter. I do not make you happy.' + +'What do you mean? Who says that I am not happy? Why do you +talk like that?' + +'Do not be angry with me. Nobody says so. I can see it well +enough. I know how good you are to me, but I am making your life +wretched. I am a wet blanket to you, and yet I cannot help +myself. If I could go somewhere, where I could be of use.' + +'I don't know what you mean. This is your proper home.' + +'No;--it is not my home. I ought to have forfeited it. I ought +to go where I could work and be of some use in the world.' + +'You might use it if you chose, my dear. Your proper career is +before you if you would condescend to accept it. It is not for +me to persuade you, but I can see and feel the truth. Till you +can bring yourself to do that, your days will be blighted,--and +so will mine. You have made one great mistake in life. Stop a +moment. I do not speak often, but I wish you to listen to me now. +Such mistakes do generally produce misery and ruin in all who are +concerned. With you it chances that it may be otherwise. You +can put your foot again upon the firm ground and recover +everything. Of course there must be a struggle. One person has +to struggle with circumstances, another with his foes, and a +third with his own feelings. I can understand that there should +be a struggle with you; but it ought to be made. You ought to be +brave enough and strong enough to conquer your regrets, and to +begin again. In no other way can you do anything for me or for +yourself. To talk of going away is childish nonsense. Whither +would you go? I shall not urge you any more, but I would not +have you talk to me in that way.' Then he got up and left the +room and the house and went down to his club,--in order that she +might think of what he had said in solitude. + +And she did think of it;--but still continually with an +assurance to herself that her father did not understand her +feelings. The career of which he spoke was no doubt open to her, +but she could not regard it as that which it was proper that she +should fulfil, as he did. When she told her lover that she had +lain among the pots till she was black and defiled, she expressed +in the strongest language that which was her real conviction. He +did not think her to have been defiled,--or at any rate thought +that she might again bear the wings of a dove; but she felt it, +and therefore knew herself to be unfit. The next morning, when +he came into the parlour where she was already sitting, she +looked up at him almost reproachfully. Did he think that a woman +was a piece of furniture which you could mend, and re-varnish, +and fit out with new ornaments, and then send out for use, +second-hand indeed, but for all purposes good as new? + +Then, while she was in this frame of mind, Everett came in upon +her unawares, and with his almost boisterous happiness succeeded +for a while in changing the current of her thoughts. He was of +course now uppermost in his own thoughts. The last few months +had made so much of him that he might be excused for being unable +to sink himself in the presence of others. He was the heir to +the baronetcy,--and to the double fortunes of the two old men. +And he was going to be married in a manner as everyone told him +to increase the glory and stability of the family. 'It's all +nonsense about your not coming down,' he said. She smiled and +shook her head. 'I can only tell you that it will give the +greatest offence to everyone. If you knew how much they talk +about you down there I don't think you would like to hurt them.' + +'Of course I would not like to hurt them.' + +'And considering that you have no other brother--' + +'Oh, Everett!' + +'I think more about it, perhaps, than you do. I think you owe it +me to come down. You will never probably have another chance of +being present at your brother's marriage.' This he said in a +tone that was almost lachrymose. + +'A wedding, Everett, should be merry.' + +'I don't know about that. It is a very serious sort of thing, to +my way of thinking. When Mary got your letter it nearly broke +her heart. I think I have a right to expect it, and if you don't +come I shall feel myself injured. I don't see what is the use of +having a family if the members of it do not stick together. What +would you think if I were to desert you?' + +'Desert you, Everett!' + +Well, yes;--it is something of the kind. I have made my +request, and you can comply with it or not as you please.' + +'I will go,' she said very slowly. Then she left him and went to +her own room to think in what description of garments she could +appear at a wedding with the least violence to the condition of +her life. + +'I have got her to say she'll come,' he said to his father that +evening. 'If you leave her to me, I'll bring her round.' + +Soon after that,--within a day or two,--there came out a +paragraph in one of the fashionable newspapers of the day, saying +that an alliance had been arranged between the heir to the +Wharton title and property and the daughter of the present +baronet. I think that this had probably originated in the club +gossip. I trust it did not spring directly from the activity or +ambition of Everett himself. + + + +CHAPTER 76 + +WHO WILL IT BE? + +For the first day or two after the resignation of the Ministry +the Duchess appeared to take no further notice of the matter. An +ungrateful world had repudiated her husband, and he had foolishly +assisted and given way to the repudiation. All her grand +aspirations were at an end. All her triumphs were over. And +worse than that, there was present to her a conviction that she +had never really triumphed. There never had come the happy +moment in which she had felt herself to be dominant over other +women. She had toiled, struggled, she had battled and +occasionally submitted; and yet there was present to her a +feeling that she had stood higher in public estimation as Lady +Glencora Palliser,--whose position had been all her own and had +not depended on her husband,--than now she had done as the +Duchess of Omnium, and wife of the Prime Minister of England. +She had meant to be something, she knew not what, greater than +had been the wives of other Prime Ministers and other Dukes, and +now she felt that in her failure she had been almost ridiculous. +And the failure, she thought, had been his,--or hers,--rather +than that of circumstances. If he had been less scrupulous and +more persistent it might have been different,--of if she had +been more discreet. Sometimes she felt hew own failing so +violently as to acquit him almost entirely. At other times she +was almost beside herself with anger because all her losses +seemed to have arisen from want of stubbornness on his part. +When he had told her that he and his followers had determined to +resign because they had beaten their foes by only a majority of +nine, she took it into her head that he was in fault. Why should +he go while his supporters were more numerous than his opponents? +It was useless to bid him think it over again. Though she was +far from understanding all the circumstances of the game, she did +know that he could not remain after having arranged with his +colleagues that he would go. So she became cross and sullen, and +while he was going to Windsor and back and setting his house in +order, and preparing the way for his successor,--whoever that +successor might be,--she was moody and silent, dreaming over +some impossible condition of things in accordance with which he +might have remained Prime Minister--almost for ever. + +On the Sunday after the fatal division,--the division which the +Duchess would not allow to have been fatal,--she came across him +somewhere in the house. She had hardly spoken to him since he +had come into her room that night and told her that all was over. +She had said that she was unwell and had kept out of sight, and +he had been here and there, between Windsor and the Treasury +Chambers, and had been glad to escape from her ill-humour. But +she could not endure any longer the annoyance of having to get +all her news from Mrs Finn,--second hand, or third hand, and now +found herself driven to capitulate. 'Well,' she said, 'how is it +all going to be? I suppose you do not know or you would have +told me?' + +'There is very little to tell.' + +'Mr Monk is to be Prime Minister?' she asked. + +'I did not say so. But it is not impossible.' + +'Has the Queen sent for him?' + +'Not as yet. Her Majesty has seen both Mr Gresham and Mr Daubney +as well as myself. It does not seem a very easy thing to make a +Ministry at present.' + +'Why should not you go back?' + +'I do not think that is on the cards.' + +'Why not? Ever so many men have done it, after going out,--and +why not you? I remember Mr Mildmay doing it twice. It is always +the thing, when the man who has been sent for makes a mess of it, +for the old minister to have another chance.' + +'But what if the old minister will not take the chance?' + +'Then it is the old minister's fault. Why shouldn't you take the +chance as well as another? It isn't many days ago since you were +quite anxious to remain in. I thought you were going to break +your heart because people even talked of your going.' + +'I was going to break my heart, as you call it,' he said, +smiling, 'not because people talked of my ceasing to be minister, +but because the feeling of the House of Commons justified people +in so saying. I hope you see the difference.' + +'No, I don't. And there is no difference. The people we are +talking about are the members,--and they have supported you. +You could go on if you chose. I'm sure Mr Monk wouldn't leave +you.' + +'It is just what Mr Monk would do, and ought to do. No one is +less likely than Mr Monk to behave badly in such an emergency. +The more I see of Mr Monk, the higher I think of him.' + +'He has his own game to play as well as others.' + +'I think he has no game to play but that of his country. It is +no use our discussing it, Cora.' + +'Of course I understand nothing, because I'm a woman.' + +'You understand a great deal,--but not quite all. You may at +any rate understand this,--that our troubles are at an end. You +were saying the other day that the labours of being a Prime +Minister's wife had been almost too many for you.' + +'I never said so. As long as you didn't give way no labour was +too much for me. I would have done anything,--slaved morning +and night,--so that we might have succeeded. I hate being beat. +I'd sooner be cut to pieces.' + +'There's no help for it now, Cora. The Lord Mayor, you know, is +only Lord Mayor for one year, and must then go back to private +life.' + +'But men have been Prime Ministers for ten years at a time. If +you have made up your mind, I suppose we may as well give up. I +shall think it your own fault.' He still smiled. 'I shall,' she +said. + +'Oh, Cora!' + +'I can only speak as I feel.' + +'I don't think you would speak as you do if you knew how much +your words hurt me. In such a matter as this I should not be +justified in allowing your opinions to have weight with me. But +your sympathy would be so much to me!' + +'When I thought I was making you ill, I wished you might be +spared.' + +'My illness would be nothing, but my honour is everything. I, +too, have something to bear as well as you, and if you cannot +approve of what I do, at any rate be silent.' + +'Yes;--I can be silent.' Then he slowly left her. As he went +she was almost tempted to yield, and to throw herself into his +arms, and to promise that she would be soft to him, and to say +that she was sure that all that he did was for the best. But she +could not bring herself as yet to be good-humoured. If he had +only been a little stronger, a little thicker-skinned, made of +clay a little coarser, a little other than he was, it might have +been so different! + +Early on that Sunday afternoon she had herself driven to Mrs +Finn's house in Park Lane, instead of waiting for her friend. +Latterly she had but seldom done this, finding that her presence +at home was much wanted. She had been filled with, perhaps, +foolish ideas of the necessity of doing something,--of adding +something to the strength of her husband's position,--and had +certainly been diligent in her work. But now she might run about +like any other woman. 'This is an honour, Duchess,' said Mrs +Finn. + +'Don't be sarcastic, Marie. We have nothing further to do with +the bestowal of honours. Why didn't he make everybody a peer or +a baronet while he was about it? Lord Finn! I don't see why he +shouldn't have been Lord Finn. I'm sure he deserved it for the +way in which he attacked Sir Timothy Beeswax.' + +'I don't think he'd like it.' + +'They all say so, but I suppose they do like it, or they wouldn't +make it. And I'd have made Locock a knight;--Sir James Locock. +He's have made a more knightly knight that Sir Timothy. When a +man has power he ought to use it. It makes people respect him. +Mr Daubney made a duke, and people think more of that than +anything he did. Is Mr Finn going to join the new Ministry?' + +'If you can tell me, Duchess, who is to be the next minister, I +can give a guess.' + +'Mr Monk.' + +'Then he certainly will.' + +'Or Mr Daubney.' + +'Then he certainly won't.' + +'Or Mr Gresham.' + +'That I could not answer.' + +'Or the Duke of Omnium.' + +'That would depend on his Grace. If the Duke came back, Mr +Finn's services would be at his disposal, whether in or out of +office.' + +'Very prettily said, my dear. I never look round this room +without thinking of the first time I came here. Do you remember, +when I found the old man sitting there?' The old man alluded to +was the late Duke. + +'I am not likely to forget it, Duchess.' + +'How I hated you when I saw you! What a fright I thought you +were! I pictured you to myself as a sort of ogre, willing to eat +up everybody for the gratification of your own vanity.' + +'I was very vain, but there was a little pride with it.' + +'And now it has come to pass that I can't very well live without +you. How he did love you!' + +'His Grace was very good to me.' + +'It would have done no great harm, after all, if he had made you +Duchess of Omnium.' + +'Very great harm to me, Lady Glen. As it is I got a friend that +I love dearly, and a husband that I love dearly too. In the +other case I should have made neither. Perhaps I may say that, +in that other case my life would not have been brightened by the +affection of the present Duchess.' + +'One can't tell how it would have gone, but I well remember the +state I was in then.' The door opened and Phineas Finn entered +the room. 'What, Mr Finn, are you at home? I thought everybody +was crowding down at the clubs, to know who is to be what. We +are settled. We are quiet. We have nothing to do to disturb +ourselves. But you ought to be in all the flutter of renewed +expectation.' + +'I am waiting my destiny in calm seclusion. I hope the Duke is +well?' + +'As well as can be expected. He doesn't walk about his room with +a poniard in his hand,--ready for himself or Sir Orlando; nor is +he sitting crowned like Bacchus, drinking the health of the new +Ministry with Lord Drummond and Sir Timothy. He is probably +sipping a cup of coffee over a blue-book in dignified retirement. +You should go and see him.' + +'I should be unwilling to trouble him when he is so much +occupied.' + +'That is just what has done him all the harm in the world. +Everybody presumes that he has so much to think of that nobody +goes near him. Then he is left to boody over everything by +himself till he becomes a sort of political hermit, or +ministerial Lama, whom human eyes are not to look upon. It +doesn't matter now; does it?' Visitor after visitor came in, and +the Duchess chatted to them all, leaving the impression on +everybody that heard her that she at least was not sorry to be +relieved from the troubles attending her husband's late position. + +She sat there over an hour, and as she was taking her leave, she +had a few words to whisper to Mrs Finn. 'When this is all over,' +she said. 'I mean to call on that Mrs Lopez.' + +'I thought you did go there.' + +'That was soon after the poor man had killed himself,--when she +was going away. Of course I only left a card. But I shall see +her now if I can. We want to get her out of her melancholy if +possible. I have a sort of feeling, you know, that among us we +made the train run over him.' + +'I don't think that.' + +'He got so horribly abused for what he did at Silverbridge; and I +really don't see why he wasn't to have his money. It was I that +made him spend it.' + +'He was, I fancy, a thoroughly bad man.' + +'But a wife doesn't always want to be made a widow even if her +husband be bad. I think I owe her something, and I would pay my +debt if I knew how. I shall go and see her, and if she will +marry this other man we'll take her by the hand. Good-bye, dear. +You'd better come to me early to-morrow, as I suppose we shall +know something by eleven o'clock.' + +In the course of that evening the Duke of St Bungay came to +Carlton Terrace, and was closeted for some time with the late +Prime Minister. He had been engaged during that and the last two +previous days in lending his aid to various political manoeuvres +and ministerial attempts, from which our Duke had kept himself +altogether aloof. He did not go to Windsor, but as each +successive competitor journeyed thither and returned, someone +sent for the old Duke or went to seek his council. He was the +Nestor of the occasion, and strove heartily to compose all +quarrels, and so to arrange matters that a wholesome, moderately +Liberal Ministry might be again installed for the good of the +country and the comfort of all true Whigs. In such moments he +almost ascended to the grand heights of patriotism, being always +indifferent as to himself. Now he came to his late chief with a +new project. Mr Gresham would attempt to form a Ministry if the +Duke of Omnium would join him. + +'It is impossible!' said the younger politician, folding his +hands together and throwing himself back in the chair. + +'Listen to me before you answer me with such certainty. There +are three or four gentlemen who, after the work of the last three +years, bearing in mind the manner in which our defeat has just +been accomplished, feel themselves disinclined to join Mr Gresham +unless you will do so also. I may specially name Mr Monk and Mr +Finn. I might perhaps add myself, were it not that I had hoped +that in any event I might at length regard myself as exempt from +further service. The old horse should be left to graze out his +last days, ne peccet ad extremum ridendus. But you can't +consider yourself absolved on that score.' + +'There are other reasons.' + +'But the Queen's service should count before everything. Gresham +and Cantrip with their own friends can hardly make a Ministry as +things are now unless Mr Monk will join them. I do not think +that any other Chancellor of the Exchequer is at present +possible.' + +'I will beseech Mr Monk not to let any feeling as to me stand in +his way. Why should it?' + +'It is not only what you may think and he may think,--but what +others will think and say. The Coalition will have done all that +ought to have been expected from it if our party in it can now +join Mr Gresham.' + +'By all means. But I could give them no strength. They may be +sure at any rate of what little I can do for them out of office.' + +'Mr Gresham made his acceptance of office,--well, I will not say +strictly conditional on your joining him. That would hardly be +correct. But he has expressed himself quite willing to make the +attempt with your aid, and doubtful whether he can succeed +without it. He suggests that you should join him as President of +the Council.' + +'And you?' + +'If I were wanted at all I should take Privy Seal.' + +'Certainly not, my friend. If there were any question of my +return we could reverse the offices. But I think I may say that +my mind is fixed. If you wish it I will see Mr Monk and do all +that I can to get him to go with you. But, for myself,--I feel +that it would be useless.' + +At last, at the Duke's pressing request, he agreed to take +twenty-four hours before he gave his final answer to the +proposition. + + + +CHAPTER 77 + +THE DUCHESS IN MANCHESTER SQUARE. + +The Duke said not a word to his wife as to this new proposition, +and when she asked him what tidings their old friend had brought +as to the state of affairs, he almost told a fib in his anxiety +to escape from her persecution. 'He is in some doubt what he +means to do himself,' said the Duke. The Duchess asked many +questions, but got no satisfactory reply to any of them. Nor did +Mrs Finn learn anything from her husband, whom, however, she did +not interrogate very closely. She would be contented to know +when the proper time might come for ladies to be informed. The +Duke, however, was determined to take his twenty-four hours all +alone,--or at any rate not to be driven to his decision by +feminine interference. + +In the meantime the Duchess went to Manchester Square intent on +performing certain good offices on behalf of the poor widow. It +may be doubted whether she had clearly made up her mind what it +was that she could do, though she was clear that some debt was +due by her to Mrs Lopez. And she knew too in what direction +assistance might be serviceable, if only in this case it could be +given. She had heard that the present member for Silverbridge +had been the lady's lover before Mr Lopez had come upon the +scene, and with those feminine wiles of which she was a perfect +mistress she had extracted from him a confession that his mind +was unaltered. She liked Arthur Fletcher,--as indeed she had +for a time liked Ferdinand Lopez,--and felt that her conscience +would be easier if she could assist in this good work. She built +castles in the air as to the presence of the bride and bridegroom at +Matching, thinking how she might thus repair the evil she had +done. But her heart misgave her a little as she drew near to the +house, and remembered how very slight was her acquaintance and +how extremely delicate the mission on which she had come. But +she was not the woman to turn back when she had once put her foot +to any work; and she was driven up to the door in Manchester +Square without any expressed hesitation on her own part. 'Yes;-- +his mistress was at home,' said the butler, still shrinking at +the sound of the name which he heard. The Duchess was then shown +upstairs, and was left alone for some minutes in the drawing- +room. It was a large handsome apartment hung round with valuable +pictures, and having signs of considerable wealth. Since she had +first invited Lopez to stand for Silverbridge she had heard much +about him, and had wondered how he had gained possession of such +a girl as Emily Wharton. And now, as she looked about her, her +wonder was increased. She knew enough of such people as the +Whartons and the Fletchers to be aware that as a class they are +more impregnable, more closely guarded by their feelings and +prejudices against strangers than any other. None keep their +daughters to themselves with greater care, or are less willing to +see their rules of life changed or abolished. And yet this man, +half foreigner, half Jew,--and as it now appeared, whole pauper, +had stepped in and carried off a prize of which such a one as +Arthur Fletcher was contending! The Duchess had never seen Emily +but once,--so as to observe her well,--and had then thought her +to be a very handsome woman. It had been at the garden party at +Richmond, and Lopez had then insisted that his wife should be +well dressed. It would perhaps have been impossible in the whole +of that assembly to find a more beautiful woman than Mrs Lopez +then was,--or one who carried herself with a finer air. Now +when she entered the room in her deep mourning it would have been +difficult to recognize her. Her face was much thinner, her eyes +apparently larger, and her colour faded. And there had come a +settled seriousness on her face which seemed to rob her of her +youth. Arthur Fletcher had declared that as he saw her now she +was more beautiful than ever. But Arthur Fletcher, in looking at +her, saw more then her mere features. To his eyes there was a +tenderness added by her sorrow which had its own attraction for +him. And he was so well versed in every line of her countenance, +that he could see there the old loveliness behind the sorrow; the +loveliness which would come forth again, as bright as ever, if +the sorrow could be removed. But the Duchess, though she +remembered the woman's beauty as she might that of any other +lady, now saw nothing but a thing of woe wrapped in customary +widow's weeds. 'I hope,' she said, 'I am not intruding in coming +to you; but I have been anxious to renew our acquaintance for +reasons which I am sure you will understand.' + +Emily at the moment hardly knew how to address her august +visitor. Though her father had lived all his life in what is +called good society, he had not consorted much with dukes and +duchesses. She herself had indeed on one occasion been for an +hour or two the guest of this grand lady, but on that occasion +she had hardly been called upon to talk to her. Now she doubted +how to name the Duchess, and with some show of hesitation decided +at last upon not naming her at all. 'It is very good of you to +come,' she said in a faltering voice. + +'I told you that I would when I wrote, you know. That is many +months ago, but I have not forgotten it. You have been in the +country since that, I think?' + +'Yes. In Hertfordshire. Hertfordshire is our county.' + +'I know all about it,' said the Duchess, smiling. She generally +did contrive to learn 'all about' people whom she chose to take +by the hand. 'We have a Hertfordshire gentleman sitting for,--I +must not say our borough of Silverbridge.' She was anxious to +make some allusion to Arthur Fletcher, but it was difficult to +travel on that Silverbridge ground, as Lopez had been her chosen +candidate when she still wished to claim the borough as an +appanage of the Palliser family. Emily, however, kept her +countenance and did not show by any sign that her thoughts were +running in that direction. 'And though we don't presume to +regard Mr Fletcher,' continued the Duchess, 'as in any way +connected with our local interests, he has always supported the +Duke, and I hope has become a friend of ours. I think he is a +neighbour of yours in that county.' + +'Oh yes. My cousin is married to his brother.' + +'I knew there was something of that kind. He told me that there +was some close alliance.' The Duchess as she looked at the woman +to whom she wanted to be kind did not as yet dare to express a +wish that there might be at some no very distant time a closer +alliance. She had come there intending to do so; and had still +some hope that she might do it before the interview was over. +But at any rate she would not do it yet. 'Have I not heard,' she +said, 'something of another marriage?' + +'My brother is going to marry his cousin, Sir Alured Wharton's +daughter.' + +'Ah;--I though it had been one of the Fletchers. It was our +member who told me, and spoke as if they were all his very dear +friends.' + +'They are our very dear friends,--very.' Poor Emily still +didn't know whether to call her Duchess, my Lady, or Grace,--and +yet she felt the need of calling her by some special name. + +'Exactly. I supposed it was so. They tell me Mr Fletcher will +become quite a favourite of the House. At this present moment +nobody knows on which side anybody is going to sit to-morrow. It +may be that Mr Fletcher will become the dire enemy of all the +Duke's friends.' + +'I hope not.' + +'Of course I'm speaking of political enemies. Political enemies +are often the best friends in the world; and I can assure you +from my own experience that political friends are often the +bitterest enemies. I never hated any people so much as some of +our supporters.' The Duchess made a grimace, and Emily could not +refrain from smiling. 'Yes, indeed. There's an old saying that +misfortune makes strange bedfellows, but political friendship +makes stranger alliances than misfortune. Perhaps you have never +heard of Sir Timothy Beeswax.' + +'Never.' + +'Well;--don't. But, as I was saying, there is no knowing who +may support whom now. If I were asked who would be Prime +Minister to-morrow, I should take half-dozen names and shake them +in a bag.' + +'Is it not settled then?' + +'Settled! No, indeed. Nothing is settled.' At that moment +indeed everything was settled, though the Duchess did not know +it. 'And so we none of us can tell how Mr Fletcher may stand +with us when things are arranged. I suppose he calls himself a +Conservative?' + +'Oh, yes!' + +'All the Whartons are, I suppose, Conservatives,--and all the +Fletchers.' + +'Very nearly. Papa calls himself a Tory.' + +'A very much better name to my thinking. We are all Whigs, of +course. A Palliser who is not a Whig would be held to have +disgraced himself for ever. Are not politics odd? A few years +ago I only barely knew what the word meant, and that not +correctly. I have been so eager about it, that there hardly +seems to be anything else worth living for. I suppose it's +wrong, but a state of pugnacity seems to me the greatest bliss +which we can reach here on earth.' + +'I shouldn't like to be always fighting.' + +'That's because you haven't known Sir Timothy Beeswax and two or +three other gentlemen whom I could name. The day will come, I +dare say, when you will care for politics.' + +Emily was about to answer, hardly knowing what to say, when the +door was opened and Mrs Roby came into the room. The lady was +not announced and Emily had heard no knock at the door. She was +forced to go through some ceremony of introduction. 'This is my +aunt, Mrs Roby,' she said, 'Aunt Harriet, the Duchess of Omnium.' +Mrs Roby was beside herself,--not all with joy. That feeling +would come afterwards when she would boast to her friends of her +new acquaintance. At present there was the embarrassment of not +quite knowing how to behave herself. The Duchess bowed from her +seat, and smiled sweetly,--as she had learned to smile since her +husband had become Prime Minister. Mrs Roby curtsied, and then +remembered that in these days only housemaids ought to curtsey. + +'Anything to our Mr Roby?' said the Duchess, continuing her +smile,--'ours as was till yesterday at least.' This she said in +an absurd wail of mock sorrow. + +'My brother-in-law, your Grace,' said Mrs Roby delighted. + +'Oh indeed. And what does Mr Roby think about it, I wonder? But +I dare say you have found, Mrs Roby, that when a crisis comes,-- +a real crisis,--the ladies are told nothing. I have.' + +'I don't think, your Grace, that Mr Roby ever divulges political +secrets.' + +'Doesn't he indeed! What a dull man your brother-in-law must be +to live with,--that is as politician! Good-bye, Mrs Lopez. You +must come and see me and let me come to you again. I hope, you +know,--I hope the time may come when things may once more be +bright with you.' These last words she murmured almost in a +whisper, as she held the hand of the woman she wished to +befriend. Then she bowed to Mrs Roby, and left the room. + +'What was it she said to you?' asked Mrs Roby. + +'Nothing in particular, Aunt Harriet.' + +'She seems to be very friendly. What made her come?' + +'She wrote to me some time ago to say she would call.' + +'But why?' + +'I cannot tell you. I don't know. Don't ask me aunt, about +things that are passed. You cannot do it without wounding me.' + +'I don't want to wound you, Emily, but I really think it is +nonsense. She is a very nice woman;--though I don't think she +ought to have said that Mr Roby is dull. Did Mr Wharton know +that she was coming?' + +'He knew that she said she would come,' replied Emily very +sternly, so that Mrs Roby found herself compelled to pass on to +some other subject. Mrs Roby had heard the wish expressed that +something 'once more might be bright', and when she got home told +her husband that she was sure that Emily Lopez was going to marry +Arthur Fletcher. 'And why the d--shouldn't she?' said Dick. 'And +that poor man destroying himself not more than twelve months ago! +I couldn't do it,' said Mrs Roby. 'I don't mean to give you the +chance,' said Dick. + +The Duchess when she went away suffered under a sense of failure. +She had intended to bring about some sort of crisis of female +tenderness in which she might have rushed into future hopes and +joyous anticipations, and with the freedom which will come from +ebullitions of feeling, have told the widow that the peculiar +circumstances of her position would not only justify her in +marrying this other man but absolutely called upon her to do it. +Unfortunately she had failed in her attempt to bring the +interview to a condition in which this would have been possible, +and while she was still making the attempt that odious aunt had +come in. 'I have been on my mission,' she said to Mrs Finn +afterwards. + +'Have you done any good?' + +'I don't think I've done any harm. Women, you know, are so very +different. There are some who would delight to have an +opportunity of opening their hearts to a Duchess, and who might +almost be talked into anything in an ecstasy.' + +'Hardly women of the best sort, Lady Glen.' + +'Not of the best sort. But then one doesn't come across the very +best, very often. But that kind of thing does have an effect, +and as I only wanted to do good, I wish she had been one of the +sort for the occasion.' + +'Was she--offended?' + +'Oh dear, no. You don't suppose I attacked her with a husband at +the first. Indeed, I didn't attack her at all. She didn't give +me an opportunity. Such a Niobe you never saw.' + +'Was she weeping?' + +'Not actual tears, but her gown, and her cap, and her strings +were weeping. Her voice wept, and her hair, and her nose, and +her mouth. Don't you know that look of subdued mourning? And yet +they say that that man is dying for love. How beautiful it is to +see that there is such a thing as constancy left in the world.' + +When she got home she found that her husband had just returned +from the old Duke's house, where he had met Mr Monk, Mr Gresham, +and Lord Cantrip. 'It's all settled at last,' he said +cheerfully. + + + +CHAPTER 78 + +THE NEW MINISTRY. + +When the ex-Prime Minister was left by himself after the departure +of his old friend his first feeling had been one of regret that he +had been weak enough to doubt at all. He had long since made up +his mind that after all that had passed he could not return to +office as a subordinate. That feeling as to the impropriety of +Caesar descending to serve under others which he had been foolish +enough to express, had been strong with him from the very +commencement of his Ministry. When first asked to take the place +which he had filled the reason strong against it had been the +conviction that it would probably exclude him from political work +during the latter half of his life. The man who has written Q.C. +after his name, must abandon his practice behind the bar. As he +then was, although he had already driven by the unhappy +circumstance of his peerage from the House of Commons which he +loved so well, there was still open to him many fields of +political work. But if he should once consent to stand on the +top rung of the ladder, he could not, he thought, take a lower +place without degradation. Till he should have been placed quite +at the top no shifting his place from this higher to that lower +office would injure him in his own estimation. The exigencies of +the service and not defeat would produce such changes as that. +But he could not go down from being Prime Minister and serve +under some other chief without acknowledging himself to have been +unfit for the place he had filled. Of all that he had quite +assured himself. And yet he allowed the old Duke to talk him +into a doubt! + +As he sat considering the question he acknowledged that there +might have been room for doubt, though in the present emergency +there certainly was none. He could imagine circumstances in +which the experience of an individual in some special branch of +his country's service might be of paramount importance to the +country as to make it incumbent on a man to sacrifice all +personal feeling. But it was not so with him. There was nothing +now which he could do, which another might not do as well. That +blessed task of introducing decimals into all commercial +relations of British life, which had once kept him aloft in the +air, floating as upon eagle's wings, had been denied him. If +ever done it must be done from the House of Commons, and the +people of the country had become deaf to the charms of the great +reform. Othello's occupation was, in truth, altogether gone, and +there was no reason by which he could justify to himself the step +down in the world which the old Duke had proposed to him. + +Early on the following morning he left Carlton Terrace on foot +and walked to Mr Monk's house, which was close to St James's +Street. Here at eleven o'clock he found his late Chancellor of +the Exchequer in that state of tedious agitation in which a man +is kept who does not yet know whether he is or is not to be one +of the actors in the play just about to be performed. The Duke +had never before been in Mr Monk's very humble abode, and now +caused some surprise. Mr Monk knew that he might probably be +sent for, but had not expected any of the ex-Prime Ministers of +the day would come to him. People had said that not improbably +he himself might be the man,--but he himself had indulged in no +such dream. Office had had no great charms for him;--and if +there was one man of the late Government who could lay it down +without personal regret, it was Mr Monk. 'I wish you to come +with me to the Duke's house in St James's Square,' said the late +Prime Minister. 'I think we shall find him at home.' + +'Certainly I will come at this moment.' There was not a word +spoken till the two men were in the street together. 'Of course +I am a little anxious,' said Mr Monk. 'Have you anything to tell +me before we get there?' + +'You of course must return to office, Mr Monk.' + +'With your Grace--I certainly will do so.' + +'And without, if there be the need. They who are wanted should +be forthcoming. But perhaps you will let me postpone what I have +to say till we see the Duke. What a charming morning;--is it +not? How sweet it would be down in the country.' March had gone +out like a lamb, and even in London in the early April days were +sweet--to be followed, no doubt, by the usual nipping inclemency +of May. 'I never can get over the feeling,' said the Duke, 'that +Parliament should sit for the winter months, instead of in +summer. If we met on the first of October, how glorious it would +be to get away for the early spring!' + +'Nothing less strong than grouse could break up Parliament,' said +Mr Monk; 'and then what would the pheasants and foxes say?' + +'It is giving almost too much for our amusements. I used to +think that I should like to move for a return to the number of +hunting and shooting gentlemen in both Houses. I believe it +would be a small minority.' + +'But their sons shoot, and their daughters hunt, and all their +hangers-on would be against it.' + +'Custom is against us, Mr Monk; that is it. Here we are. I hope +my friend will not be out, looking up young Lords of the +Treasury.' The Duke of St Bungay was not in search of cadets for +the Government, but he was at this very moment closeted with Mr +Gresham, and Mr Gresham's especial friend Lord Cantrip. He had +been at this work so long and so constantly that his very +servants had their ministerial-crisis manners and felt and +enjoyed the importance of the occasion. The two newcomers were +soon allowed to enter the august conclave, and the five great +senators greeted each other cordially. 'I hope we have not come +inopportunely,' said the Duke of Omnium. Mr Gresham assured him +almost with hilarity that nothing could be less inopportune;-- +and then the Duke was sure that Mr Gresham was to be the new +Prime Minister, whoever might join him or whoever might refuse to +do so. 'I told my friend here,' continued our Duke, laying his +hand upon the old man's arm, 'that I would give him his answer to +a proposition he made with me within twenty-four hours. But I +find that I can do so without that delay.' + +'I trust your Grace's answer may be favourable to us,' said Mr +Gresham,--who indeed did not doubt much that it would be so, +seeing that Mr Monk had accompanied him. + +'I do not think it would be unfavourable, though I cannot do as +my friend has proposed.' + +'Any practicable arrangement--' began Mr Gresham, with a frown, +however, on his brow. + +'The most practicable arrangement, I am sure, will be for you to +form your Government, without hampering yourself with a beaten +predecessor.' + +'Not beaten,' said Lord Cantrip. + +'Certainly not,' said the other Duke. + +'It is because of your success that I ask your services,' said Mr +Gresham. + +'I have none to give,--none that I cannot better bestow out of +office than in. I must ask you, gentlemen, to believe that I am +quite fixed. Coming here with my friend Mr Monk, I did not state +my purpose to him; but I begged him to accompany me, fearing lest +in my absence he should feel it incumbent on himself to sail in +the same boat as his late colleague.' + +'I should prefer to do so,' said Mr Monk. + +'Of course it is not for me to say what may be Mr Gresham's +ideas, but as my friend here suggested to me that, were I to +return to office, Mr Monk would do so also, I cannot be wrong in +surmising that his services are desired.' Mr Gresham bowed +assent. 'I shall therefore take the liberty of telling Mr Monk +that I think he is bound to give his aid in the present +emergency. Were I as happily placed as he is in being the +possessor of a seat in the House of Commons, I too should hope +that I might do something.' + +The four gentlemen, with eager pressure, begged the Duke to +reconsider his decision. He could take this office and do +nothing in it,--there being, as we know, offices the holders are +not called upon for work,--or he could take that place which +required him to labour like a galley slave. Would he be Privy +Seal? Would he undertake the India Board? But the Duke of +Omnium was at last resolute. Of this administration he would not +at any rate be a member. Whether Caesar might or might not at +some future time condescend to command a legion he could not do +so when the purple had been but that moment stripped from his +shoulders. He soon afterwards left the house with a repeated +request to Mr Monk that he should not follow his late chief's +example. + +'I regret it greatly,' said Mr Gresham when he was gone. + +'There is no man,' said Lord Cantrip, 'whom all who know him more +thoroughly respect.' + +'He has been worried,' said the old Duke, 'and must take time to +recover himself. He has but one fault,--he is a little too +conscientious, a little too scrupulous.' Mr Monk, of course, did +join them, making one or two stipulations as he did so. He +required that his friend Phineas Finn should be included in the +Government. Mr Gresham yielded, though poor Phineas was not +among the most favoured friends of that statesman. And so the +Government was formed, and the crisis was again over, and the +lists which the newspapers had been publishing for the last three +days were republished in an amended and nearly correct condition. +The triumph of the "People's Banner", as to the omission of the +Duke, was of course complete. The editor had no hesitation in +declaring that he, by his own sagacity and persistency, had made +certain the exclusion of that very unfit and very pressing +candidate for office. + +The list was filled up after the usual fashion. For a while the +dilettanti politicians of the clubs, and the strong-minded women +who take an interest in such things, and the writers in +newspapers, had almost doubted whether in the emergency which had +been supposed to be so peculiar, any Government could be formed. +There had been,--so they had said,--peculiarities so peculiar +that it might be that the much-dreaded deadlock had come at last. +A Coalition had been possible, and, though antagonistic to +British feelings generally, had carried on the Government. But +what might succeed the Coalition, nobody had known. The Radicals +and Liberals together would be too strong for Mr Daubney and Sir +Orlando. Mr Gresham had no longer a party of his own at his +back, and a second Coalition would be generally spurned. In this +way there had been much political excitement, and a fair amount +of consequent enjoyment. But after a few days the old men had +rattled into their old places,--or, generally, old men into new +places. And it was understood that Mr Gresham would again be +supported by a majority. + +As we grow old it is a matter of interest to watch how the +natural gaps are filled in the two ranks of parliamentary workmen +by whom the Government is carried on, either in the one interest +or the other. Of course there must be gaps. Some men become too +old,--though that is rarely the case. A Peel may perish, or +even a Palmerston must die. Some men, though, long supported by +interest, family connection, or the loyalty of colleagues, are +weighed down at last by their own incapacity and sink into +peerages. Now and again a man cannot bear the bondage of office, +and flies into rebellion and independence which would have been +more respectable had it not been the result of discontent. Then +the gaps must be filled. Whether on this side or on that, the +candidates are first looked for among the sons of Earls and +Dukes,--and not unnaturally, as the sons of Earls and Dukes may +be educated for such work almost from their infancy. A few rise +by the slow process of acknowledged fitness,--men who probably +at first have not thought of offices, but are chosen because they +are wanted, and those whose careers are grudged them, not by +their opponents or rivals, but by the Browns and Joneses of the +world who cannot bear to see a Smith or a Walker become something +so different to themselves. These men have a great weight to +carry, and cannot always shake off the burden of their origin and +live among begotten statesman as though they too had been born to +the manner. But perhaps the most wonderful ministerial +phenomenon,--though now almost too common to be called a +phenomenon,--is he who rises high in power and place by having +made himself thoroughly detested and also--alas for +parliamentary cowardice!--thoroughly feared. Given sufficient +audacity, a thick skin, and power to bear for a few years the +evil looks and cold shoulders of his comrades, and that is the +man most sure to make his way to some high seat. But the skin +must be thicker than that of any animal known, and the audacity +must be complete. To the man who will once shrink at the idea of +being looked at askance for treachery, or hated for his ill +condition, the career is impossible. But let him be obdurate, +and the bid will come. 'Not because I want him, do I ask for +him,' says some groaning chief of party,--to himself, and also +sufficiently aloud for others' ears,--'but because he stings me +and goads me, and will drive me to madness as a foe.' Then the +pachydermous one enters into the other's heaven, probably with +the resolution already formed of ousting that unhappy angel. And +so it was in the present instance. When Mr Gresham's completed +list was published to the world, the world was astonished to find +that Sir Timothy Beeswax was to be Mr Gresham's Attorney-General. +Sir Gregory Grogram became Lord Chancellor, and the Liberal chief +was content to borrow his senior law adviser from the +Conservative side of the late Coalition. It could not be that Mr +Gresham was very fond of Sir Timothy;--but Sir Timothy in the +late debates had shown himself to be a man of whom a minister +might well be afraid. + +Immediately on leaving the old Duke's house, the late Premier +went home to his wife, and finding that she was out, waited for +her return. Now that he had put his own decision beyond his +power he was anxious to let her know how it was to be with them. +'I think it is settled at last,' he said. + +'Are you coming back?' + +'Certainly not that. I believe I may say that Mr Gresham is +Prime Minister.' + +'Then he oughtn't to be,' said the Duchess crossly. + +'I am sorry that I must differ from you, my dear, because I think +he is the fittest man in England for the place.' + +'And you?' + +'I am a private gentleman who will now be able to devote more of +his time to his wife and children than has hitherto been possible +with him.' + +'How very nice! Do you mean to say that you like it?' + +'I am sure that I ought to like it. At the present moment I am +thinking more of what you would like.' + +'If you ask me, Plantagenet, you know I shall tell the truth.' + +'Then tell the truth.' + +'After drinking brandy so long I hardly think that 12s claret +will agree with my stomach. You ask for the truth, and there it +is,--very plainly.' + +'Plain enough!' + +'You asked, you know.' + +'And I am glad to have been told, even though that which you tell +me is not pleasant hearing. When a man has been drinking too +much brandy, it may be well that he should be put on a course of +12s claret.' + +'He won't like it; and then,--it's kill or cure.' + +'I don't think you've gone so far, Cora, that we need fear that +the remedy will be fatal.' + +'I am thinking of you rather than myself. I can make myself +generally disagreeable, and get excitement in that way. But what +will you do? It's all very well to talk of me and the children, +but you can't bring in a bill for reforming us. You can't make +us go by decimals. You can't increase our consumption by +lowering our taxation. I wish you had gone back to some Board.' +This she said looking up into his face with an anxiety which was +half real and half burlesque. + +'I had made up my mind to go back on to no Board,--for the +present. I was thinking that we could spend some months in Italy, +Cora.' + +'What; for the summer,--so as to be in Rome in July! After that +we could utilize winter by visiting Norway.' + +'We might take Norway first.' + +'And be eaten up by mosquitoes! I've got to be too old to like +travelling.' + +'What do you like, dear?' + +'Nothing;--except being the Prime Minister's wife; and upon my +word there were times when I didn't like that very much. I don't +know anything that I am fit for. I wonder whether Mr Gresham +would have me as a housekeeper? Only we should have to lend him +Gatherum, or there would be no room for the display of my +abilities. Is Mr Monk in?' + +'He keeps his office.' + +'And Mr Finn?' + +'I believe so; but in what place I don't know.' + +'And who else?' + +'Our old friend the Duke and Lord Cantrip, and Mr Wilson,--and +Sir Gregory will be Lord Chancellor.' + +'Just the old stupid Liberal team. Put their names in a bag and +shake them, and you can always get a ministry. Well, Plantagenet;-- +I'll go anywhere you like to take me. I'll have something for +the malaria at Rome, and something for the mosquitoes in Norway, +and will make the best of it. But I don't see why you should run +away in the middle of the Session. I would stay and pitch into +them, all round, like a true ex-minister and independent member +of Parliament.' Then as he was leaving her she fired a last +shot. 'I hope you made Sir Orlando and Sir Timothy peers before +you gave up.' + +It was not until two days after this that she read in one of the +daily papers that Sir Timothy Beeswax was to be Attorney-General, +and then her patience almost deserted her. To tell the truth, +her husband had not dared to mention the appointment when he +first saw her after hearing it. Her explosion fell on the head +of Phineas Finn, whom she found at home with his wife, deploring +the necessity which had fallen upon him of filling the faineant +office of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. 'Mr Finn,' she +said, 'I congratulate you on your colleagues.' + +'Your Grace is very good. I was at any rate introduced to many +of them under the Duke's auspices.' + +'And ought, I think, to have seen enough of them to be ashamed of +them. Such a regiment to march through Coventry with!' + +'I do not doubt that we shall be good enough men for any enemies +we may meet.' + +'It cannot be that you should conquer all the world with such a +hero among you as Sir Timothy Beeswax. The idea of Sir Timothy +coming back again! What do you feel about it?' + +'Very indifferent, Duchess. He won't interfere much with me, as +I have an Attorney-General of my own. You see I'm especially +safe.' + +'I do believe men would do anything,' said the Duchess, turning +to Mrs Finn. 'Of course I mean in the way of politics! But I +did not think it possible that the Duke of St Bungay should again +be in the same Government with Sir Timothy Beeswax.' + + + +CHAPTER 79 + +THE WHARTON WEDDING. + +It was at last settled that the Wharton marriage should take +place during the second week in June. There were various reasons +for the postponement. In the first place Mary Wharton, after a +few preliminary inquiries, found herself forced to declare that +Messrs Muddocks and Cramble could not send her forth equipped as +she ought to be equipped for such a husband in so short a time. +'Perhaps they do it quicker in London,' she said to Everett with +a soft regret, remembering the metropolitan glories of her +sister's wedding. And then Arthur Fletcher could be present +during the Whitsuntide holidays, and the presence of Arthur +Fletcher was essential. And it was not only his presence at the +altar that was needed;--Parliament was not so exacting but that +he might have given that;--but it was considered by the united +families to be highly desirable that he should on this occasion +remain some days in the country. Emily had promised to attend +the wedding, and would of course be at Wharton for at least a +week. As soon as Everett had succeeded in wresting a promise +from his sister, the tidings were conveyed to the Fletchers. +It was a great step gained. When in London she was her own +mistress; but surrounded as she would be down in Hertfordshire by +Fletchers and Whartons, she must be stubborn indeed if she should +still refuse to be taken back into the flock, and be made once +more happy by marrying the man whom she confessed that she loved +with her whole heart. The letter to Arthur Fletcher containing +the news was from his brother John, and was written in a very +businesslike fashion. 'We have put off Mary's marriage for a few +days, so that you and she should be down here together. If you +mean to go on with it, now is your time.' Arthur, in answer to +this, merely said he would spend the Whitsuntide holidays at +Longbarns. + +It is probable that Emily herself had some idea in her own mind +of what was being done to entrap her. Her brother's words to her +had been so strong, and the occasion of the marriage was itself +so sacred to her, that she had not been able to refuse his +request. But from the moment that she had made the promise, she +felt that she had greatly added to her own difficulties. That she +could yield to Arthur never occurred to her. She was certain of +her own persistency. Whatever might be the wishes of others, the +fitness of things required that Arthur Fletcher's wife should not +have been the widow of Ferdinand Lopez,--and required also that +the woman who had married Ferdinand Lopez should bear the results +of her own folly. Though since his death she had never spoken a +syllable against him,--if those passionate words be excepted +which Arthur himself had drawn from her,--still she had not +refrained from acknowledging the truth to herself. He had been a +man disgraced,--and she as his wife, having become his wife in +opposition to the wishes of all her friends, was disgraced also. +Let them do what they will with her, she would not soil Arthur +Fletcher's name with his infamy. Such was still her steadfast +resolution; but she knew that it would be, not endangered, but +increased in difficulty by this visit to Hertfordshire. + +And there were other troubles. 'Papa,' she said, 'I must get a +dress for Everett's marriage.' + +'Why not?' + +'I can't bear, after all that I have cost you, putting you to +such useless expense.' + +'It is not useless, and such expenses as that I can surely afford +without groaning. Do it handsomely and you will please me best.' + +Then she went forth and chose her dress,--a grey silk, light +enough not to throw quite a gloom on the brightness of the day, +and yet dark enough to declare that she was not as other women +are. The very act of purchasing this, almost blushing at her own +request as she sat at the counter in her widow's weeds, was a +pain to her. But she had no one whom she could employ. On such +an occasion she could not ask her aunt Harriet to act for her, as +her aunt was distrusted and disliked. And then there was the +fitting on of the dress,--very grievous to her, as it was the +first time since the heavy black mourning came home that she had +clothed herself in other garments. + +The day before that fixed for the marriage she and her father +went down to Hertfordshire together, the conversation on the way +being all in respect to Everett. Where was he to live? What was +he to do? What income would he require till he should inherit +the good things which destiny had in store for him? The old man +seemed to feel that Providence, having been so very good to his +son in killing that other heir, had put rather a heavy burden on +himself. 'He'll want a house of his own, of course,' he said, in +a somewhat lachrymose tone. + +'I suppose he'll spend a good deal of his time at Wharton.' + +'He won't be content to live in another man's house altogether, +my dear, and Sir Alured can allow him nothing. It means, of +course, that I must give him a thousand a year. It seems very +natural to him, I dare say, but he might have asked the question +before he took a wife to himself.' + +'You won't be angry with him, papa!' + +'It's no good being angry. No;--I'm not angry. Only it seems +that everybody is uncommonly well pleased without thinking who +has to pay for the piper.' + +On that evening, at Wharton, Emily still wore her mourning dress. +No one, indeed, dared to speak to her on the subject, and Mary +was even afraid lest she might appear in black on the following +day. We all know in what condition is a house on the eve of a +marriage,--how the bride feels that all the world is going to be +changed, and that therefore everything is for the moment +disjointed; and how the rest of the household, including the +servants, are led to share the feeling. Everett was of course +away. He was over at Longbarns with the Fletchers, and was to be +brought to Wharton Church on the following morning. Old Mrs +Fletcher was at Wharton Hall,--and the bishop, whose services +had been happily secured. He was formally introduced to Mrs +Lopez, the use of the name for the occasion being absolutely +necessary, and with all the smiling urbanity, which as a bishop +he was bound to possess, he was hardly able not to be funereal as +he looked at her and remembered her story. Before the evening +was over Mrs Fletcher did venture to give a hint. 'We are so +glad you have come, my dear.' + +'I could not stay away when Everett said he wished it.' + +'It would have been very wrong; yes, my dear,--wrong. It is +your duty, and the duty of us all, to subordinate our feelings to +those of others. Even sorrow may be selfish.' Poor Emily +listened, but could make no reply. 'It is sometimes harder for +us to be mindful of others in our grief than in our joy. You +should remember, dear, that there are some who will never be +light-hearted till they see you smile.' + +'Do not say that, Mrs Fletcher.' + +'It is quite true;--and right that you should think of it. It +will be particularly necessary that you should think of it to- +morrow. You will have to wear a light dress, and--' + +'I have come provided,' said the widow. + +'Try then to make you heart as light as your frock. You will be +doing it for Everett's sake, and for your father's, and for +Mary's sake--and Arthur's. You will be doing it for the sake of +all of us on a day that should be joyous.' She could not make +any promise in reply to this homily, but in her heart of hearts +she acknowledged that it was true, and declared to herself that +she would make the effort required of her. + +On the following morning the house was of course in confusion. +There was to be a breakfast after the service, and after the +breakfast the bride was to be taken away in a carriage and four +as far as Hereford on her route to Paris;--but before the great +breakfast there was of course a subsidiary breakfast,--or how +could a bishop, bride, or bridesmaids have sustained the +ceremony? At this meal Emily did not appear, having begged for a +cup of tea in her own room. The carriages to take the party to +the church, which was but the other side of the park, were +ordered at eleven, and at a quarter before eleven she appeared +for the first time in her grey silk dress, and without a widow's +cap. Everything was very plain, but the alteration was so great +that it was impossible not to look at her. Even her father had +not seen the change before. Not a word was said, though old Mrs +Fletcher's thanks were implied by the graciousness of her smile. +As there were four bridesmaids and four other ladies besides the +bride herself, in a few minutes she became obscured by the +brightness of the others,--and then they were all packed in +their carriages and taken to the church. The eyes which she most +dreaded did not meet hers till they were all standing round the +altar. It was only then that she saw Arthur Fletcher, who was +there as her brother's best man, and it was then that he took her +hand and held it for half a minute as though he never meant to +part with it, hidden behind the widespread glories of the +bridesmaids' finery. + +The marriage was sweet and solemn as a kind-hearted bishop could +make it, and all the ladies looked particularly well. The veil +from London--with the orange wreath, also metropolitan--was +perfect, and as for the dress, I doubt whether any woman would +have it known it to be provincial. Everett looked the rising +baronet, every inch of him, and the old barrister smiled and +seemed, at least, to be well pleased. Then came the breakfast, +and the speech-making, in which Arthur Fletcher shone +triumphantly. It was a very nice wedding, and Mary Wharton--as +she then and still was--felt herself for a moment to be a +heroine. But, through it all, there was present to the hearts of +most of them a feeling that much more was to be effected, if +possible, than this simple and cosy marriage, and that the fate +of Mary Wharton was hardly so important to them as that of Emily +Lopez. + +When the carriage and four was gone there came upon the household +the difficulty usual on such occasions of getting through the +rest of the day. The bridesmaids retired and repacked their +splendours so that they might come out fresh for other second- +rate needs, and with the bridesmaids went the widow. Arthur +Fletcher remained at Wharton with all the other Fletchers for the +night, and was prepared to renew his suit on that very day, if an +opportunity were given him, but Emily did not again show herself +till a few minutes before dinner, and then she came down with all +the appurtenances of mourning which she usually wore. The grey +silk had been put on for the marriage ceremony, and for that +only. 'You should have kept your dress at any rate for the day,' +said Mrs Fletcher. She replied that she had changed it for +Everett, and that as Everett was gone there was no further need +for to wear clothes unfitted for her position. Arthur would have +cared very little for the clothes could he have had his way with +the woman who wore them;--could he have had his way even so far +as to have found himself alone with her for half-an-hour. But no +such chance was his. She retreated from the party early, and did +not show herself on the following morning till after he had +started for Longbarns. + +All the Fletchers went back,--not, however, with any intention +on the part of Arthur to abandon his immediate attempt. The +distance between the houses was not so great but that he could +drive himself over at any time. 'I shall go now,' he said to Mr +Wharton, 'because I have promised John to fish with him to- +morrow, but I shall come over on Monday or Tuesday, and stay till +I go back to town. I hope she will at any rate let me speak to +her.' The father said he would do his best, but that that +obstinate resumption of her weeds on her brother's very wedding +day had nearly broken his heart. + +When the Fletchers were back at Longbarns, the two ladies were +very severe on her. 'It was downright obstinacy,' said the +squire's wife, 'and it almost makes me think that it would serve +her right to leave her as she is.' + +'It's pride,' said the old lady. 'She won't give way. I said +ever so much to her, but it's no use. I feel it the more because +we have gone so much out of the way to be good to her after she +made such a fool of herself. If it goes on much longer, I shall +never forgive her again.' + +'You'll have to forgive her, mother,' said her eldest son, 'let +her sins be what they may,--or else you will have to quarrel +with Arthur.' + +'I do think it's very hard,' said the old lady, taking herself +out of the room. And it was hard. The offence in the first +instance had been very great and the forgiveness very difficult. +But Mrs Fletcher had lived long enough to know that when sons are +thoroughly respectable a widowed mother has to do their bidding. + +Emily, through the whole wedding day, and the next day, and day +after day, remembered Mrs Fletcher's words. 'There are some who +will never be light-hearted again till they see you smile.' And +the old woman had named her dearest friends, and had ended by +naming Arthur Fletcher. She had then acknowledged to herself +that it was her duty to smile in order that others might smile +also. But how is one to smile with a heavy heart? Should one +smile and lie? And how long and to what good purpose can such +forced contentment last? She had marred her whole life. In +former days she had been proud of all her virgin glories,--proud +of her intellect, proud of her beauty, proud of that obeisance +which beauty, birth, and intellect combined, exact from all +comers. She had been ambitious as to her future life;--had +intended to be careful not to surrender herself to some empty +fool;--had thought herself well qualified to pick her own steps. +And this had come of it! They told her that she might still make +everything right, annul the past and begin the world again as +fresh as ever;--if she would only smile and study to forget! Do +it for the sake of others, they said, and then it will be done +for yourself also. But she could not conquer the past. The fire +and water of repentance, adequate as they may be for eternity, +cannot burn out or wash away the remorse of this life. They +scorch and choke,--and unless it be so there is no repentance. +So she told herself,--and yet it was her duty to be light- +hearted that others around her might not be made miserable by her +sorrow! If she could in truth be light-hearted, then would she +know herself to be unfeeling and worthless. + +On the third day after the marriage Arthur Fletcher came back to +Wharton with the declared intention of remaining there till the +end of the holiday. She could make no objection to such an +arrangement, nor could she hasten her own return to London. That +had been fixed before her departure, and was to made together +with her father. She felt that she was being attacked with +unfair weapons, and that undue advantage was taken of the +sacrifice which she had made for her brother's sake. And yet,-- +yet how good to her they all were! How wonderful it was that +after the thing she had done, after the disgrace she had brought +on herself and them, after the destruction of all that pride +which had once been hers, they should still wish to have her +among them! As for him,--of whom she was always thinking,--of +what nature must be his love, when he was willing to take to +himself as his wife such a thing as she had made of herself! +But, thinking of this, she would only tell herself that, as he +would not protect himself, she was bound to be his protector. +Yes;--she would protect him, though she could dream of a world +of joy that might be hers if she could do as he would ask her. + +He caught her at last, and forced her to come out with him into +the grounds. He could tell his tale better as he walked by her +side than sitting restlessly on a chair and moving awkwardly +about the room, as on such an occasion he would be sure to do. +Within four walls she would have some advantage over him. She +could sit still and be dignified in her stillness. But in the +open air, when they would both be on their legs, she might not be +so powerful with him, and he perhaps might be stronger with her. +She could not refuse him when he asked her to walk with him. And +why should she refuse him? Of course he must be allowed to utter +his prayer,--and then she must be allowed to make her answer. +'I think the marriage went off very well,' he said. + +'Very well. Everett ought to be a happy man.' + +'No doubt he will be,--when he settles down to something. +Everything will come right for him. With some people things seem +to go smooth, don't they? They have not hitherto gone smoothly +with you and me, Emily.' + +'You are prosperous. You have everything before you that a man +can wish, if only you will allow yourself to think so. Your +profession is successful, and you are in Parliament, and everyone +likes you.' + +'It is all nothing.' + +'That is the general discontent of the world.' + +'It is all nothing--unless I have you too. Remember that I had +said so long before I was successful, when I did not dream of +Parliament; before we had heard the name of the man who came +between us and my happiness. I think I am entitled to be +believed when I say so. I think I know my own mind. There are +many men who would have been changed by the episode of such a +marriage.' + +'You ought to be changed by it,--and by its result.' + +'It had no such effect. Here I am, after it all, telling you as +I used to tell you before. I have to look to you for my +happiness.' + +'You should be ashamed to confess it, Arthur.' + +'Never;--not to you, nor to all the world. I know what it has +been. I know you are not now as you were then. You have been +his wife, and are now his widow.' + +'That should be enough.' + +'But, such as you are, my happiness is in your hands. If it were +not so, do you think that all my family as well as yours would +join in wishing that you may become my wife? There is nothing to +conceal. When you married this man, you know what my mother +thought of it, and what John thought of it, and his wife. They +had wanted you to be my wife; and they want it now--because they +are anxious for my happiness. And your father wishes it, and +your brother wishes it,--because they trust me, and I think that +I should be a good husband to you.' + +'Good!' she exclaimed, hardly knowing what she meant by repeating +the word. + +'After that you have no right to set yourself to judge what may +be best for my happiness. They who know how to judge are all +united. Whatever you may have been, they believe that it will be +good for me that you should now be my wife. After that you must +talk about me no longer, unless you will talk of my wishes.' + +'Do you think that I am not anxious for your happiness?' + +'I do not know;--but I shall find out in time. That is what I +have to say about myself. And as to you, is it not much the +same? I know you love me. Whatever the feeling was that +overcame you as to that other man,--it has gone. I cannot now +stop to be tender and soft in my words. The thing to be said is +too serious to me. And every friend you have wants you to marry +the man you love, and to put an end to the desolation which you +have brought on yourself. There is not one among us, Fletchers +and Whartons, whose comfort does not more or less depend on your +sacrificing the luxury of your own woe.' + +'Luxury!' + +'Yes; luxury. No man ever had a right to say more positively to +a woman that it is her duty to marry him, than I have to you. +And I do say it. I say it on behalf of all of us, that it is +your duty. I won't talk of my own love now, because you know it. +But I say that it is your duty to give up drowning us all in +tears, burying us in desolation. You are one of us, and should +do as all of us wish you. If, indeed, you could not love me it +would be different. There! I have said what I have got to say. +You are crying, and I will not take your answer now. I will come +again to-morrow, and then you shall answer me. But, remember when +you do so that the happiness of many people depends on what you +say.' Then he left her very suddenly and hurried back to the +house by himself. + +He had been very rough with her,--but not once attempted to +touch her hand or even her arm, had spoken no soft word to her, +speaking of his own love as a thing too certain to need further +words; and he had declared himself to be so assured of her love +that there was no favour for him now to ask, nothing for which he +was bound to pray as a lover. All that was past. He had simply +declared it to be her duty to marry him, and he had told her so +with much sternness. He had walked fast, compelling her to +accompany him, had frowned at her, and had more than once stamped +his foot upon the ground. During the whole interview she had +been so near to weeping that she could hardly speak. Once or +twice she had almost thought him to be cruel;--but he had forced +her to acknowledge to herself that all that he had said was true +and unanswerable. Had he pressed her for an answer at that +moment she would have known in what words to couch a refusal. +And yet as she made her way alone back to the house she assured +herself that she would have refused. + +He had given her four-and-twenty hours, and at the end of that +time she would be bound to give him an answer,--and answer which +must then be final. And as she said this to herself she found +that she was admitting a doubt. She hardly knew how not to +doubt, knowing as she did, that all whom she loved were on one +side, while on the other was nothing but the stubbornness of her +own convictions. But still the conviction was left to her. Over +and over again she declared to herself that it was not fit, +meaning thereby to assure herself that a higher duty even than +that which she owed to her friends, demanded from her that she +should be true to her convictions. She met him that day at +dinner, but he hardly spoke to her. They sat together in the +same room during the evening, but she hardly once heard his +voice. It seemed to her that he avoided even looking at her. +When they separated for the night, he parted from her almost as +though they had been strangers. Surely he was angry with her +because she was stubborn,--thought evil of her because she would +not do as others wished her! She lay awake during the long night +thinking of it all. If it might be so! Oh;--if it might be so! +If it might be done without utter ruin to her own self-respect as +a woman! + +In the morning she was down early,--not having anything to say, +with no clear purpose as yet before her;--but still with a +feeling that perhaps that morning might alter all things for her. +He was the latest of the party, not coming in for prayers as he +did all the others, but taking his seat when the others had half +finished their breakfast. As he sat down he gave a general half- +uttered greeting to them all, but spoke no special word to any of +them. It chanced that his seat was next to hers, but to her he +did not address himself at all. Then the meal was over, and the +chairs were withdrawn, and the party grouped itself about with +vague, uncertain movements, as men and women do before they leave +the breakfast table for the work of the day. She meditated her +escape, but felt that she could not leave the room before Lady +Wharton or Mrs Fletcher;--who had remained at Wharton to keep +her mother company for a while. At last they went;--but then, +just as she was escaping, he put his hand upon her and reminded +her of her appointment. 'I shall be in the hall in a quarter of +an hour,' he said. 'Will you meet me there?' Then she bowed her +head to him and passed on. + +She was there at the time named, and found him standing by the +hall door, waiting for her. His hat was already on his head and +his back was almost turned to her. He opened the door, and, +allowing her to pass out first, led the way to the shrubbery. He +did not speak to her till he had closed behind her the little +iron gate which separated the walk from the garden, and then he +turned upon her with one word. 'Well?' he said. She was silent +for a moment, and then he repeated his eager question: 'Well;-- +well?' + +'I should disgrace you,' she said, not firmly, as before, but +whispering the words. + +He waited for no other assent. The form of the words told him +that he had won the day. In a moment his arms were round her, +and her veil was off, and his lips were pressed to hers;--and +when she could see his countenance the whole form of his face was +altered to her. It was bright as it used to be bright in the old +days, and he was smiling on her as he used to smile. 'My own,' +he said;--'my wife--my own!' And she had no longer the power +to deny him. 'Not yet, Arthur; not yet,' was all that she could +say. + + + +CHAPTER 80 + +THE LAST MEETING AT MATCHING. + +The ex-Prime Minister did not carry out his purpose of leaving +London in the middle of the season and travelling either to Italy +or Norway. He was away from London at Whitsuntide longer perhaps +than he might have been if still in office, and during this +period regarded himself as a man from whose hands all work had +been taken--as one who had been found unfit to carry any longer +a burden serviceably; but before June was over he and the Duchess +were back in London, and gradually he allowed himself to open his +mouth on this or that subject in the House of Lords,--not +pitching into everybody all round, as his wife had recommended,-- +but expressing an opinion now and again, generally in support of +his friends, with the dignity which should belong to a retired +Prime Minister. The Duchess too recovered much of her good +temper,--as far at least as the outward show went. One or two +who knew her, especially Mrs Finn, were aware that her hatred and +her ideas of revenge were not laid aside; but she went on from +day to day anathematizing her special enemies, and abstained from +reproaching her husband for his pusillanimity. Then came the +question as to the autumn. 'Let's have everybody down at +Gatherum, just as we had before,' said the Duchess. + +The proposition almost took away the Duke's breath. 'Why do you +want a crowd, like that?' + +'Just to show them that we are not beaten because we are turned +out.' + +'But inasmuch as we were turned out, we were beaten. And what +has a gathering of people at my house to do with a political +manoeuvre? Do you especially want to go to Gatherum?' + +'I hate the place. You know I do.' + +'Then why should you propose to go there?' He hardly yet knew +his wife well enough to understand that the suggestion had been a +joke. 'If you don't wish to go abroad--' + +'I hate going abroad.' + +'Then we'll remain at Matching. You don't hate Matching.' + +'Ah dear! There are memories there too. But you like it.' + +'My books are there.' + +'Blue-books,' said the Duchess. + +'And there is plenty of room if you wish to have friends.' + +'I suppose we must have somebody. You can't live without your +mentor.' + +'You can ask whom you please,' he said almost fretfully. + +'Lady Rosina, of course,' suggested the Duchess. Then he turned +to the papers before him, and wouldn't say another word. The +matter ended in a party much as usual being collected at Matching +about the middle of October,--Telemachus having spent the early +part of the autumn with Mentor at Long Royston. There might +perhaps be a dozen guests in the house and among them were +Phineas Finn and his wife. And Mr Grey was there, having come +back from his eastern mission,--whose unfortunate abandonment of +his seat at Silverbridge had cause so many troubles,--and Mrs +Grey, who in days now long passed had been almost as necessary to +Lady Glencora, as was now her later friend Mrs Finn,--and the +Cantrips, and for a short time the St Bungays. But Lady Rosina +De Courcy on this occasion was not present. There were few there +whom my patient readers have not seen at Matching before; but +among those few was Arthur Fletcher. + +'So it is to be,' said the Duchess to the member for Silverbridge +one morning. She had by this time become intimate with 'her +member', as she would sometimes call him in a joke, and had +concerned herself much as to his matrimonial prospects. + +'Yes, Duchess, it is to be,--unless some unforeseen circumstance +should arise.' + +'What circumstance?' + +'Ladies and gentlemen do sometimes change their minds;--but in +this case I do not think it likely.' + +'And why ain't you being married now, Mr Fletcher?' + +'We have agreed to postpone it till next year;--so that we may +be quite sure of our own minds.' + +'I know you are laughing at me; but nevertheless I am very glad +that it is settled. Pray tell her from me that I shall again +call soon as ever she is Mrs Fletcher, though I don't think she +repaid either of the last two visits I made her.' + +'You must make excuses for her, Duchess.' + +'Of course. I know. After all she is a most fortunate woman. +And as for you,--I regard you as a hero among lovers.' + +'I'm getting used to it,' she said one day to Mrs Finn. + +'Of course you'll get used to it. We get used to anything that +chance sends us in a marvellously short time.' + +'What I mean is that I can go to bed and sleep, and get up and +eat my meals without missing the sound of trumpets so much as I +did at first. I remember hearing of people who lived in a mill, +and couldn't sleep when the mill stopped. It was like that with +me when our mill stopped at first. I had got myself so used to +the excitement of it, that I could hardly live without it.' + +'You might have all the excitement still, if you pleased. You +need not be dead to politics because your husband is not Prime +Minister.' + +'No; never again,--unless he should come back. If anyone had +told me ten years ago that I should have taken an interest in +this or that man being in Government, I should have laughed him +to scorn. It did not seem possible to me then that I should care +what became of men like Sir Timothy Beeswax and Mr Roby. But I +did get to be anxious about it when Plantagenet was shifted from +one office to another.' + +'Of course you did. Do you think I am not anxious about +Phineas?' + +'But when he became Prime Minister, I gave myself up to it +altogether. I shall never forget what I felt when he came to me +and told me that perhaps it might be so;--but told me also that +he would escape from it if it were possible. I was the Lady +Macbeth of the occasion all over;--whereas he was so scrupulous, +so burdened with conscience! As for me, I would have taken it by +any means. Then it was the old Duke played the part of the three +witches to a nicety. Well, there hasn't been any absolute +murder, and I haven't quite gone mad.' + +'Nor need you be afraid though all the woods of Gatherum should +come to Matching.' + +'God forbid! I will never see anything of Gatherum again. What +annoys me most is, and always was, that he wouldn't understand +what I felt about it;--how proud I was that he should be Prime +Minister, how anxious that he should be great and noble in his +office;--how I worked for him, and not at all for any pleasure +of my own.' + +'I think he did feel it.' + +'No;--not as I did. At last he liked the power,--or rather +feared the disgrace of losing it. But he had no idea of the +personal grandeur of the place. He never understood that to be +Prime Minister in England is as much as to be an Emperor in +France, and much more than being President of America. Oh, how I +did labour for him,--and how did he scold me for it in those +quiet little stinging words of his! I was vulgar!' + +'Is that a quiet word?' + +'Yes;--as he used it;--and indiscreet, and ignorant, and +stupid. I bore it all, though sometimes I was dying with +vexation. Now it's all over, and here we are as humdrum as +anyone else. And the Beeswaxes, and the Robys, and the Droughts, +and the Pountneys, and the Lopezes, have all passed over the +scene. Do you remember that Pountney affair, and how he turned +the poor man out of the house?' + +'It served him right.' + +'It would have served them all right to be turned out;--only +they were there for a purpose. I did like it in a way, and it +makes me sad to think that the feeling can never come back again. +Even if they should have him back again, it would be a very lame +affair to me then. I can never again rouse myself to the effort +of preparing food and lodging for half the Parliament and their +wives. I shall never again think that I can help to rule England +by coaxing unpleasant men. It is done and gone, and can never +come back again.' + +Not long after this the Duke took Mr Monk, who had come down to +Matching for a few days, out to the very spot on which he had sat +when he indulged himself in lecturing Phineas Finn on +Conservatism and Liberalism generally, and then asked the +Chancellor of the Exchequer what he thought of the present state +of public affairs. He himself had supported Mr Gresham's +government, and did not belong to it because he could not at +present reconcile himself to filling any office. Mr Monk did not +scruple to say that in his opinion the present legitimate +division of parties was preferable to the Coalition which had +existed for three years. 'In such an arrangement,' said Mr Monk, +'there must always be a certain amount of distrust, and such a +feeling is fatal to any great work.' + +'I think I distrusted no one till separation came,--and when it +did come it was not caused by me.' + +'I am not blaming anyone now,' said the other; 'but men who have +been brought up with opinions altogether different, even with +different instincts as to politics, who from their mother's milk +have been nourished on codes of thought altogether opposed to +each other, cannot work together with confidence even though they +may desire the same thing. The very ideas which are sweet as +honey to the one are bitter as gall to the other.' + +'You think, then, that we made a great mistake?' + +'I will not say that,' said Mr Monk. 'There was a difficulty at +the time, and that difficulty was overcome. The Government was +carried on, and was on the whole respected. History will give +you credit for patriotism, patience, and courage. No man could +have done it better than you did;--probably no other man of the +day so well.' + +'But it was not a great part to play?' The Duke in his +nervousness, as he said this, could not avoid the use of that +questioning tone which requires an answer. + +'Great enough to satisfy the heart of a man who has fortified +himself against the evil of ambition. After all, what is it that +the Prime Minister of such a country as this should chiefly +regard? Is it not the prosperity of the country? Is it not often +that we want great measures, or new arrangements that shall be +vital to the country. Politicians now look for grievances, not +because grievances are heavy, but trusting that the honour of +abolishing them may be great. It is the old story of the needy +knife-grinder who, if left to himself, would have no grievance of +which to complain.' + +'But there are grievances,' said the Duke. 'Look at monetary +denominations. Look at our weights and measures.' + +'Well; yes. I will not say that everything has as yet been +reduced to divine order. But when we took office three years ago +we certainly did not intend to settle those difficulties.' + +'No, indeed,' said the Duke, sadly. + +'But we did do all that we were meant to do. For my own part, +there is only one thing that I regret, and one only which you +should regret also till you have resolved to remedy it.' + +'What thing is that?' + +'Your retirement from official life. If the country is to lose +your services for the long course of years during which you will +probably sit in Parliament, then I shall think that the country +has lost more than it gained by the Coalition.' + +The Duke sat for a while silent, looking at the view, and, before +answering Mr Monk,--while arranging his answer,--once or twice +in a half-absent way, called his companion's attention to the +scene before him. But during this time he was going through an +act of painful repentance. He was condemning himself for a word +or two that had been ill-spoken by himself, and which, since the +moment of its utterance, he had never ceased to remember with shame. +He told himself now, after his own secret fashion, that he must +do penance for these words by the humiliation of a direct +contradiction of them. He must declare that Caesar would at some +future time be prepared to serve under Pompey. Then he made his +answer. 'Mr Monk,' he said, 'I should be false if I were to deny +that it pleases me to hear you say so. I have thought much of +all that for the last two or three months. You may probably have +seen that I am not a man endowed with that fortitude which +enables many to bear vexations with an easy spirit. I am given +to fretting, and I am inclined to think that a popular minister +in a free country should be so constituted as to be free from +that infirmity. I shall certainly never desire to be at the head +of Government again. For a few years I would prefer to remain +out of office. But I will endeavour to look forward to a time +when I may again perhaps be of some humble use.' + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext of The Prime Minister by Anthony Trollope + + diff --git a/old/prmns11.zip b/old/prmns11.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..89aec5b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/prmns11.zip |